Duran V Mayweather At Lightweight 12 and 15 rounds

Duran in both scenarios. I'm of the opinion he was not only more skilled than Mayweather, but more physically gifted. Mayweather's defense and offense is rigid and mechanical compared to Duran IMO. Mayweather's impressive, but not that impressive in comparisons to the very best of the best.

 

Think Castillo 3x. :deal

 

Mayweather wins a hard fought competitive trilogy?

I'm sure Duran could take one in there somewhere!

 

I fancy Duran kicking the heck of Mayweather in any possible scenario at lightweight, because Duran was absolutely dominant in that category :deal

 

Duran wins, different levels.

 

I don't favor anybody over Duran @ 135. That's his domain and he thrives as arguably the greatest to ever do it there. Argue Gans and Leonard greater, say Whitaker and Williams would beat him. I don't agree.

 

Duran UD in 12, or
Duran TKO in 14

 

You mean bad scoring nearly robs Maywether of a win. Mayweather won both fights clearly and he'd beat Duran clearly as well.

 

I agree fully with this.

 

All you need to know is how they each react when things don't go acording to plan.
Duran quits and Mayweather stays focused on the task.

 

Mayweather UD 116-112 - it's a Benitez v Duran scenario, which is the ideal style to neutralise Duran. Too much speed and reach, Duran's pressure would be effective but it doesn't land enough or break Mayweather down enough or win enough rounds.

 

Though i rate Mayweather's skills highly too wouldn't you say that Castillo rematch was a bit dissapointing, PP?

It wasn't a shut out by any means, just a good workmanlike victory - it's hard to imagine someone like let's say focused Toney struggling with this kind of fighter.

And Castillo was more methodical, slower and less technical fighter than Duran.

 

It wasn't his most impressive performance offensively, I think mainly because he couldn't shift Castillo who was bigger and stronger than him. People call it a negative performance but I think it was more a case of Mayweather being unable to back him up or exchange with him. Maybe it was his hand problems too, which we know he had around this period, he looked a more impressive puncher through the Ndou-Mitchell fights, so it may have been an issue. You could argue some of those were limited/weaker opponents. So did he get stronger at the weight and his hand condition improving or was Castillo just that resilient, strong and quality of an opponent?

Castillo isn't nearly as good as Duran granted, so I get the point your getting but on the other hand I certainly don't think Castillo had his number. Castillo himself is a little underrated, as he wasn't flashy. But he fought everyone around in his 2 LW reigns, slowly methodically breaking down top contenders and champions alike.

 

Castillo was a good fighter, no doubt.

I'd say lightweight was Mayweather's least impressive weight as far as performances concern which is quite surprising considering it's closer to his best weight.

He just didn't look 100% convincing as a truly dominating fighter.

Although against lesser fighters but Mayweather looked far more steady at light welter.