Who takes this one? Both were WW champ for quite a short time but both were held in high esteem whilst at the pinnacle. Some say Luis deserved to come out on top of his series against Griffith. No one really disputes Mosley deserved to lose vs Forrest. Mosley is undoubtedly the quicker man, the stronger puncher and the more durable. He is also by far the easier to outbox. Can Mosley punch in high enough volume in the hope that Luis fades down the stretch or will Luis soundly outbox Mosley over the distance?
Does Luis get to visit BALCO beforehand? You're seriously underselling Rodriguez here. He beat a lot of good fighters and several of the Griffith fights were very close calls. I think he'd out-slick Shane.
I think you reconsider luf. You should bump LMR up a few spots and send Shane down a few. Rodriguez's non-title work is almost unparalleled for the time. With only 2 belts that were almost always locked up by one person you had a very tough pool of fighters to contend with just to pay the bills each month. Thats where it does get a bit tricky with Luis because he fought so many middleweight contenders aswell he sort of spread out his legacy between the two divisions. For me personally if you are beating campaigning welters just about the weight in non-title bouts then I count them towards his welterweight resume. Check out those fights with Griffith. A lot of people feel that LMR was the better man of the series, becoming increasingly dominant as it went on. Some argue despite him clearly winning one, the others were hard the separate but decide for yourself. His only real bogeyman was Cokes. Mosley had Forrest and Curtis was easily as good if not more accomplished at the weight. There are just to many names to list for El feo, the depth of his resume is outstanding. Outside of a close win over Hoya and his comeback win against Plasterhands Shane is little thin on quality wins at 147. As for who would likely win between the two. I'd pick LMR to come out on top of a series, that ridiculously long jab and slick movement would frustrate the hell out of Shane.
I'd take LMR by decision in a good fight. Even though Shane is faster, LMR's style would keep Mosely guessing and resetting...
I rate LMR incredibly high, one space below Griffith. Mosley isn't far behind though my instinct is to keep LMR above Mosley but I wanted to see if anyone expected Mosley to drop him.
I'd be interested to know the 14 you have ahead of luf. :good He is arguably top10, not much higher but can't see him much lower. He was maybe 7 in Rummy's alltime rankings I think.
Robinson Leonard Hearns Napoles Whitaker Duran Mayweather Gavilan De La Hoya Trinidad Forrest Walker Basilio Griffith Rodriguez
From 9 to 25 it's really close though I could easily have Griffith and Rodriguez 9 and 10. I'm unable to budge anyone for Mosley it seems. I could drop Forrest out but after the beatings he gave to Shane it wouldn't seem right.
I rate on h2h. I'm undecided about Armstrong because I'm not sure how he holds up to bigger welters given the fights against Zivic and Robinson. Never seen Britton nor Lewis fight so I can't rank them.
I rank on how I think they do against the field. Direct matchups tie break. Britton achieved a lot but I've never seen him fight.
