Which fighters (past and present) have the best chance at beating FMJ?

Lots of them.

Because in another era, he wouldn't be allowed to cherry pick opponents.

 

He's got that Ray Leonard matchmaking quality, picking the fights at the right time. Although he might not win all of them he would certainly not look out of place. A great defensive fighter for any era.

 

Mayweather would never have had the ***** to fight Duran in 1980 or Hearns in 1981, when they were both beasts.

Mayweather is good defensively, but that only passes for greatness in this day and age. In past eras, he'd need more.

 

If I could pick one fighter now to defeat Mayweather at Welterweight it would be Tommy Hearns without a doubt.

 

I gotta agree. Tommy had all the right tools to take down Floyd.

The key is that Tommy was extremely good at cutting the floor and with his blinding speed and outwordly reach, there would be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide for Floyd.

SRL and Duran also take him down.

 

absolutely, though in the great past his size and natural stature would have placed him among the middleweights, as he would not be allowed months to make 147.

in saying that though and in answer to the question, no nonsense type welters like Zivic or Basillio would have muscled, pushed, pulled, gouged, thumbed, fouled and all but kicked, bit and snorted their way into a fight.

and as someone else said "Loads of them" too... true for any great now tossed into then, again as they would just not have time, boiling down, nor inactivity in their favours!

 

Srr

 

Floyd walks around near welter.

 

At welter, Hearns towers like a colossus...I'm convinced that he beats Mayweather.

 

no he doesn't, he weighs 160-170lbs...

 

Hearns, SRR, Leonard... Rangy fighters, with speed and power would probably be very hard for him to handle. That's why it would be interesting to see him against a guy like Khan, even though he's not in the same league as the aforementioned fighters.

And when one ponders that guys like Jackson and McCallum would make WW if they were around today...

There are very few, if any, that gives up reach to Floyd that I'd make favorites against him, but really good fighters with a substantial reach advantage... Now that's a whole other kettle of fish.

 

No proof. He entered the ring at 150 or something against canelo. 47 would be no issue.

 

The lightest fighter is Duran, in my view. He walked through Dejesus in that second fight, I think he takes Floyds punch in stride and forces a terrible pace with angles and power and feints and all that all the time until you're dead tired.

Floyd could be ahead after nine rounds for all I care, I don't think he wins in the end.

Duran was a lot of stamina, a lot of punch, a lot of chin, and a sadistic will to make you yield. You need to make Floyd hate being in there, and it takes a maniac savant to do it.

I don't think Floyd can do anything with Hearns. Nothing at all.

Leonard has a too good set of legs, ring generalship, handspeed and offensive variety to be shut down. It's not the one punch you have to neutralize, it's all of them. Benitez couldn't do it.

Besides the Fab 4, I defer to my betters, although I've always had a sneaky suspicion that Morales could have maybe done something at a 126/130 early in Mayweathers career. It's that footwork of Morales.

 

Very well said...there you go!