What would you say would be the biggest mismatch out of the following hypothetical MMs? Michael Spinks vs Mikkel Kessler Carlos Monzon vs Fernando Vargas Ray Leonard vs Danny Garcia Aaron Pryor vs Juan Diaz
Spinks Wins Easiest, But Maybe Not in the Most IMPRESSIVE Manner, If That Makes Sense... REED Thinks Pryor-Diaz Ends More VIOLENTLY Than the Rest... REED
Diaz is competitive until Pryor decides to knuckle down to work and finally executes him. Kessler is simply outclassed but probably gets enough bodyshots in {remember he wasn't fazed by Calzaghes speed until he himself got a bit ragged} to make it look a bit close. But he's going out late. And hard. Ward and Calzaghe were great 168lbrs and Kessler fought them hard for as long as he could. Neither took him out. So Spinks probably cruises with the least problems, Diaz probably gets his head taken off having seemed OK for a few rounds. Danny Garcia is not a bad fighter. It's probably Khan vs Garcia rounds 1-3 times Four vs Ray, with Danny maybe getting in some shots. This sounds daft but Khan's not a lot slower than Ray Leonard and he's nowhere near as conservative with his shots, so the sort of fazing Khan put on Danny might not be as prevalent with Leonard. Vargas gets stopped late vs Monzon and it's basically Trinidad for the last few rounds......Vargas has extensive ammy experience and knows how to survive. But he won't do it for the full distance- in that he won't try to just survice, and when he puts the pressure on Monzon, that's when Monzon decides to reply. Monzon won't go looking for him.
I think it's likely that Leonard vs Garcia is the least competitive. Leonard would put a frightful beating on Danny and Pryor would likely deliver the second worst beating. I think Kessler wins a couple rounds vs Spinks. Mike took a while to get going, and worse fighters managed to win the early rounds.
Its possible Monzon-Vargas is just as one sided as Leonard-Garcia. I cant see Nando having moments like he did against Tito and the Golden Alchy.
Spinks-Kessler and Pryor-Diaz end more brutally but Kess and Diaz might have slightly more moments than Danny and Vargas.
Vargas has a great amateur pedigree......but he won't try to survive. Monzon has this fight in the bag, so he just coasts. What makes it a beat down is that Vargas tries to force the issue, and get's taken out by huge rights raining down on him.
Yeah I think Kessler and Vargas try to force the issue against taller better opponents who are more content to cruise along. Poor Diaz. He's in with a guy who just wants to beat his slow small ass up.
Despite his amateur pedigree, Nando just wasn't that good defensively. I mean, that's relative. He wasn't a punching bag like Rios or Provodnikov, but his D wasn't particularly sound either.
The thing we can't see in all of this is the buildup. There's no way, simply no way, that Vargas fights as dumb vs Trinidad as he does versus anyone else. He bought into all of the PR vs Mexico stuff, all that "Pride" and the beef with Oscar and how he just had to do better than Oscar did etc. It played into how he fought- which was dumb. By the 4th round he had managed to get back into it but he didn't need to have that bad start. He made it easy for Trinidad. Fighting with all that heart. And he never had a corner that could restrain him,in fact the Garcias don't know very much about boxing. We don't know how he comes out versus Monzon. Maybe Monzon shows up and says "Mejico ain't shit, I'll bang your wife". Or maybe FV looks at Monzon as dangerous and he tucks up and looks to get inside with that short counter hook. It's hard to say how these things play out.
I think peak Monzon would look to destroy Vargas just as he did Benvenuti. Only Vargas lacks the slickness and craft of Nino to last. Vargas gets taken out inside of 7-8 imo. Monzon might not have had the raw power of Tito, but he was more accurate and would landing more regularly. Danny Garcia is the only guy here who has any chance at all of going the distance. Vargas, Kessler, and Diaz get KOd... full stop. Danny I think gets KOd too, but he's the only one you can even make an argument for lasting... doubt he would though.
It's worth noting that all underdog 4 corners would likely have inferior cornermen too. Robert Garcia and Pops Garcia? Danny Senior FFS
Vargas was pudgy and past his prime up at 160. Out of all the fighters listed, he's the one most certain to get stopped.
Vargas was one of this phenoms that was always going to have a short prime. I mean Winky plain beat his ass at 154. Trinidad really beat his ass. Oscar beat his ass- former 135lb Oscar. He looked very very ropey vs Wilf Rivera and Jose Flores.
My thoughts are that while these are all huge mismatches, Monzon-Vargas and Pryor-Diaz are probably the two bigger ones. Leonard-Garcia and Spinks-Kessler still being mismatches, but not quite as huge.
Vargas Brave guy, full of confidence, but he did really exceed himself for a guy with no massive punch, bit easy to hit, no huge speed. He was just a competent guy with good amateur pedigree and some desire. Beat the worst 154lb champ of are recent times, defended against Raul Marquez and lost to Winky. The more I think of it the faster I see Monzon getting him out of there. The first time Monzon gets him on the end of his long shots.........big problems.
Spinks-Kessler is a pretty big one though. Spinks would just walk Kessler down and eventually knock him senseless.
Any former world class fighter still looks good on the bag. The muscle memory doesn't leave, even when their ability to compete does.
