Roberto Duran v. PBF at welterweight

The Duran of the Leonard fight beats the Floyd of today, quite handily. Floyd at WW is less impressive than at any other weight. He's slower and his workrate is down significantly. Against a pressure fighter, he relies on countering off the ropes, which requires being stationary, and unless you're in full motion against Duran, or have ther firepower to keep him off, you're in trouble. Floyd has shown more suceptibilities to pressure fighters than any other style. He usually takes a while to adjust to even B level ones, but eventually headapts and wins based on clean punching. However, a lot of that also has to do with the level of pressure fighter he's fought. I for one think Cotto would beat him if they fought now. Duran for certain. Far too aggressive, and unlike other pressure fighters Floyd's faced, Duran is even craftier and more versatile on the inside than Floyd, not just more powerful. Floyd's stationary, rope a dope style off fending off pressure fighters wouldn't work against Duran. He'd get beat up.

 

Floyd by unanimous decision. At lightweight, it'll be reversed though.

 

If Duran came in super motivated like the first Leonard fight he would win. He had otherwordly skills to go along with his aggression and solid punch. Someone mentioned Cotto but I don't think he's in Duran's class. He is a fine fighter though.

 

Cotto's style is made for Duran, absolutely made for him. He is one guy i feel VERY confident Duran would defeat quite easily. Mosely showed him up a little, peak Duran at 147 would beat him almost as easily as he beat Moore at 154 i reckon.

 

There were many versions of Duran The Lightweight thru Duran-Leonard I......Duran-Leonard 2.....then the on & off Duran thereafter.

The best of Duran should beat PBF, but if PBF figures out what Leonard did and goes into "clown mode", you could see a "No Mas Part 2".

 

Cotto's style isn't quite as made for Duran as you might think. Although that depends whats on your mind regarding Cotto as a fighter. He's not one dimensional, and certainly has tricks up his sleeve to make life difficult for Duran. I would say Cotto's movement and ring generalship are very underrated parts of his game. Does he have the techincal skills to do what Leonard done in New Orleans?. Absolutley not. However, that aside, he's not quite made for Duran like some others are.

Cotto possesses good lateral movement and rock solid jab, even though he comes to mind as a hunter, like Duran himself.

 

Good post :good

 

Some points in favour of Mayweather:

1. Mayweather got outboxed by a similar fighter in Benitez
2. Mayweather would be the best defensive fighter Duran had faced. (Watch Mayweather in slow mo and you'll see punches you thought hit him did not, hes also amazing defensively at range and in close)
3. Mayweather would not stand in front of Duran like Leonard did in the first
4. Duran would be the 1 making more mistakes and getting punnised for them
5. Mayweather is ofcourse faster

Points in favour of Duran

1. Mayweathers speed has dropped at 147 drastically (but hes still allot faster than )
2. Mayweather had problems with Castillo (but won both fights and beat other pressure fighters like Corrales, Chavez and Hatton)
3. Duran has better stamina
4. Duran is the better offensive fighter
5. Mayweathers negativity may work against him

This has all the makings of a very close contest. Anyone denegrating either mans chances or claiming either man will be stopped has a poor knowledge of the sport and of both fighters

 

Mayweather doesn't have stamina problems. Duran would be seen to have better stamina because of his style and the way he imposes himself aggressively. But Mayweather probably trains as hard as Duran ever did, and his defensive style doesn't get the plaudits it should regarding stamina.

 

Mayweather punch output is very low (although he was around 40punches a round against Hatton). He never seems to have amazing stamina but he does do something the entire 3miniutes of every round despite not throwing allot of punches

However fast fighters do use up allot of energy throwing fast punches and it is much more tiring to throw faster punches. This is actually a disadvantage of having fast hands or having allot of power. You may have good stamina but you can't throw as many shots because each shot loses allot of energy.

So is Mayweather's punch output lowish because of stamina problems or because he only punches when he knows he won't get countered? I think it is a combination of the 2

 

Duran, the master of interrogation vs. Mayweather, the master of manipulation.

Duran's offensive advances could find all kinds of gaps in opponents and Mayweather's airtight defence and economical, clean punching could steal rounds off of the harder working fighter.

They both weave a web of similar quality but have different methods of execution. Like interchanging magnets, their styles would repel and attract each other, but the fight has the material to become a torrid one, which is where the very best Welterweight Duran would find his home.

At Welterweight, Mayweather has still been magnificent, but a tad slower, and less active. With Duran, Floyd will be attempting to manipulate and slow down one of the very best guys at stopping you doing just that.

In a good old 15 round slog, you would get technical brilliance from both men until the action-forcing Duran would eventually start putting exclamation marks on his inside infiltration and combinations.

The Mayweather of the Hatton fight looked golden, but a pumped-up, 147lbs Duran would make things happen and win a decision.

 

Because thats his style, simple. Some fighters don't feel comfortable throwing a blizzard of punches during every round.

 

The welterweight version of Duran who fought Leonard and Carlos Palomino i would favor over Mayweather. Duran at his best wouldn't quit like he did in New Orleans when motivated and pumped so that theory shoudl be thrown out that if you clown him he will quit.

 

Floyd showed a better ability to fight on the backfoot and use movement, rather than relying on counter-punching off the ropes(likely due to better stamina and overall better physical ability) at LW than he did WW. At WW, that style is begging to get the user beaten up by someone like Duran. At LW, I'd still favor Duran, but style-wise Floyd's chances actually may increase.