Myth: Roberto Duran has a better resume than Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Seems like a pretty good break down, but no fighters in the 6-10 range for Duran? Not saying you're wrong, but seems a bit surprising.

 

They probably don't consider you worth the time.

 

That's a good point. When did 130 start as a weight class?

 

What's your problem with that breakdown then?

 

I wonder whether Boxrec has any functions that would allow someone to figure out how many active fighters there were in each weightclass.

When you split the gap between 147 and 160 (for example) into additional weight classes, you're drawing off a few big welters and a fair number of small middles. 168 and 140 drain the middleweight and welterweight divisions from the other directions, respectively. So the talent pool you'd face in any one weight class would be smaller than before.

As you say, it's usually assumed that globalization counters that issue, inflating the truncated weight classes back to their earlier sizes. So no change between 160 back then and 160 now. But I don't know whether this is true. A while back, someone on the Boxrec forums counted up the number of recorded fights in the system by decade. Multiple decades in the 20th/21st centuries had comparable numbers of fights to the recent global era, despite record keeping tech being better today. Might be that fighters simply fought more back then, but even so...

 

The 168-pound division did exist in the mid 80s. It started in 1984 . Duran even fought for the WBC Super Middleweight title against Leonard. Lost in a lackluster bout.

 

130 and 140 both existed in Duran 's prime, though. And 154 when he moved to WW, I think.

 

Gotcha. Yes, that strengthens the case you made.

 

I think this breakdown gives a good base. You also have to account for that the nr 1s Duran beat was of a very high quality of course (and that his quit job against Leonard was an unprecedented disgrace), but it's a good way to start.

I see no basis for the dismissive answers from some.

 

So are Joe Calzaghe and Sven Ottke do you have them over Duran and SRL as well?

 

I know I don't. Any credibility he had disappeared after his Foreman-Briggs thread.