Whitaker or Mayweather would have a good chance and would probably win. A guy who moves always gives Duran trouble, but at lightweight there were no Leonards or Whitakers around.. Had there been they would have UD Duran.
Prime Duran means Lightweight for me, so ,I will offer two possibilities. Ike Williams ,and Henry Armstrong,an old guy who would have given him a row, imo, George Lavigne.
Facts speak as validity. Duran against Leonard and Benitez and Hearns could do nothing, and that was elite speed they had. Duran did great against guys who stood in front of him, and his feet were rather wide apart, which hurt him against the movers. His speed was very good, but against the top top guys he was not as fast as people think. Everything is relative. Hard to believe that Duran only beat one great fighter in his career, and he did not knock Ray out. Then Ray outclassed him in the rematch and rubbermatch. Facts do speak for themselves.
That's not the question though. The question is whether anyone could get the better of Duran in a toe to toe battle, not by moving around like Whitaker and Mayweather would.
outfight? ok, I did not read it correctly. That is a more difficult proposition. Hearns outfought him and stopped him, but Duran did not really hit Tommy more than 2 times, but as for a slugfest on the inside that was Duran's fight. The inside fight he would do well against. If a fighter was fast on the inside he could outfight Duran but who would that be? Nigel Benn? Julian Jackson could fight on the inside with Duran and maybe land a big punch, but as for a 12 round inside fight, Duran usually would win if he does not have to follow a guy with his plodding. Duran's weakness was speed, but inside it was hard to beat him. Barkley fought Duran's fight.
Barkley fought Barkley's fight. And he did precisely what a younger, bigger, stronger, faster, harder hitting fighter should do against a blown-up LW on 37 year old legs: He set a murderous pace early and then turned it up later to exploit the conditioning problems Duran had in the later rounds against Hagler and Sims, he concentrated on the body, he operated behind the jab... he even threw the kind of nightmarish left hooks that made DeJesus's look like paddy cakes. Barkley did everything he should have done and he did it well... and lost anyway.
At MW Benn would knock el burito out inside the distance, and that fight would definatley be fought in the trenches
I know boxing math doesnt usually work but just pointing out the fact that Duran went life and death and won a SD which couldve easily gone either way, with a guy who Benn poleaxed in the 1st round, in Barkley's own backyard around about the same time
Benn wasn't hurt in that first round? You don't consider that stoppage premature? As you say, it doesn't mean anything, and I'm not a huge fan of Duran, but I think a lot of people have seriously missed the boat regarding the Barkley fight...you included. I wish Barrera could fight at Welterweight at 37 and topple a Collazo...or a...Andre Berto. It'd eclipse anything else the man achieved...including the Morales wins.