How would these fighters do against prime Winky at 154 Oscar Napoles Whitaker Duran Floyd Crawford Benitez
Oscar no. Napoles would have a better chance than Oscar. Whitaker no. Duran v Winky would have been awesome, Winky`s reach and high guard may have been too much though. Floyd would have stood the best chance out of these guys, I feel Canelo at te time Floyd trounced him would have given Winky hell. Crawford`s too small and unproved against fighters with that kind of reach and jab. Benitez would have hasd a close stinker against Winky, too great defensive fighters.
Look I cant stand when people arbitrarily decide when primes begin. If you are fighting for a title 95% you are in your prime. Especially for guys who didnt turn pro super young, or didnt change trainers. But Winky was pre-prime in this fight and it showed with him gassing late. That was his first 12rd fight, he only had 1 scheduled 10 rounder and had previously only been past 6 rounds just once.
Winky had 4 years in the ring, 25 fights, 3 scheduled 10 rounders prior, 2 1/2 height adv. , 3 " reach adv. Let's not take to much away from Vasquez here
Could any of those guys knock Winky down 5 (FIVE!) times? I know of another fighter who could. And did.
I wouldn't pick any to beat Winky with certitude; it'd be a live fig I agree with most of the things you say, perhaps except Floyd having the best chance. But the list of fighters offered is a bit favorable to Winky, no? He was a 154 pounder; why then are we putting up guys who did their best work at lower weights mostly?
A guy who had multiple close fights with a clubfighter like Bronco McCart has a ligitimate chance of losing to ALL of the names mentioned. But since all of these guys had a prime weight below Winky, he could win as well. No way in hell Winky runs the table against that list. Even Oscar De La Hoya has an excellent chance of beating the best version of Winky.
I have a rule of thumb to always bet against any boxer who enters a fight with a freaking elbow brace on. Honestly, scoring a TKO over a still standing fighter of this caliber does not really mean much. I followed Winky's career from the beginning and always liked him. He was the consumate professional. But, the fact is, he was never THE MAN in his own division during his prime. His late career wins over smaller fighters (who were basically finished at the highest level at that time) flatters his career. Truth is, he was never an easy fight for anybody. But, on the other hand, he was never the best in his division, much less an ATG.