Who ranks higher all-time at lightweight: Shane Mosley or Jose Luis Castillo

Wait for it Thread-Stealer, I got swamped with abuse earlier on today by guys like King Dan, Scurlaruntings and RealIzm for daring to question how good Shane Mosley's resume actually is. Clearly these guys don't know how to separate thinking of ability from thinking of resume, or how to properly evaluate the losses on a resume, or how to take their rose-tinted specs off when discussing their favourite fighter and call a mediocre opponent a mediocre opponent, but hey, I doubt they will have learned in a day, so just be prepared for the fall-out boys when they come!! :yep

Mosley's resume at lightweight especially is very weak. Castillo's best wins at 135 are significantly better. However, IMO peak lightweight Mosley beats peak lightweight Castillo, so it's a tough call.

Even though I usually base my decisions on resume, I'm going to give Mosley the benefit of the doubt on this one because I think he was better h2h and could've beaten more of the best lightweights from other eras.

 

I believe Mosley is the pick. Based on his absolute dominance at that weight. Not sure anyone in the last 20 years has been better in that class. Yes Castillos resume is better, but h2h Mosley would be him fairly convincingly. It is not Shanes fault there was not much out there to fight during his reign.

 

"Absolute dominance"?

But he only ever held the IBF title, he didn't even unify never mind become undisputed??

IMO, the Chavez of the mid-late 80s (though that's slightly over your 20-year period admittedly) and the Whitaker of the late 80s had better 135 resumes and would beat Mosley h2h at the weight, and h2h I'd take Mayweather to beat him at 135 too.

 

Castillo has the close and debatable win over casa, the over-the-weight win over Corralles, a close win and a draw with Stevie Johnston, Lazcano, Julio Diaz, and his own close and debatable loss to Mayweather in their first fight.

Mosley only has Holiday, slightly past their peaks Molina and Leija, and a couple mediocre contenders. However, he was quite dominant in all of these fights, and is hands down the more impressive fighter when compared to Castillo.

Castillo accomplished more at the weight, but struggled significantly more and was beaten on several occasions (3 times once he reached his peak).


H2H I have no doubts about Mosley winning, and I personally would probably place him a spot or a few higher. It seems likely though that because of his success above the weight, he'll be rated significantly higher than Castillo by most when both are looked back on.

Neither crack the top 25 all-time at the weight IMO.

 

Quality post :good

 

Agreed. Clearly superior to Mosley IMO.

 

He didn't fight the best LW's out there, including the other top LW during his reign in Stevie Johnston, who beat him in the amateurs.

 

What's your pick mate?

 

That's exactly what I did.

That's more or less what I think too.

 

Neither have impressive resumes at 135 alone.

 

No, I don't. I have a general idea of where I would place each fighter, but no set list.

The fighters I would probably rank over both Mosley and Castillo at 135lbs are:

Duran
B. Leonard
Gans
Whitaker
I. Williams
C. Ortiz
Canzoneri
Armstrong
Blackburn
Joe Brown
Angott
Buchanan
DeJesus
Beau Jack
Laguna
Bob Montgomery
Tendler
Jimmy Carter
Chavez
Arguello

That's 20. Chavez and Arguello only had a few fights at the weight and Carter is an uncertainty given his mob connections and inconsistancy (which may be related to those connections), but I'd still put them above Mosley and Castillo. There are a few others, Mosley could just get inside a top 25 given his dominance over his opposition and overall ability at the weight and that he looked like a great fighter while there, even if it was against mostly average opponents. Only just though. Castillo is around where I would rank Jose Luis Ramirez.