You said heavy underdog which is ridiculous. PBF wouldn't be a heavy underdog to Duran he's too good defensively and has a ATG ring IQ.
Dumb argument. What did Pea Whitaker have to keep JCC Jr off of him? Not only that at 130 PBF could crack he would get his respect if not Duran's face would be busted up from clean counters and flush straight right hands. BTW PBF doesn't fade he's a 15 round fighter, he retains his speed from the 1st round to the last, there's no quit in him but there is in Duran.
Look at how Castillo and Maidana gave Floyd huge problems, then look at how Duran fought..He would be the exact fighter and some, that I would pick to beat a 130lb Floyd. Don't forget, he moved up and fought someone (as stated above), bigger and stronger with genuine ko power and to most, the best 147lb fighter or one of thee best in Leonard ever. He had the balls that Floyd never had, that's a massive factor in the fight. Can you see Floyd moving up and fighting Leonard like Duran did ?? No, me neither
This guy beat Ray Leonard. Come on. Ray Leonard stopped Tommy Hearns and Benitez FFS. Duran is clearly the favorite here.
Look at how DeJesus Benitez and SRL beat made him quit and gave him huge problems. PBF was passed his best against Maidana he was 36 he wasn't prime even then he still beat him 2x. PBF had issues with JLC with a bad shoulder in the rematch he dealt with JLC easily. What you fail to understand is that having problems and losing are 2 different things. Duran has shown more weaknesses in his career than PBF has. BTW I do think that PBF would have jumped up from 135 to 147 to fight someone like Oscar or Shane back then. He called them out but was ignored because he was seen as too high risk and low reward. BTW I don't see a short armed fighter who struggles and gets frustrated against defense and movement as any recipe to trouble a prime PBF. I see a guy like Hearns troubling him because he's the perfect combination of size power speed and skills. Duran not so much.
Duran was better at 135 than 130. He didn't campaign long enough at 130 to be considered an ATG at that division; if I remember correctly he was beaten early in his career at 130 lbs to Esteban De Jesus, a fight which Duran avenged twice over at 135 lbs where he has an argument as the greatest LW ever along with Benny Leonard and Ike Williams. I won't go too deep into an analysis with Floyd vs Duran at any weight but I will say Roberto didn't like guys with elite defense that moved around a lot. It was his Achilles heel and frustrated him on more than one occasion. Most look at his loss to SRl in their second bout and that's a gameplan Floyd could easily apply, never actually hurt Roberto but get some shots in and stay in perpetual motion. Duran liked guys that stood their ground and actually fought him. If the Leonard fight isn't a good enough example, look no further than about 2 years after that match when he took on another defensive fighter in Wilfred Benitez and lost that match as well. Styles make fights and Robbie doesn't like elusive fighters with elite defense. He's not "murdering" a prime Floyd Mayweather Jr as some posters have mentioned.
He might be the favorite but he wouldn't be the heavy favorite and all the wise guys would have money on PBF because he's a stylistic nightmare for Duran. PBF unlike SRL won't get caught up in machismo and mind games he will stick and move and box using his superior reach and reflexes to control range and dictate distance. He will fight his fight unlike SRL in their 1st fight.
Ray Leonard has a longer reach than Mayweather and he's faster and hits much harder. It's like we've already seen Duran beat a superior version of Mayweather before...
SRL isn't really that much superior, what PBF lacks in power when comparing him to SRL he more than makes up for it in reflexes countering defense and ring IQ. PBF will not fight Duran's fight like SRL did he's too smart he will fight to his strengths not to his opponents that's the biggest difference here and you're overlooking that aspect.
A lot of guys tried a lot of tactics, including trying to mimic what Maidona and Castillo did. None of it worked. You can picked the two worst nights of Mayweathers career and he still won those fights.
