CW: Not very original but would have to be Usyk for me. One of the few Cruisers to match Holy in terms of stamina and has the technical tools to hang with him too. LHW: Tricky. Possibly Foster who could wipe out Ezzard's points lead with a single shot and had the range and size to present a problem he'd not seen before. Very hard to box with Charles but he could be hurt if you found a way to get power shots off. Easier said than done, though. JMW: I'd go with McCallum. Had the chin, conditioning and right kind of offensive arsenal to give Hearns hell if he made it through the first few rounds. Shame we didn't see it. WW: I believe that as a pure fighter Leonard was every bit the Welterweight the original Sugar Ray was. I wouldn't be surprised if he came out as the sweeter of the pair had they been around at the same time. SFW: Seen enough to feel confident that Mayweather has all the come-forward, aggressive or slugger types beaten at 130, so it's gonna have to be more of a stylist who might take Mayweather on at his own game and force him to lead who has the best chance. I guess a 130 Lomachenko could be interesting and, call me crazy, but if Oscar Valdez keeps up his recent form under Reynoso maybe a few more people might start thinking that would be an interesting hypothetical too. But I think this is the most difficult of the ones you've mentioned. SBW: Fenech if he got through the early rounds (never a guarantee as he could be a touch vulnerable there) would be in with a shout. Sensational stamina and one of the few guys who could match Bazooka in the underhand / illegal stakes and wouldn't be intimidated by those kind of tactics. LFW: I see Lopez as more or less a pick'em with Chang at 108.
CW: I would slightly favor Marciano over Holy. LHW: Both Spinks and Foster have a great chance against Charles. JMW: McCallum has the best chance, though I wouldn't favor him. WW: Leonard has the best chance, by far. SFW: Probably Chavez has the best chance against Floyd, as he dealt with slicksters more effectively than Arguello. SBW: I actually think Pac has the better chance against Gomez than Fenech does. I can see Fenech pushing Gomez hard, but don't give him a realistic chance of actually winning. LFW: Choco has the best chance of beating Chang at 108.
I usually agree with you on everything, but Oscar Valdez interesting against Floyd at 130??? It's doubtful Valdez could even beat Shakur Stevenson. Floyd would take Valdez apart with absolutely no trouble whatsoever. There's well over 10 SFWs in history outside of Floyd who would beat Valdez.
Haha, yeah I thought I'd probably raise a few eyebrows with that one @Xplosive. A deliberate outlier just to mix things up a bit. As I said I really struggle seeing all that many Super-Feathers even giving Floyd problems at that weight, never mind beating him, so may as well go a little left-field. To be fair I did say that'd be conditional on Valdez repeating his recent showings against better opposition...And that you all had a right to call me crazy!
Pac is never beating Floyd, I'm sorry. His fans can argue how much more explosive he was at 130, which is true. But Floyd was also a lot better at 130. Floyd would always outclass him imo.
Gotcha. Personally I'd definitely make Floyd the favorite too, but prime Pac was scary good and Floyd would be pushed like never before
Usyk is the second best cruiserweight of all-time IMO, and the only fighter I'd actually consider picking over Holyfield. I wouldn't, but I've consider it. Usyk's footwork and workrate cause Holyfield issues, but I have no doubt that the young, fresh, CW Holyfield cuts through it all and finds the shots he's after. Usyk's issues with Briedis' fundamentals and pressure is troubling. That said, Usyk is the only CW ever who actually did more at the weight than Holyfield did, so he's probably the best bet. No-one beats Charles, that's obvious. Spinks has the best bet though, with his length, power and skills. Charles probably wins the early rounds which seals the deal, but Spinks' unorthodoxy and power would give Charles Walcott-esque issues. I'm not gonna pick McCallum coz it's the obvious choice - and the one with the most substance to it - so I'm gonna put my neck on the line and go with another fighter; Julian Jackson. I think Jackson's puncher's chance puts him at the forefront of people who'd be likely to beat 154 Hearns. Everyone goes with Leonard as the best bet to beat Robi, but I think Duran is better suited to it. If you look at Robinson's career, he always had issues with strong pressure fighters with good inside games. Seen vs Basilio, Turpin, Fullmer, Zivic, Brimm, Abrams, Basora, Servo, etc. I have no doubt that Montréal Duran was better than all of these, and his mixture of skills and brutality would provide Robinson his toughest task. I don't think any SFW beats Floyd, but I suppose a couple that are in with a decent shout are two featherweights who had a few fights at super-feather; Fenech and Saddler. Fenech from the first Nelson fight gives Floyd as many issues as any other SFW ever IMO. His frantic pace and decent skills - plus a great chin, before he lost interest and love for the sport - are a tough mixture for Floyd. Saddler thrives on that sort of slick style, but I think given his loss to Elorde at 130, he's an 'out'. It's between Fenech and Pacquiao for the chance to beat Gomez. Do you take Pacquiao's puncher's chance or Fenech's superiority? I probably think there's better odds of Pac bombing Gomez out than there is of Fenech winning. I don't give anyone a decent chance of beating prime Chang, but I give Chocolatito a better chance than I do anyone else. Lopez would be battered IMO. I only went with fighters who fought at that weight range since the weight was made. My list would change quite a bit, as I think Perez would kick the fuck out of Chang and Armstrong and Duran would beat Floyd; Louis stops Holyfield, Robinson stops Hearns and Gomez loses to Pep.
Which Super Middle has a better chance of upsetting Jones? Calz or Ward? Or do they have equally no chance?
I see them both losing to Jones without being disgraced. If I had to lean towards one to have a slightly better chance I'd go with Ward based on styles. More defensively responsible than Calzaghe, and if you look at Jones' very, very occasional struggles (if you can even call them that!) during his best years against the likes of McCallum, Griffin (I) and Harding (all at 175, but you catch my drift), then Ward was the most likely to replicate and improve the blueprints which gave them a little bit more success than a lot of Jones' other opponents: the tight defence, the ability to occasionally push or manoeuvre Jones to the ropes where he didn't always look comfortable, alternating between leading and countering, good speed of his own etc. Jones worked them out / got to them all in the end, and I think he'd do the same with Ward eventually as well. But Ward could potentially make him really have to work for it.
I'm not seeing the Usyk hype. I see him as a very good fighter, but not a great. Holy would beat ever living fuck outta Usyk imo. Duran has a chance against Robinson, at least a chance to give a good account of himself, but the problem is Robby just had a helluva lot more firepower than Leonard and was more comfortable in a tear up. I cant see Duran beating Robinson at 147.
