Roberto Duran vs Floyd Maywather Jr @lw

If you ran, Duran would chase you, if you boxed, he would box with you.

Like someone has already said, to keep Duran off you, you had to have an equaliser. Mayweather just didn't have that.

Mayweather would frustrate, postulate and squirm for 4-5 rounds, but for the remaining 7 or 8, Duran would overwhelm him.

 

Mayweather is a great boxer who is adaptable, versatile, and resourceful. I don't think anyone from 140 down has an easy time with him. Duran had very fast feet, when he applied pressure, he could swarm opponents and not give them room to breathe, or also do it in a more methodical and patient manner. I think he'd try out both styles to see what works better on Floyd.

Mayweather would also probably try to use a lot of movement on Duran, and would have success in spots. Duran could close the distance well though, and he's not some guy that Floyd is easily going to pick apart from the outside anyway. Duran was difficult as hell to hit cleanly, and perhaps no one was better at mixing offense and defense as Duran was.

Duran wins a competitive decision IMO.

 

Just like he did with Leonard in that second fight. The blueprint on beating Duran was set in that fight. Mayweather has the ability to implement such a stratagy and get away with it.

 

floyd could do that, but floyd is not at sturdy as leonard is. one punch can change the fight. duran is very good at applying pressure.

 

Yeah, firstly, we are talking Lightweight here. Duran was in tremendous shape, and never beaten without revenge.

If we are going to bring in what happened at higher weights into the equation, I could just pull out the first Duran-Leonard fight.

The rematch was in my view an instance, not a marker of who was genuinely the superior boxer. Duran was supposedly in average condition, and Leonard didn't just outbox him in that fight, he out macho-ed him. He took his dignity.

Floyd has never shown the ringcraft necessary, certainly not at Lightweight, to truly humiliate a fighter the way Leonard did to Duran that night, that night was Leonard's make or break, and he pulled it off to perfection.

If you wanted to just pick out fights Duran performed poorly in, or wa outboxed, you could have picked Wilfred benitez as well, but like I say, at Lightweight, at his best, Duran beats Mayweather, at Lightweight, at his best.

 

The hate is unbelievable here. Floyd DOES have the skills/heart/style to beat Duran. Quit the bull**** about Duran murdering Floyd. Floyd can be great in any era. IMO Duran wins a competitive decision. Duran was nice at that weight. Any other weight class I think Floyd beats him.

 

From lw to ww, I'd heavily favor Duran. Upwards, Floyd probably has the style to beat him, but then Floyd never matched his skills vs a Wilfred Benitez, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, or Iran Barkley.

 

Ray fought his fight and you guys know it if you saw the fights. Look at the fights. Duran could not reach Ray in two fights after that. The excuse was he was out of shape? Who else gets that sort of excuse in boxing? Ray outboxed him as Ray said he would. Ray said in the rematch he would fight his fight and not Duran's, and he did and he stopped Duran. Anyway, say Duran only beat Ray the one time they fought in 1980. That does not get him 1-5 ranking unless Ray is number one. You cannot have it both ways. What makes Duran top 1-5 ATG? Fighting Lampkin. Buchanan. You know his lightweight competition was not that great to get him that ranking.

Duran fans have this logic. They think because he had charisma and maschismo that he can lose to all the greats, yet have excuses to explain it. Just because a guy like likable does not mean you have to rate him higher than he should be. I give him 20-25. No bad at all.
No he never koed an ATG. And now he is going to knockout Mayweather? What fact do we have to base it on? Really-What fact?

You guys do not use facts at all. You just have this admiration and then you say Duran will stop Mayweather that easily. Yet when he was matched with fast fighters who were great he lost in lopsided fashion. Look at the facts. You all see them, that is why you get all frustrated when I explain myself, because you know I am not saying anything really special. I am just stating facts everyone knows deep down. It isn't about me. I think I am being the objective ones, and you guys are being subjective.

If you look objectively at Duran's career. Great at lightweight vs. mediocre competition. moves up and beats Ray. Great win when Ray was at the beginning of his reign. Ray fights his fight with Ray thinking he could beat anyone without fighting his fight. Duran wins, but Ray learns his lesson and fights his fight the next fight and outclasses Duran. Duran is not as great as Ray as you guys know that. He got lucky in the first fight when Ray fought his fight, and even then Duran did not stop Ray.

Duran then losses to Benitez,Hearns and Hagler. but beats Moore and Barkley for titles, since he cannot beat the ATGs he fights. And that translates to 1-5 ATG ever? What you guys are doing is taking a liking for a very nice person in Duran and a guy with a great personality, and ranking his boxing skills higher than they should be. A great fighter, but not that great. A great boxing personality yes.

 

Leonard rarely ever fought like he did against Duran in the rematch, all fleet-footed and moving. Hagler and Duran were the exceptions, he was usually more flat-footed, used his upper body more in his defense rather than his legs, put more leverage into his shots, etc...

Leonard "outclassing" Duran in the rematch is greatly exaggerated, the fight was competitive and Leonard wasn't even landing that much consistency, which makes Duran's quit job all the more disgraceful.

 

Also. Duran did not fight Leonard at lightweight. Had a Ray Leonard fought Duran at lightweight and not fought Duran's fight he would have outclassed him the same way. Duran cannot win when he cannot touch his opponent and if the opponent is landing at will on him. Whitaker and Mayweather would have beaten Duran fighting their fight. I don't even think it would be very competitive once they got their rhythm and started to outbox Duran. But as always, Duran would have an excuse after the fight on why he lost. Probably the same one he always used. That he was out of shape and didn't train.

 

Why do you think so little of De Jesus?

Look at those fights and it's obvious that Duran can fight fast guys. Look at the Leonard - Duran I fight, watch the damn fights and look..that's all you got to do..Duran was plenty fast in those fights..just watch..simply at that.

As to why Duran was great, look at his record. He fought 119 time and lost 16 fights, 8 of them came after the 3rd SRL fight. that's an awesome record by anyone's standards. Rather than simply hate the guy, why don't you at least watch him with your own eyes before spewing all this crap that people who have watched him know isn't true. It's as basic as that.

He's at the very least the 2nd best lightweight of all time, and many have him as the best. surely with that kind of rating one would think you could appreciate his talents, especially considering he beat probably the 2nd best welterweight in history, in SRL's prime. That's a hell of an accomplishment no matter how you try and spin it. And since you appear to be a huge, huge SRL fan, you should appreciate that accomplishment even more.

 

:huh

KD twice in 41 fights....one time he took a knee after hurting his hand, the other a flash KD (balance, glove touching the mat) vs. Judah (though not official, still a KD for arguments sake)

not sure i see where he isn't sturdy...



i picked duran fwiw

 

Dejesus was not an ATG caliber. he was good but not great. And the Leonard fight is the only thing which makes people rate Duran high since Ray is the only ATG he beat. But even that fight is equalized in the easy way Ray won the second and third fights. Then look at the Benitez fight when Duran was only 30. And Duran had fought at 154 since 1978 4 years before.

 

Well Leonard damn sure was, and Duran beat him so there you go. And if SRL beat Duran the next 10 times they fought, so what? SRL is regarded as the 2nd best Welterweight ever..wouldn't you expect him to beat a lightweight? So how is this equal? And who's trying to knock SRL, he too was a great, great fighter, had he fought more fights, I'm sure he could have probably equaled or passed Duran on the ATG list.

As for De Jesus he was 58 for 63 in terms of winnings..(92%) and was a legit title holder, that's pretty damn good in my books. You're really reaching with that comment.

 

WTF!?! Most of those wer at 130 and a few at 140, not LW. His only good win at LW is Castillo. That makes it one of the best?:huh