Napoles was a better fighter than Chavez. He beats the Hell outta him. The much better question is Napoles-Duran. Chavez is outta his depth against both.
Nap at all three. Different class. He stops Chavez at 147. I have literally no doubt about it either.
I don’t really think there is a different class than Chavez showed in his brief Lightweight run. Let’s not overrate Napoles. He was human and had plenty of struggles, same as any fighter. He had a weakness, too.
I should have probably clarified that there's no big gap between them P4P. I believe there's a number of guys who would beat Chavez at 140. It wasn't his best weight class. The guys I would pick to beat him at 140 include: Napoles, Cervantes, Pryor, Ortiz, Whitaker, Benitez, Floyd, and Pac.
I think Chavez wins at 135 but is badly beaten at 140. Napoles was a bull, with huge power and speed, and very good fundamentals, but he lacked the experience and tricks he gained in the years after outgrowing 135. I think Chavez has the wily ability to beat the younger, less refined (but still unbelievable) Napoles. But by the weight Napoles peaked, Chavez declined. I think that likely turns into a fight where Chavez is countered silly, but ploughs on anyway. By the tkme it comes to 147, well, let's just say Chavez would be longing to back in there with De La Hoya. Even so, at their best I think Napoles were better anyway.
147 should be taken out the equation. Chavez probably wouldn't beat Wilfredo Rivera at 147, let alone a top 10 all time welterweight.
