I think Pacquaio would have cleaned out 140 and enhanced his legacy if he stayed

[therealpugilist]

After knocking out ricky Hatton, Pacquiao was at his ceiling mark as far as weight classes to me and the wins he had post Hatton did little to enhance his legacy. Cotto was a very good win...Shane, Margo at 150 and 1-1 with Marquez, 1-1 with Bradley....not so much


Junior Welterweight was red hot and had its gatekeepers, contenders, and title holders

Holt, Mattyssee, Garcia, Urango, Alexander, Maidana, Kotelnik, Khan, Rios, Provodnikov, Lamont Peterson, even could have fought both Marquez and Bradley at 140


Manny is a great fighter, a true ATG, but instead of all the weight hopping after 140, I'd have like to seen him clean out a weight class....JWW was deeper than 147

He is p4p top 30 definitely but it would be hardpressed to rank him top ten all time in any weight class. He never stay long enough to establish dominance

[Doctor_Tenma]

Always said we might have missed out on what could have been his best division, Hatton never knew what hit him

[WilkinsOlajuwon]

Divisions go from hot to not back to hot quite often so its hard to say if 140 would have stayed the hottest (it didnt). Also a lot of the names you have there weren't established in 2009. And despite the catchweight with Cotto, he moved up to fight the champ of the division so hard to be sour on the move up.

I think its more an issue of 140 being his best weight.

[KingTito]

I don't blame him for moving up, but think staying at 140 would have been best. It's a better weight class for him, and yes, he would have cleaned it out.

[MBE]

He easily knocked off the top guy at 140, there was no one left. The division only got hot again after Ricky was put to sleep and Manny moved up, it gave some space for fresh faces to make their mark.

[Holywarrior]

Not with Marquez on the hunt Literally the only reason Marquez is rated at 147 is cuz of Pac

[jas]

was pacquaio lineal champ at welter?

[therealpugilist]

Divisions go from hot to not back to hot quite often so its hard to say if 140 would have stayed the hottest (it didnt). Also a lot of the names you have there weren't established in 2009. And despite the catchweight with Cotto, he moved up to fight the champ of the division so hard to be sour on the move up.

I think its more an issue of 140 being his best weight.

you are right about the issue of it being his best weight....I just named guys that were ranked between 2010-2012

Look over the past 15 years....junior welterweight has been one of the most consistently talented divisions...early 2000's Judah, Tsyzu, Hatton, Phillips, Reggie Green, Sharmba Mitchell Gatti, Ward and the guys til now...clearly the best division of the last decade IMO had some of the best fighters compete there

IMO 135-147 usually have the best p4p fighters historically so there is hardly times where the talent stays "meh" for long

[therealpugilist]

was pacquaio lineal champ at welter?

No...just the WBO and it has no lineage there

Mayweather retired in 07 as the lineal champ

Mosley, Cotto, and Margarito were the other top guys...he only fought Cotto

[jas]

No...just the WBO and it has no lineage there

Mayweather retired in 07 as the lineal champ

Mosley, Cotto, and Margarito were the other top guys...he only fought Cotto

so if pacquaio fought garcia and beat him, he would become lineal at 5 weights.

has this ever been done before?