Floyd or Duran - Most skilled?

Yeah, he wouldn't.

 

Ringside Leonard said he tried to emulate Frazier not Ali

 

JMP, for not going out of his way and doing everything he could to mention me as the best poster in this thread. :bart

 

The best poster:

 

I love both SRL and Duran, but I don't buy the SRL hogwash about him fighting the wrong fight. Like many great fighters of any era you choose, Ali, Leonard, and today, Floyd, you will see they have always adapted to the most dire of situations and mostly come out on top. THEY ALWAYS FOUND A WAY TO WIN against other great fighters. That's what seperated them from the rest. Leonard no matter what he could of done was not going to beat Duran that night. Not Hearns, not Mayweather, not anyone was beating Monreal Duran that night. Duran at his very finest, period. Before that night or after you can make a case of him being beaten, but that night he was destined to boxing immortality. You can thank his hatred for SRL at the time which fueled him even more.

 

It is true that SRL's style is not a hit and runner, I agree as you stated that most great fighters can make adjustment on the fly and find a way to win.

I do believe SRL when he said that his emotions got the best of him when Duran insulted his wife and him as a pop boxer who didn't have to fight his way to the top. He overlooked Duran's ability and thought he could fight him toe to toe. I think by the time he realizes that he is getting beat up on the inside it was too late.

SRL won easily on the rematch bc he came in there with a gameplan to stick and move from the getgo which is the style to beat Duran with. Not many fighters can go toe to toe with Duran. I wouldn't say he is "most skilled" bc of it but rather that he got the mentality, power and the chin to excel in that range.

 

This is a good post.

 

Tliang, look a little deeper.

Nobody is beating Leonard on account of aggression and better inside skills alone, I don't give a **** if they're the best ever (which Duran probably is there). It would've been for not if he didn't have the ability to slip Leonard's lightning fists almost at will at certain points in the fight and drop sharp, accurate counters on him. SRL gets buckled several times and in the worst moments of it, Duran wasn't in immediate proximity to him. Duran's pressure is also far more educated and is utilized through jabbing his way in, using a multitude of feints and economical footwork to close distance. His quickness is actually pretty underrated fwiw. Very early on when the nerves were on overdrive is the only time he was damn near bumrushing his way inside.

 

This is a pretty interesting why of looking at this. If you go to 154 and pick out Duran's fight against Moore and Floyd's fight against Oscar it's pretty obvious who the more skilled fighter is.

But many on this forum are talking about all different kinds of side topics. Whether or not one wants to argue that Floyd has more skill than Duran, that's a completely different question than who would win in a mythical match up. Duran would definately win this contest regardless of who was the most skilled of the two.

As for the poll being closer, I'm surprised it's this close. Most who post in general weren't even alive when Duran was in his prime, so they don't have any reference as to how good he is. I've watched both their careers and to Duran's the more skilled of the two, but that also depends on how you define skilled. Duran has a lot of intangibles, such as a desire to destroy an opponent that Mayweather doesn't posses. Now is that a skill or not?

 

At lightweight which I say is the fairest comparison since these guys aren't the size of ww's ie; Robinson/Leonard, I put Mayweather right up there with Duran.

At around lightweight I usually rank my top 4 somethin like this Whitaker, Mayweather jr., Duran, Chavez

 

How would Mayweather rate so high at LW when he only stayed there for a few fights and never faced another all-time great at the weight? What about somebody like Ortiz? There's no argument to be made for Mayweather over him (among others) for example.

 

Si, eso es, exactamente.


:smoke

 

I'm putting Duran in the Top 4 at Welterweight. :yep

 

:rofl

Surprised he hasn't been more involved here.