Everyone knows I love Duran, but I'm not even saying this as a Duran groupie. Just objectively, Duran would have beaten the Hell outta Floyd.
Cotto landed some left hooks CLEANLY on his chin that made me wonder what might have been if Floyd ever faced a more damaging hitter at 147. As usual with Cotto, his stamina always let him down in the late rounds of very tough, grueling fights. I’m not a Floyd groupie but along with his exceptional ability, his stamina was always great.
Cotto forced Mayweather Jr to dig deeper than he previously needed to. But he still had more to offer if needed We're talkin bout a 35 year old Mayweather Jr in his 5th weight class, too vs a cotto who was damaged, but at a much more conducive weight than 145 vs pacquaio
Bob Arum must have been on the top shelf drinks last night. No case can be made for Taylor winning that fight. Catterall a deserved winner.
A fundamental flaw in Taylor that it's much too late to fix now, but makes him vulnerable to speedy/slick guys: His base is far too wide.
I don’t want to knock Taylor down just yet. He’s a good fighter but definitely has his limitations when he faced guys that are faster than him like Teo and Catt. Taylor is tough with heart but he needs some to make some technical adjustments as he seems to rely on his size and workrate. Perhaps it’s time for him to move up to 147.
The problem is.. Who the Hell is Josh beating at 147? No one. If Josh wants a cash out... I'm sure Eddie would give him good money to fight Ennis, just to enhance Ennis' mainstream profile. But you'd be looking at Josh unconscious inside of 4 rounds.
Maybe Taylor can start with fighters like Alexis Rocha or Giovanni Santillan. Then slowly work his way up to fight Stanionis or Norman Jr. Ennis would be a step too far for him at this point, unless he just wants to cash out like you said.
Ennis would beat Josh up very badly. And it wouldn’t really elevate him, imo. Boots is wasting time at 147. He needs to move up to 154.
Not sure if Taylor is way past it, or if we overrated him all along (probably a combination of the 2) but I don't think Catteral is elite at all. There's a reason imo why he didn't do shit since the 1st fight and just waited for the rematch (no a shot Linares doesn't count).
For sure both- mostly the latter. He’s never shown any significant adaptability, which is a pre-requisite to any sort of greatness.
Definitely a combination of both. Josh is both past his prime, and always had limitations. I think we also have to acknowledge that we (and I'm guilty of this too) overrated Prograis, which in turn led to Josh getting overrated. Taylor has certainly slipped since 2019 though. I'd say due to a combination of inactivity, drinking too much, and his lack of D causing wear n tear.
Catterall in a way saved Josh's health. Remember going into that first fight it was widely believed that had Taylor gotten past Catterall in style he was potentially gonna land a Crawford fight. Josh might not be alive today if Bud had gotten ahold of him.
Or maybe he would've seen an opportunity to grow into a healthier weight class, focus on his career and give himself the best shot at achieving goals. It's hard to really predict how certain guys careers may pan out if the circumstances weren't what they are. Hard for upper echelon boxers to fight more than once every 18 months He likely gets kod at 147 by Crawford but looks less inept than he did vs Lopez if he chose a different path and that fight materialized sooner than him and Lopez did
Crawford destroys Taylor whether Taylor is comfortable at the weight or not. Cmonnn... there's just a HUGE gap in ability between the two. Not only ability; I would argue that Taylor's best attribute is his physical strength. He doesn't have that over Crawford either. He'd be totally fucked. On the best night of Josh's life, when he WASNT struggling at the weight, he only beat Regis 7-5 and got his face badly busted up in that fight. Any version Taylor could muster gets killed by Crawford in one sided fashion. Even the Prograis version.
Taylor has no chance against Bud even at his best. He’d have no advantages over him, even if he lived a clean fighter’s life.
Yep Not only was peak Duran better than peak Floyd, he would have also been also wrong for him stylistically.