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

He wasn't good because he fought nobodies, until he fought the WBC champion where he became a Great fighter overnight because that is exactly how it works. Sound logic. The fight is on tape. You can watch it and make the judgement. The fight with Duran made both fighters World ranked top 10 contenders.

WBA featherweight rankings, August 13 1970 (fight was on May 16th):

Champion - Shozo Saijo

#1 . Vicente Saldivar (WBC Champion)
#2 . Antonio Gomez
#3 . Frankie Crawford
#4 . Jose Legra
#5 . Eder Jofre
#6 . Roberto Duran
#7 . Raul Cruz
#8 . Kuniaki Shibata
#9 . Godfrey Stevens
#10. Ernesto Marcel

Note: 8 of the 11 either were or would go on to become World champions when being a World Champion meant something.

The featherweight limit has been 126lbs since the 20s btw. He was only 3lbs heavier which was normal for non-title fights.

 

Tommy Hearns was always lanky. He wasn't no weight bully who was rehydrating 10-15 pounds even in the 36 hour weigh in era. He weighed in 160lbs, same as Leonard, for their 2nd fight contested at 168lbs.

Barkley started out in 1982. Same day weigh-ins ended somewhere around mid 80s. Besides, Barkley won't fight for the world title in this period, effectively excusing him from making weight. Don't quote me on the last one though. I haven't delved much into Barkley's early career.

 

Says the guy that glorifies Arturo Gatti on Floyd's behalf just because he is a Hall of Famer.

The Shibata robbery was closer to the Duran fight than any of Marcel's blemishes, one of which he had avenged prior to the Duran fight. And who in God's green earth has watched any of Marcel's fights prior to fighting Duran ? That's literally his first available fight.

 

His losses were by UD. I find that hard to believe for a Fighter who fought to win every sec of every round and did it successfully multiple times against elite opposition. It wouldn't surprise me if Marcel was on the receiving end of a robbery more than once in his career.

 

Canelo was also badly weight drained, extremely inexperienced, only had one good win - the leftovers of the 2000s welterweight division doesn't count as such, btw - and arguably had lost twice himself (Trout & Vazquez). The logic used here is utterly pathetic. The point is that both were young, inexperienced fighters who'd go on to do great things. The only problem is, that Marcel was better. And it's not even remotely close.

Please tell me, what fights prior to Duran have you seen?

The very fact you'd even suggest there's footage of Marcel prior to Duran just shows how little you actually know about him.

 

Canelo wasn't yet what he was to become, but he was still the best SWW in the world and Floyd, in his mid 30's and giving up 20 lbs, beat him easily.

So far so good.

The only question mark is the catch weight, but seeing how well beaten he was I have a hard time seeing that as the decisive factor.

 

He was 162,5 lbs and there were financial penalties if either weighed in over 164 - a clause that Leonard had brought in, according to Boxrec.

 

Hearns actually came in UNDER the welterweight limit for his fight vs Leonard.

 

I'm not Mayweathers biggest fan but Canelo only weighed 1 pound less in a prior fight to fighting Mayweather.

 

What are you on about? I provided a source where the first 50 fighters averaged 12lbs weight increase from weigh in to fight night.

The average weight increase from weigh in to fight night in the 70s obviously wasn't 12lbs. I really shouldn't have to explain that.

 

Leonard thought he had shed a lot of water weight to drop down to that, and that seems plausible. Hearns had fights at 160 around this time.

 

Hearns moved up in weight after that. Hearns actually had a very hard time gaining weight when he was young.
Steward recalled having to wake up at odd hours of the night to feed Hearns mash potatos to get Tommy to gain enough weight when he was moving up to Light Heavy to face Andries.
Steward went on to state they were constantly feeding Hearns and at first it wasn't doing anything until they started feeding him at basically all hours of the day and night. I will try to find that article with the interview.
It was brought up because the person conducting the interview asked Steward if there was a chance of Tommy moving up to cruiser to capture another title and Steward laughed and said no because of the struggle to get Hearns to move to Lightheavy.

 

The 155 he was in his very next fight is probably what he was when he didn't need to make 147. He weighed in at 152 as early as 1979.

That he needed to eat a lot to gain an extra 20 lbs to get to 175 isn't really surprising,