I saw a lot of Arguellos fights. I'll confess to never having seen Armstrong fight. You go that far back and it's really hard to say. Limited film of those guys. Different game in those days.
There's actually quite a bit of Armstrong film. His fights with Ross and Ambers are out there for sure, in fact ones in colour.
Once again, I think SRL had a bigger frame and carried his power better at WW. I thought the discussion though was about Floyd vs the world down at 128-130 up to 135?
I do think, the farther you go back in time, the harder it is to quantify. So much has changed. Sports science. The technique has evolved. It's also harder to refute. There is so little in common with the modern era. How do you quantify it? I have noticed a tendency of people to think the fighters active at the time of their childhood were the best. Pick an age group and you can somewhat predict who they think the best were. I'm sure there were old timers who were convinced Dempsey was the best ever. Same for Louis, Ali, Tyson, ... Not saying that is where the Armstrong comment came from, just passing along something I've observed over the years.
That's why I'll say the best lightweight ever was Seamus Magillicuty back in 1872. That guy was a monster. I've seen still photographs of the guy and believe it. I'm just playing. Dont take it too serious. At the end of the day, all these mythical match ups are hypothetical and we will never know. Fun to talk about but that's about it.
Marcel definitely has been overlooked for the HOF. A win over Arguello, along with some nice wins over Marcano x2, Gomez and Serrano probably should have earned him a ticket to Canastota. It's definitely Duran's best win prior to winning his first championship. That said, it's really Duran's only notable result at 130lbs, so that disqualifies Duran from consideration when rating ATG's in that particular division.
It disqualifies him from being the most accomplished 130 pounder ever. But it does not remove him from the discussion of best 130 pounders ever H2H.
No you can't. I thought Casamayor, as an undefeated Olympic champ & the reigning WBA Junior Lightweight champ when Floyd unified the WBC & IBF titles, would have been a very tough opponent @ 130. That he was an awkward southpaw who was at his peak at the time would have made the fight all the more challenging. I would love to have seen it but it didn't happen. When Floyd moved up to Lightweight he himself said he thought that Stevie Johnston, another tricky southpaw, was the best lightweight out there. Johnston had lost a close decision to Jose Luis Castillo. Most thought Castillo won it. I thought Johnson, as defending champ, was unlucky to lose. So Floyd didn't fight the lightweight he himself said was the best. It's a fact that no-one was clambering for the fight to happen though. When Floyd moved up to Junior Welter, he faced Gatti not Tszyu. I think Tszyu would have been a tougher fight. Not either fighter's fault that the fight didn't happen b/c they were both with different networks. I personally would love to have seen Floyd in with undefeated Olympic champ Casamayor @ 130 & Undisputed professional champ Tszyu @ 140. For no other reason than they were the toughest opponents out there at those weights. I certainly don't blame Floyd for the fact that those fights didn't happen but it would have been nice if they did.
