I'd feel pretty comfortable choosing Laguna. He had much better lateral movement, and I think he'd be able to outbox Floyd when the fight was in center ring. If Laguna was able to elude and outbox Ortiz, I doubt Floyd's forcing this fight inside, either.
Interesting match, Laguana probably does have the better lateral movement and jab, but Floyd is quite a bit faster, a better puncher, more accurate, better timing, probably stronger, better stamina. Both good defensively, Floyd better. 8-4 or 9-3 FMJ
Floyd isn't faster at all, nor is he really much better in any of those departments you mentioned, his style is just more suited to emphasizing some of those strengths, whereas Laguna was just a lot more fluid.
He is better in all of those departments, certainly faster hands, have you watched Laguana recently? Saying Laguana is faster than Floyd is either insane, biased or ignorant. You pick against Floyd in nearly any competant operator so obviously you either dislike him or don't rate him, either way you have a biased outlook, as many may say of me in his favour. Lets also not forget the art of winning and the 'intangibles', Laguana nearly lost every year of his prime
That could be, or it could be that I've actually watched Laguna fight rather than looked his record up on Boxrec and drawn my conclusions from there. Not a very effective way of gauging a fighter's speed (or ability in general), though. You should probably look into the film aspect of boxing, it's a lot more telling than Boxrec. I picked him in the only other hypothetical matchup thread done today, and oddly enough, it was in a thread where just about everyone disagreed with me, you aside. So this point doesn't hold much merit, either. Laguna was consistently fighting world class opposition in his losses. Floyd hasn't so much mastered the art of winning as he's mastered the art of nit-picking the lowest risk, highest reward opponents. There's a difference.
Laguna mirrored Floyd in some ways, especially the way he would jump in with the straight right hand. Not to mention he kept a steady stiff jab pumping throughout the fight. Floyd would definately have some success and I can't completely count him out, but Ismael seemed to have a style that would REALLY bother Floyd, especially if you watch the Floyd/Sosa fight at lightweight. Like Laguna, Sosa kept the high guard, he came forward intelligently, and a his rhythm (bobbing side to side, like Ismael) threw off Floyd's timing. 50/50 fight, but I'll say Laguna close UD OR SD.
1. FYI I've watched plenty of Laguana fights, hes a top class boxer but hes certainly not as fast as Floyd 2. Floyd has fought fighters on the level of Buchanon and Ortiz imo, much bigger fighters and many of the top fighters in the divisions hes fought in. He also wouldnt come close to losing to a 5'3 Saldivar, also ran contenders like Elorde, Espinoza. Aside from Loche, Buchanon, Ortiz his comp isn't exactly breathtaking, and how many wins did he manage against those 3 in 5 fights? Only 1!!! And saying Laguna fought the best of the best simply isnt true anyway, where's the fight with Napoles the best LW of this time?
Aside from Saldivar, Ortiz(x3), Loche, Elorde and Buchanan(x2), who were all better fighters at the time he fought them than anyone Floyd Mayweather has ever fought, Laguna's resume is not that breathtaking.
Yes anyone who fought in the 60s-70s trumps anyone from modern day, so FMJ facing the best of the best from 130-135 means nothing right? You forget the most similar fighter to Floyd that Laguana faced is Loche and he drew. But Floyd is faster, more athletic and has more to his game than Loche Allot of these fighters aren't as great as is made out. Salvidar was just a midget, technically very solid, good pressure, nice punch technique but would he win 2rounds against FMJ? Doubtful.