Ricky Hatton: "Calzaghe vs. Dawson, A Load of Rubbish"

[Allucard]

Ali is an ATG. Joe's a great fighter but is he an ATG? Zero losses does not make an ATG. Fight a prime Dawson and kick his ass. That would shut me up (and a lot of other people).

If Joe is an ATG we need a stronger status for people like Mayweather not to go back allot. He's also finished undefeated, he moved up in weight 5 times, was the champion in all five, he had a much better overall resume and a much much stronger finish vs a younger, undefeated CHAMPION in Ricky. Fighting p4p undefeated king, chico Corrales, at age 23 alone puts every kessler and lacy to shame. So if Joe is a ATG, Floyd is a SUPER ATG and Manny Pacquiao is surely going that way too.

[alembic]

@Allucard: my point is that I can't put Joe in the ATG category. Not when that group includes fighters like Duran, Ray Leonard, Hagler. They all suffered big losses but their records highlight several memorable wars against top, prime opponents. In my mind, Joe has Kessler, maybe Eubank.

I'm not a Floyd fan but he's one of the most gifted fighters I've seen. He made Hatton look like a bum. That said, a money bout with DLH isn't the type that helps him get elected into the Hall of Fame. Retiring before fighting other top welterweights doesn't help his case either. He lost his passion to fight but maybe he was also too scared of losing to continue.

An ATG would rather lose in the ring than to carry any self-doubt about how he measures up against a legitimate challenger. He can't consider himself a champ if he simply avoids fighting a guy who he feels might give him hell for 15 rounds.

I'm a Margarito fan but declining 4 million to avoid P. Williams is NOT a champion's mentality.

And neither is sloughing off Dawson because he isn't a big name.