Roberto Duran vs Floyd Mayweather Jnr

Duran for me. I think Floyd would give him trouble though.

 

I’ll go Duran close points

 

Duran via smashing.
Mayweather has had too many problems when somebody hungry and agressive actually came for him. Oscar, Cotto, Maidana, Castillo had far too much success against him doing things that Peak Duran did far better.

Duran was woefully inconsistent after Montreal(after which he lost his hunger and desire) compared to floyds ultimate professionalism, but head to head, peak for peak Duran smashes him, and probably pigs out and loses the rematch

If they fight 10 times over 10 years at 135-154 mayweather gets his share of wins.

5 times over 5 years at 147-154 Mayweather wins 3 if not 4/5

 

Duran is the only guy who beat a prime Leonard… and he did so moving up in weight, historically being a lightweight

..and Leonard beats the **** out of Mayweather. Duran knocks him out cold.

 

Duran on his best night wins

 

The A > B > C logic does not work with boxing.

 

Think the first Chino fight but way worse for floyd. Duran would wear him down to a late stoppage or UD.

 

All of the fights you mentioned are of an allegedly injured floyd or past prime. Prime for prime fully focused they are beating each other 5 or 6 out of 10 times.

 

I think Floyd can win. Duran clearly had issues with movers and Floyd is one of the best ever. Floyd can absolutely get on his bike and beat Duran. BUT, lesser fighters have made it tough for Floyd.

 

I think this fight is far more interesting than most give it credit for. I think both have the styles to beat each other. Floyd struggles with fighters who give him different looks in regard to feinting and probing. Part of Maidana's success in the first fight was Floyd struggling to figure out Maidana's timing. Same thing happened in the Castillo fight. That's Duran's specialty. No fighter in the history of the sport IMO is as good as Duran at feinting and probing. Then when you add in the physical strength of Duran/power/chin/stamina, it's damn near an impossible task to beat him if he gets into range and uses his feints and probes.

Duran has shown a vulnerability towards fighters that can box from distance and have a reach advantage over him. We don't see it often but on those rare occasions when a guy who has a reach advantage can box from distance, Duran has show vulnerability in tracking them down. Look at the Viruet fights. Fights that Duran won but he didn't look as dominant. Look at the second SRL fight when Leonard decided to box from distance. Even in his fight with Hagler when Hagler decided to box and move Duran struggled with it. Floyd has a 6 inch reach advantage over Duran and he excels at boxing from distance.

I can see a scenario where either fighter wins. If Floyd cannot adjust to Duran's feints and probes, he may not enough rounds to take the fight. At the same time, if Floyd uses his reach advantage and boxes from distance, he would have a real possibility of beating Duran. When Duran applies pressure, he does it in a stalker type of way. Especially if he hasn't feinted you into position to land. What Duran likes to do is match your movements and when you throw, he counters in combination and tries to get in the inside and land there as well. How Floyd has dealt with that in the past is by throwing singular shots to avoid counters. He'll throw a singular shot (often times that lands) and then he'll use some form of control, clinch, smother, ducking, etc to avoid the counter. Duran in pretty much every fight I have seen (most of his fights) is VERY accepting of the clinch/smother. I could see Duran becoming frustrated in trying to find Floyd all night. Floyd is hard to deal with when he wants to get on his bike and box to decisions.

At the end of the day, both are supremely skilled and depending on the weight class and that night, either guy could beat the other. I think if Floyd wins, it won't be a pretty performance. It will be a performance to where there would be complaints that he ran. If Duran wins, he mauled Floyd. I personally don't see an in-between.

 

They can beat each other in a series of fights
I lean to Duran

 

Duran

 

Saying Duran struggles with runners who have a reach advantage is a stupid statement.

Yes he did, but everybody does. FMJ would also "look less dominant" if somebody ran away from him.
It makes for a horrible fight.
Even the greatest pressure fighters and bangers have to work hard to track down a runner, Chavez, Duran, Tyson etc all had to go the distance against guys that ran away.

Another thing. Leonard fought his usual fight against Duran in Montreal. People saying he fought Durans fight are engaging in revisionist nonsense and havent actually watched Leonards acreer. He was a mean boxer puncher.

In New Orleans, disregarding Durans physical condition, yes it was the new gameplan of extremem movement but also Durans lack of Hunger and the resulting fact that after Montreal he basically stopped pushing and manhandling people to the ropes.
In Montreal Duran literally put his chest in Rays chest and pushed Leonard from the middle of the ring to the ropes, when he tried to spin out he threw him back.

He stopped dping that because 1. The guys he fought got bigger, 2. He just wasnt as agressive or strong(from the constant yoyoing)

 

In the other thread some of yall wouldve bet the house on Duran over Manny - I disagree and think either man could win w Duran being a favorite which is why I suggested 2 out of 3.

Duran is a TERRIBLE matchup for Floyd. Floyd LOST JLC1 (or at best a draw) and possibly LOST Maidana 1 although a draw was really the most fair outcome. Neither JLC nor Maidana are half as capable as the Duran from SRL1.

Floyd too defensively responsible for a stoppage and loses a wide decision