Watch Chavez/Whitaker. Replace Chavez with Pacquiao. Maybe Pa quiao gets help from the judges like Chavez did, but that is his only chance of winning a fight with Whitaker.
If McGirt faced Pac's recent comp though, he would have been pretty dominant too imo: Late stoppage on Hatton Comfy dec. vs. Cotto Comfy dec. vs. Clottey Comfy dec. vs. Margarito (getting hit a lot less) One sided drubbing of Oscar If he was around today we'd probably start getting McGirt vs. Robinson and Kid Gavilan threads popping up all over the place. As it stands I'm not convinced Pac gets any closer to Whitaker than Chavez got: probably getting outpunched at a ratio of 2:3 with Pac maybe scoring a knockdown along the way, but otherwise dropping most rounds. As an aside, I'm still not even convinced that Pac beats the Chavez that Whitaker fought at welterweight, past prime as he was.
McGirt was comfortably in the Morales, barrera, Marquez class imo.A guy who i thought was overrated in the late 80s, but now is maybe often underestimated because he fell short of being an all-timer Pac would match uup well with him i feel as McGirt was the kind of technician that liked to be fighting other tidy textbook types and could be knocked off-kilter by awkward aggression, but he's bigger and very good.Pac vs McGirt is a really intriguing fight at 140 or 147 imo.
Manny might get to Buddy in the end because of his high work rate (McGirt was never comfortable with high volume guys), but McGirt would definitely fair much better than any of Pac's recent foes. I see him outboxing Pac for periods of the fight but struggling to keep up the pace. I certainly wouldn't be shocked if Buddy beat Pac though.
Lazy starling would get thoroughly outworked while playing defence.Angry full of rage or merely focused Starling would Honeyghan him imo, or just counter too well and win a decision.Starling often let himself down, while Pac is a great focused fighter, but it would be like fighting a much more durable, bigger Marquez with those counters coming back at him in every exchange...only with one of THE great effective defensive styles.It would be a big fight so he should be up for it, which is key for Starling.unlike McGirt(who actually matches up better with starling)Marlon was ultra relaxed all the time and ideally suited to dmismantling unorthodox, energetic aggression.
Pretty much agree with Lora's take on it, but I find it hard to see Starling winning the fight on the judges' scorecards. You just know there'll be at least two incompetent ****s of the Jim Lampley "BAM! BAM! BAM!" variety, as Manny keeps banging into Mooch's gloves and scoring points for it. A close dissection of the fight would likely see a prime and focused Starling winning it. As an aside, I think Winky would beat Pac too, standing Pac up with a rhythm breaking jab more than coutnershots though.
yeah i see starling winning but now that you have mentioned it i do agree he may not get the decision
Duran does quite a bit better than Pacquiao, as he was quite a bit better in most aspects. His defense/head movement would be the key to his greater success, and by comparison Pacquiao's lack thereof. Whitaker/Duran is a difficult call, but I can't say I'd favor anyone outright.