Roberto Duran VS Shane Mosley at 135

Ive often found myself defending Mosley's lightweight comp rather then attacking it..but his opposition was quite average which ever way you look of it.

Some of the guys were good fighters...the emphasis is on were..a lot were getting old and past it by the time they were tackling Shane.

 

I don't see any evidence for this. Shane had trouble dealing with the mauling, brawling tactics of Holiday and even journeyman John Bryant. He struggled to push guys off him and maintain distance, mostly relying on speed. (Surprising given Mosley's lifting background - just shows you that weights strength and boxing strength really are two different things, nostalgia and romanticism aside.) Duran's strength is really the stuff of legend. Even at 147-154 looking soft and past prime he was able to muscle top contenders around (or evevn top fighters like Davey Moore); 135 was no different. Duran has the clear edge here IMO.

Neither guy is really a one-punch KO specialist, both of their stoppages came through accummulation more than anything. On the whole, though, I've been more impressed with Duran's punching, with more impacting stoppages against opponents who hadn't taken that much punishment (Bizarro). Mosley ran into the occasional opponent who could handle his shots (Ramirez, Holiday) whereas Duran very rarely did. Those who lasted often did so on their last legs or had to resort to running, and of course there's the famous incident of Jimmy Robertson having his teeth emptied out of his mouth after taking a right hand from Duran in the very first round.

Like you say, this could be down to punch placement more than anything; but there certainly isn't a clear edge for Mosley, and if I had to split them I think Duran is much more proven (and against better, tougher opposition).

Don't know where you get this from. If we weren't just talking about Lightweight, I think Duran has a good shout at having the greatest chin of all time, and regularly took shots for fun against full blown Middleweights well after he'd washed up on the sea shore. Even just at 135, though, Duran survived brutal war after brutal war unscathed, and never looked hurt let alone seriously troubled, despite being put down momentarily against DeJesus. Obviously, Mosley has never been hurt either, but then the likes of DeJesus would wipe their behinds with his quality of opposition.

Yeah, Mosley was a really tremendous body puncher at 135, though Duran was probably a little more educated and disguised his shots better.

:good Agreed, the other stuff is just interesting pedantry.

 

Shane might have not looked great against Holiday but I do believe he wasn't himself that night and Larry Merchant made a good point during that fight when he said 'even Sugar Ray Robinson didn't look like Sugar Ray Robinson in every fight'.

As far as the John Brown fight is concerned, Mosley was completely weight drained in that fight and it happened to be his last fight at lightweight which kind of proves the point, and nobody could look good against Brown because he didn't come to the fight to win, he came to fights to make them look ugly as possible and he succeeded in doing that against Shane.

 

I take that claim seriously - he certainly didn't look 100% sharp that night - and Mosley wasn't really at his peak then anyway - he needed the experience of a few more championship fights. But that's all the evidence we have of Mosley dealing with somebody muscling him, and he came up short and struggled to prevent the guy working inside. It was a problem he also seemed to have when he was just a prospect: struggling for punching room journeyman swarmers. If those guys could shove him around, I'm willing to bet Duran (of all people) would have.

 

LMAO at mosley being far and away the best fighter Duran would have faced at lightweight.

Get that historian tag outta there.

 

Who do you like to beat Mosley out of the big three?

 

:deal The cavalry have arrived on this thread, and not before time.

 

I'd pick Buchanan over him and think dejesus would be about a 50/50.I do think Mosley matches up quite well with him, as Dejesus wasn't a big middle nor all that physical.

Mosley just sometimes gets a ridiculous benefit of the doubt as a lightweight for me.I'd rather establish where he stands against the very goods and borderline greats before pitching him in with the absolute top tier men.

 

Does Dejesus get overrated off his Duran win, I'm not sure a great fighter should get dominated by Cervantes in their prime

 

Nah. You've been fooled. Not a chance.

 

I wouldn't even rule out Marcel in all honesty, despite the fact that he never fought close to 135. If he could fight his brawling instincts he could make it a difficult night for Mosley.

I like Mosley over Buchanan on sheer physicality though.

 

I think I'll upload Arguello/Marcel, doesn't look like it's on YouTube.

 

I can't really prove it to you, but I can't help myself either

Look at how fast his jab is here (0:00):

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvTmhpP5HE0[/ame]


And have you ever seen him throw combinations like this (0:29)?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NssaeRBN80A[/ame]

 

I think we are largely in agreement. I do think Mosleys size, speed and strength at the weight are big factors here and stylistically he does really well when someone comes at him. even if just for the weight of his shots. I think just like Mosley, Durans strength/durability/power increased at 147.

I still thnk this would be a hell of a fight and would pick Mosley over Armstrong at 135, but not Duran

 

I won't speculate on what would happen if Marcel fought Mosley at 135, but let's just say that Duran did very well to beat (let alone stop) this guy. As can be seen below, he was fast, slick and dynamic. Arguello seems to have him hurt more than once, but on the whole he's just the better man, and sometimes even toys with the great man, leading effectively with unorthodox shots and anticipating his counters with ease.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbsZ4VPxEss[/ame]