Great thread! (I was actually thinking of doing something similar, although my match-ups would've been a bit 80's early 90's heavy lol) Hopkins vs. Marvelous is easy, Bernard every day of the week and twice on Sunday...15 or 12 rounds. Bhop too big for Marvin at any weight and may have stopped him with a liver shot. How about Marvin vs. Lights out at 160? Zarate is on a different level to Rafa Marquez (I maybe biased as i love watching Zarate, but check out Zarate vs Rodolfo Martinez for how this would go) I agree with what you say about Hamed vs Morales. I would actually give Naz more of a chance at landing something big on El Terrible then a cautious Barrera, the reason being that even though he was technically better then Barrera with better footwork, he fought on emotion quite a lot so Hamed would have more of chance of getting him to open up. I need more time to think about the rest, especially Mayweather/Duran and Trinidad/Vernon, WOW! can we say light the blue touch paper and stand well back.
No way he takes the 'boxer' route like Barrera. He'd force the action and declare war on the Prince. Morales has beaten Pac and proved he can cope with freakish power. Maybe Morales' lack of a cool head walks him on a peach of a shot and he touches down but no if I had to bet on it,it'd be Morales all the way. Hamed has never beaten anyone of his quality and never would IMO. Would've loved to see it.
(1) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Shane Mosley-I went through this the other day. Floyd super close points, though Shane by the same route is entirely possible. I think Floyd was closer to his best weight than Shane was there, Shane does his best work at Welter IMO. (2) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Roberto Duran-Terrible match-up for Floyd IMO. Duran is pretty much impossible to dissuade, especially at this weight. His accuracy is astounding, on a par if not better than Floyd, and although Mayweather has the edge in handspeed, I don't believe he can outslick Duran, who was as beautiful a boxer as he was brutal a fighter. Duran will land the right hand and follow it up with technical barrages; Floyd will have to adjust every round, as Duran was also an expert at making adjustments to open up his opponent. Duran TKO 8. (3) Bantamweight Carlos Zarate v Bantamweight Rafael Marquez-I don't like Rafa here. Zarate is bigger, hits harder, and I actually think Rafa's skills have improved and been refined post-118. Zarate would take him out in a five round war IMO. I'm not convinced Rafa is as good as say, Davila at getting in-and-out whilst landing good shots, and not sure that he can punch harder than Zamora to really gain Zarates attention. Zarate W KO 4 (4) Minimumweight Ricardo Lopez v Minimumweight Ivan Calderon-Lopez. Higher class of fighter IMO (though his resume is weak too) and I see no advantages for Calderon here. Lopez will tee up on him; the heavy artillery will follow once he's established the dominance of his jab. Lopez TKO 8 (5) Featherweight Naseem Hamed v Featherweight Erik Morales-Now this is a tough one. Hamed has a real chance as 'El Terrible' often let his heart rule his head. Morales has underrated skills, but I think he'll gt involved too much and Naz will get him with something fierce. At 126, Naz TKO 9, though I wouldn't disagree with any other prediction (though I'd fancy Naz's awkwardness to help him ride out any bad moments, never been sold on Morales power) (6) Middleweight Bernard Hopkins v Middleweight Marvin Hagler-B-Hop was more of a puncher at Middleweight, but I don't think even that coupled with his ability to forumulate/follow a game plan will help him against Marv. Hop used his legs to create angles rather than get away; over 15 Hagler might stop him. Over 12 I see Hagler having to really step it up to win the last 3 or 4 and get the W. I see each man taking a round apiece for the first 5 or 6 rounds, each man feeling each other out, Marv' doing some switch-hitting,. Hop then creating the angles to land his precise counters and take his own rounds. Hagler was just more proven IMO, though Hopkins is arguably a top 5 Middleweight IMO. Hagler W PTS (7) Welterweight Vernon Forrest v Welterweight Felix Trinidad-I like Forrest, but I don't think he's entirely unhittable or infallible. He had some amazing performances at Welter, but I don't think he was the monster the first Mosley fight painted him to be. Trinidad will get him at some point, and Forrest will stay hit. Tito W KO between rounds 5-8 ( 8 ) Welterweight Miguel Cotto v Welterweight Ike Quartey-This is a toughie. Its down to whether you think Quartey can pressurise Cotto enough to keep him off his game plan IMO. I think Cotto could squeek a super close PTS win out of this. I won't disagree with it going the other way. Quartey was sturdy as well, something which pisses Cotto off Quartey>>>Clottey, thats for sure. I'll tentatively go for Cotto W PTS
No f'n chance. Marv' was a short middle, but a tank; never visibly hurt in fights with Eugene Hart, Thomas Hearns and Robert Mugabi, Haglers ability to box as well as fight (he did both superbly IMO) his switch hitting (much better as a southpaw mind) his tenacity and punching power (concussive rather than brutal IMO) would give Hopkins the hardest night he's ever had. Hop would find it very hard to get his positioning down IMO, Hagler could take it away in the later rounds with sheer aggression. Bernard was more active in his younger days, but he'd need to be at his cagy, punch-picking best to have a chance of winning IMO, even with his durability I think Hagler could force a stoppage.
What does everyone think of this one:yep Featherweight: Prince Naseem Hamed Vs Danny 'Little Red' Lopez
On the contrary, I think Morales is the one fighter of that era that Hamed wouldn't have a chance with. Of the three Mexicans and Pacquiao I think he's the hardest matchup. Rock solid chin, enough power in both hands and the footwork to befuddle Naz. The others all had little faults that Naz could exploit...... Barrera wasn't a natural counter puncher Marquez was/is vulnerable early Pacquiao was one dimensional and predictable That said, I see Hamed going 0-4 against this lot, possibly stopped a couple of times too.
Prime Hamed would hold his own IMO, I reckon he'd stop Featherweight Pac, who was just too reckless IMO. I wouldn't make him favourite over any of them, but I think he was a pretty hard proposition H2H for any of these @ 126 (at his peak compared to theirs)
(1) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Shane Mosley. Mosley SD (2) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Roberto Duran. Duran TKO 11 (3) Bantamweight Carlos Zarate v Bantamweight Rafael Marquez. Zarate TKO 12 (4) Minimumweight Ricardo Lopez v Minimumweight Ivan Calderon. Lopez close UD (5) Featherweight Naseem Hamed v Featherweight Erik Morales. Morales wide UD (6) Middleweight Bernard Hopkins v Middleweight Marvin Hagler. Hagler close UD (7) Welterweight Vernon Forrest v Welterweight Felix Trinidad. Forrest SD ( 8 ) Welterweight Miguel Cotto v Welterweight Ike Quartey. Quartey SD
(1) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Shane Mosley. Mayweather via close UD (2) Lightweight Floyd Mayweather v Lightweight Roberto Duran. Duran TKO (3) Bantamweight Carlos Zarate v Bantamweight Rafael Marquez. Zarate TKO (4) Minimumweight Ricardo Lopez v Minimumweight Ivan Calderon. Lopez TKO (5) Featherweight Naseem Hamed v Featherweight Erik Morales. Morales UD, whilst he would obviously have his Morales moments I think he'd use his skills a bit more in this one (6) Middleweight Bernard Hopkins v Middleweight Marvin Hagler. Hagler SD (7) Welterweight Vernon Forrest v Welterweight Felix Trinidad. Trinidad KO ( 8 ) Welterweight Miguel Cotto v Welterweight Ike Quartey. Quartey TKO
I'll see your Hamed-Lopez and raise you: ***Featherweight Juan Manuel Marquez v Featherweight Erik Morales*** Don't know why I didn't add this one to begin with. And sorry Fleaman, I haven't watched enough of Little Red to make an accurate judgement in your fight.
I think Marquez holds the edge in timing, accuracy and intelligence. 126lbs Marquez was a bit more cautious, and didn't let his hands go as often as he does now (post-bad Pac decisions he's visibally turned it up a notch) and I think Morales could well be outpunching throughout the fight, but Marquez's stamina was one of his plus points; I see him trying to force a late stoppage. I'm gonna' go for most of the rounds to be very tight; Morales throwing more, keeping it disciplined at times, but allowing his warrior heart to get himself into some heated exchanges with JMM, and therefore allowing Marquez to land some quality shots. The last few rounds would be all out war IMO. A hard fight to score, Morales needs to take a mixed approach as all-out guts from the start will see lose IMO. Marquez needs to be patient to start with and try and get off the bombs as the fight goes on. Probably no knockdowns. DRAW Trust me, Hamed vs Lopez could fight ten times, there'd be ten different 1st round stoppages:yep