Floyd Mayweather, as a lightweight.

Duran and Whitaker beat him clearly.

Williams would probably lose a fight in series with him but I see Ike coming out on top in that series.

Over 12...in Floyd's era..Id say he can best Armstrong, Gans and Leonard. But those are hard matches to discuss because of the changes in the sport for the modern era. I dont have a lot of confidence in Floyd being as successful or having the same kind of longevity in their eras.

I used to be in the Mosley would edge Floyd at lightweight camp but Ive since jumped ship and I reckon Floyd gets by Shane..just.

 

He gets beaten by Beau Jack, Sammy Angott, Jimmy Carter and Carlos Ortiz.

 

Given what he showed us at lightweight, I wouldn't jump ship mate. Not at all.

 

Floyd seemed to enter the lightweight division with a strong level of overconfidence and it showed in two particular bouts. He underestimated Castillo (though he physically wasn't 100%) and he thought Sosa was going to be a pushover, till this day I don't know why people don't look at this fight to find some of the *****s in Floyd's armor. Though honestly on his best night the only guys I would mark to definitely beat him are marginally low Duran, Whitaker, and Armstrong being the only 3. As SS has stated Angott's mugging style would give Floyd absolute hell. Lightweight was quite simply Floyd's worst weight barring 1 performance.

 

Duran: Mayweather by decision.9-3 or 8-4 Mayweather uses Duran's agrsive style against him. Mayweather is at his best when he can let his opoent come to him and he can counter him coming in. Mayweather is also the bigger man at 5′ 8″ and a 72" reach compared to Duran at 5′ 7″ and 66". 5" is a lot to overcome no matter how good you are. Wjith the way both boxers like to fight this favors Mayweather even more.
Ike Williams: I think this is one of the more intresting match ups hear. I think Winky Wright would give Mayweather a lot of problems and possibily beat him despite not being as good of a boxer as Mayweather. I fell the same way about Williams. Williams is good at picking his spots and may be able to make Mayweather come to him which would be to Williams advantage. Allthough Mayweather prefers to fight going backwards he is a capple forward boxer as well. Mayweather also enjoies a 4" reach 72"/68". That could make the diffrance. Mayweather 8-4 or 7-5
Gans: Gans is a better boxer and despite being shorter than Mayweather at 5′ 6½″ he has a 71" reach which is only 1" less than Mayweather's. I like Gans 9-3 or 8-4
Armstrong: For a lot of the same reasons I'm picking Mayweather over Duran I'm picking him over Armstrong as well. I know a lot of people will pick the human buzsaw that is Henry Armstrong to mow Mayweather down. The probblem with that is that Armmstrong will have to catch Mayweather first. I have my doubts that Mayweather is going to stand and excange with Armstrong. Armstrong is even shorter than Duran and has the same 5" disatvantage. I like Mayweather 9-3 or 8-4
Whitaker: Like Gans Whitaker is the better boxer he is also a southpaw. No one looks good against southpaws. I see Whitaker as having the slightly better defense and being the better offensive boxer. Mayweather is the bigger man but Like I think Williams coul I think Whitaker has a better chance of getting Mayweather to come to him. Also as we have seen in Whitaker/Chavez Whitaker can be agrisive effectivly when he needs to. I think this will be close but I like Whitaker 8-4 or 7-5
Leonard: They say Benny Leonard's greatest skill was being able to make his opoent do what they did not want to do. I can see Leonard drawing Mayweather to him and using angles to pick him off. I can also see him dancing around the ring frustrating Mayweather. Leonard 9-3 or 8-4
Mosley: I think Mosley has a chance hear. While I think Mosley's best wins may have been at 147. I think he is more dangrus at 135. At 5'9" and a 74" reach Mosley is the bigger man. I'm not sure that a 1" height advantage and a 2" advantage are going to make that much of a diffrance. As their real match up aproches in May the more I think Mayweather is going to win easily. Mosley's fighting style is closer to Duran's and Armstrong's than it is to Williams or to Gans, Whitaker and Leonard's styles. He is bigger and longer than Druan and Armstrong, that should help him. However his style is made for Mayweather's style. I like Mayweather 8-4 or 7-5. (I like Mayweather 9-3 or 10-2 in their upcoming fight.)

 

I personally cannot visualize any scenario in which PBF beats Duran.

 

A lot of that analysis is fairly shallow mate...I mean you went to some effort but really quoting heights and reaches is really not going deep enough at all.

You pretty much typed a whole lot to say nothing.

 

I think it is important to understand the conection between size and style in picking fights. A boxer who is taller and has a longer reach is at a great advantage if he uses these tools corectly. I fell Mayweathe uses his tools corectly. Therefore I fell that Height and reach are very relavent.

 

I think everyone of them beats him. Mayweather's best chances are with Mosley and Williams. I think Mayweather would also get beaten by Lou Ambers, Carlos Ortiz, Barney Ross and Tony Canzoneri.

He just did nothing at lw to suggest he would do good against the greats.

 

Duran - Duran UD
Ike Williams - mayweather wide UD, Williams plods too much
Gans - Mayweather UD - gans is a great pioneed but boxings moved on
Armstrong - Mayweather UD, Mayweather isnt losing to a midget pressure fighter. Ambers who wasnt as good gave him fits in his prime
Whitaker - Whitaker UD
Leonard - Mayweather UD - better, as skilled but a better athlete
Mosley - Mayweather UD - Mosley hasnt got the defense

You want to add:

Robinson - started as a LW and would clearly beat FMJ
Napoles - I'm not sure, havent seen enough Napoles at the weight and neither have fought anyone similar
Ortiz - too slow, gets outboxed
Ross - FMJ UD
Arguello - FMJ UD plods too much, too slow

 

Mosley at 135 had a very decent defence for a brawler. Mosley > Castillo.

 

I wouldn't bother touching Mayweather vs Gans, boxing has moved on too much since then, Gans was better in his era than Floyd has been in this, he is the greater fighter p4p, but trying to analyse who would win between them in the ring is so tenuous and vague it becomes meaningless.

If you consider what Floyd showed in his 4 fights at lightweight:

Castillo 1 - I had him losing by 2
Castillo 2 - I had him winning by 4 but shared the opinions of the crowd and the HBO commentary team - he ran and ran and ran to eke out a dull and unimpressive decision by refusing to engage his opponent
N'Dou - Lovely performance against an overmatched and inept opponent
Sosa - A points win against another of the hopeless handpicked variety

On that basis, he loses to pretty much every great lightweight. There's just nothing in there to suggest to me that Floyd was especially effective there. I very much enjoy watching the N'Dou performance, I think it's a cracking exhibition of Floyd's skills, but I don't rate it as a win because N'Dou was/is dreadful at world level.

One thing I'll say which I've said many times and believe completely - the Julio Cesar Chavez of the Rosario fight in '87 owns Floyd at lightweight. Chavez wins that one clearly and comprehensively.

 

This.

 

A lot of those guys dont fight tall and you dont look like you understand all those fighters attributes or are even aware of them. You have simply quoted what you could find off boxrec and other site that have raw boxing statistics.

Saying Gans is the better boxer..based on what exactly?
Saying Williams will make Floyd come to him simply because he is a bit taller.
Saying Duran cant beat Floyd because he gives away height and reach when Roberto has beaten bigger and better fighters then Floyd who held even clearer physical advantages over him.
Same goes for Armstrong.

Height and reach play their role but they are just one part of the whole picture..a picture you havent really analyzed at all.