[Kato]

As far as I know there are only two riders with nine world titles, usually when a there is a tie the winner would be whoever achieved the wins in the fastest time, so by that logic Mike Hailwood wins
MH 9 titles in 76 wins
VR 9 titles in 112
But that does not take Ago into account 15 titles in 122 wins so surely he is N01 ??

I would add Jarno Saarinen, and King Kenny to the list and put them both above rossi, only my opinion

Who was the most talented? Impossible to know because they rode in different eras on different bikes, with different rivals and when different talents mattered, so we need to look much deeper to understand the achievements of the greats, their performances according to the motorcycles they had beneath them and the rivals they had beside them, because merely counting race wins and world championships is never enough.

One IMO legend whos name I won't even mention, over one weekend raced in 5 different categories in all 7 rounds of each capacity; a weekend consisting of 35 races. Not only did he compete in all these categories at different engine capacities, won 32 out of the 35 races. There were five National titles to be won that weekend, He won all five, greatness indeed.

So I think calling Rossi the greatest just because he is currently the media favourite is a little short sighted.