LW Tournament Decade's Best: DURAN 1978, CHAVEZ 1987, WHITAKER 1990, MAYWEATHER 2002

He was fighter who trained down at the 5th Street Gym in Miami. One of Angelo Dundee's fighters. I can't mind his name.

 

based on what flaw of PBF's???

 

Duran has got the style at lightweight to cope with Whitaker better than Chavez IMO. Just a far more well rounded machine offensively and defensively. Much more varied in terms of how he gets inside. Uses feints, quicker feet, better defense, and simply isn't as one dimensional.

Watch Duran-De Jesus III and you'll see Duran playing the percentage game in a way that Chavez could only dream of doing.

 

Duran faced quite a few guys with good defense at lightweight.

A young, pre-prime Duran got the better of one of the best lightweights of all time in Ken Buchanan by chasing him around the ring and bringing the pressure. Buchanan had good defense indeed and was tough as nails to boot. Duran had a fairly easy time with him.

Another fighter with good ring movement that Duran mastered was Edwin Viruet. Viruet, although no great fighter, was the type that would likely beat the likes of Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales. Fast feet, fast hands and a solid chin. Duran had a hard time with him the first time round, but when the championship was on the line he battered him ruthlessly.

Duran has faced other guys like Lou Bizarro who was an out and out runner. Duran eventually caught up with him and viciously knocked him out.

Duran unquestionably has what it takes to get at defensive minded movers when he is at his best.

If you've missed out on Duran as a lightweight, you've missed out on Duran.

He was good for bouts against Leonard (first time round) and Palomino at welterweight, but after that he was a shadow of his lightweight self. Not even comparable.

Chavez has not dealt with a more diverse cast than Duran or Whitaker.

He sure showed his versatility against Sweet Pea. He was winning rounds without landing punches! That takes some talent :good

It's hilarious that you have Chavez 1st and Whitaker 4th when Pernell clowned Chavez

I think I'll let Sweet Pea take it from here.

 

delete

 

all 3 beat chavez,
duran decisions mayweather
mayweather decisions whitaker (razor thin)
whitaker decision duran (also razor thin)

 

This is my problem with these sorta threads...it's limited to a much older crowd and when a younger breed such as myself tries to do limited research and give an honest answer we get serious amount of **** because we say Mayweather or Chavez, instead of the general concensus of Whitaker or Duran

Seeing as how theyre the oldest and slickest of the bunch they get the nod...

But I guess with the "****" I receive I learn many new things about the older world of boxing :conf

IMHO I think Chavez gets it...he's dealt with many of different types of fighters and I think depending on the atmosphere, the X factor of his heart and aggression depends on where he fights...if it's in Mexico...no way he's losing...no ****in' way...But again it's JMO

 

On the judges cards? Sure. But put Whitaker against him in Culiacan and Chavez still gets his ass rat-a-tattooed all night long.

 

Possibly...

What would you say about Chavez vs. Duran as far as percentages go?

 

I think Duran was a more vicious version of Chavez and as such would come out on top against Chavez.

Duran had faster closing speed, faster hands, better defense and a better workrate.

As such, I see him outworking and outscoring Chavez to a points win.

Out of all the matches in this quartet, I think Duran-Chavez is the easiest to predict.

There won't be any knockouts, there won't be any 'style' issues and both men will play to their strengths. It's simply evident that Duran's strengths were a little bit more pronounced.

 

Not rude at all...if you called me a moron or a dumbass or something of the sort then i'd say your being a dick...but your a respectable poster and i enjoy these because its like you said...it's a boxing forum and one of the purposes is to learn from such debates, but some people hold older boxers on a pedastool that they find it blasphemous if you try to say a current era fighter would beat the older one and sling horrible insults that only devolve a constructive debate.

I said oldest and slickest because it's just that...Whitaker and Chavez's primes are quite close in years so it's not SIGNIFICANTLY older...but im not trying to mix the two together. Whitaker being the slickest and Duran being the oldest.

I honestly feel the toss up would be between Whitaker and Chavez...with Mayweather being last. Jesus Chavez and Gernaro Hernandez are NOTHING like Duran or Chavez...they are much more inferior in every way. And seeing as how he was having a rough battle with both, I don't see him surviving either. With Whitaker I think he might just slightly take it over Mayweather, but it's pretty close because as Divac said Whitaker wasn't too judge friendly and Mayweather was more open offensively as a LW than he is/was currently. Duran and Chavez would be a battle and another I couldn't decide on...but my bias will go towards Chavez on this one.

EDIT: I would like to make a side note that I am aware that Jesus Chavez and Genaro were at the super flyweight days of Mayweather, but those were the closest thing to pressure fighters in which he'd faced serious adversity during those days. The first Castillo fight is bull**** to gauge because he fought injured and CLEARLY outboxed him in the rematch.

 

I shall look into researching the great super featherweights of the past decades :thumbsup