Let's compare the two: Roberto Duran, before the age of 31: 1-1 record against ATG Sugar Ray Leonard, 2-1 record against Esteban Dejesus (top 20 LW all-time according to The Ring), wins over Carlos Palomino (HOF), Ken Buchanan (top 20 LW all-time per The Ring, ending was controversial despite Duran's dominance for most of fight), Hiroshi Kobayashi, Ernesto Marcel, Ray Lampkin, Ishimatsu Suzuki, Vilomar Fernandez, Edwin Viruet. Loss to Wilfred Benitez. Manny Pacquiao, to date: 2-0 record against Marco Antonio Barrera (the first win meaning a LOT more than 2nd), 2-1 record against Erik Morales, 1-0-1 record against Juan Manuel Marquez (both fights extremely close), wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, David Diaz, Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. Losses, relatively early in career, to Medgoen Singsurat and Rustico Torrecampo.
I will only make positive or negative remarks about each fighter's wins. If they beat a certain fighter when either green or past prime, they won't get as much credit as they would if they beat the fighter in their prime or near it. Weight counts, but not nearly as much as quality IMO, especially if the fighters are perfectly well off at the weight. Duran: Ray Leonard (far better than any Pac win), Carlos Palomino (at least on the level of any of Pac's wins over the Mexicans), Ken Buchanan (another who fits the above description), Ernesto Marcel (another) Esteban Dejesus X2 (another), and the rest including Hiroshi Kobayashi, Guts Ishimatsu, Edwin Viruet, Emiliano Villa, Saoul Mamby, Vilomar Fernandez, Hector Thompson, Ray Lampkin, Lou Bizzarro, etc. Pacquiao: Ricky Hatton (knew it was coming, but an impressive win nonetheless), Juan Manuel Marquez (he didn't win either fight in my book, though both were very close, the first being a draw for me), Oscar De La Hoya (though he was facing a walking corpse, Pac did look as good as I've ever seen him), Marco Antonio Barrera X2 (the first was probably his best win up until that Hatton KO; they're on the same level IMO), Erik Morales X2 (Morales was starting the decline in the first fight, which was really his last hurrah, and he schooled Pac; in the rematches Pacquiao took him out, though he was cooked for the third fight and past it already by the rematch), Chatchai Sasakul (people know my thoughts on this fight), and the rest including Lehlonolo Ledwaba, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, David Diaz, etc. Obviously I did a lot more writing for Pac, but don't let that fool you. Look at the names and the fighters. The top guys are actually close beyond Leonard, but Duran holds the depth.
Duran was 31 when he lost his 3rd fight. The 2 fights he did lose were to SRL and DeJesus, he avenged one and had a win (?) over SRL. Pacquaio avenged his losses against EM in their trilogy and rest assured would lay an ass whopping on whoever he lost to, he was really young in one and dehydrated in the other. Those are just losses though, resume wise it's a tough call. Duran has some top quality names/reign at 135/etc and Pacquiao has a lot of names/4 division champ by 30? EDIT - If you guys are counting 31 then Pac has 5 divisions under him. But Duran has top quality names like other posters mentioned.
Not sure, really. I mean, it's hard to compare some of these guys when I haven't see too much of them. I know Marcel became a champ later, and beat the great Arguello, but exactly how much can I take from simply looking at boxrec and his record in 1970? Did he greatly improve in the next couple years, on his road to being a champ? The copy of Duran-Marcel that I have is so shitty, that I didn't even bother watching it. It appears that Pacquiao has more wins over greats (JMM, MAB, and Morales will all rank higher than the likes of Buchanan and Dejesus), but Duran beat a pretty good amount of contenders while at LW. I'm not too famliar with the lower weight classes and some of the Asian fighters Pac beat earlier in his career, other than the fact that Sasakul was pretty highly regarded at 112 when Pac laid him out. Maybe those who've seen more can help sway me to one side of the fence.
the sugar ray win doesnt spell the difference...leonard set the records straight in the rematch...leonard was simply the better welter guy that time
Pacquiao's was consistently better, but Duran's win over Leonard was probably the single biggest win either of them had. I suppose it depends on how you look at it.
Duran. He has more depth. I rank him top 4 of all-time, if Pac were to retire tomorrow he might break the top 20. Might.