Lightweight with the best chance versus Duran?

Whitaker?
Floyd?
Ortiz?
Williams?
Armstrong?
Pac?
Mosley?
Chavez?

Other?

I would basically eliminate Chavez. I cannot for the life of me see him beating Duran. Duran is just better at practically everything.

How bout the rest? Who has the best odds?

 

Whitaker has the best chance IMO. He has great legs and a great jab, as well as really thriving off come forward fighters. I think if anyone was going to beat Duran using that strategy, it's him.

Williams has the perfect style to do it. He's made to eat up pressure fighters, but his results vs the best ones of his era aren't particularly encouraging.

Armstrong has the next best chance after Pea IMO, because if he made Duran fight his fight, he's the only one who could beat him at it.

Also, as an aside; I'd give Mosley literally zero chance whatsoever. Mosley was nothing more than a poor imitation of Leonard, and we saw that prime Duran was clearly better than hd was.

 

I wouldn't give Shane a prayer either, just throwing his name in there.

Mosley and Chavez are the two guys on the list with the least chance.

 

Ortiz is the dark horse. While I don't think he wins, I think he gives Duran a much closer fight than Chavez would.

 

Side note: there's an earlier Stevie Johnston fight recently uploaded on ironbar. Johnston was an amazing fighter! He was little but at the same time, bad. Not saying he has any chance of beating Duran. But recently watched it and remembered what a slick and tough fighter Johnston had been.

 

I don't think Mosley style was similar to Leonard. Was more of a looping slugger than a smooth classic boxer a la Leonard.

 

The one LW I've always felt could've possibly been an ideal foil for Duran was Williams. He's the only LW I give at least a 50-50 shot vs. Duran.

 

I think Pac would have a great chance. Not necessarily the best chance among these guys, but it would have been a real battle

 

I can't say that he'd win but id pay big to watch Duran-Locche

 

I think Locche is totally overmatched against Duran.

Duran would be made to look foolish at times, but ultimately he would overwhelm Locche.

 

I'd still happily watch it, though!

 

If Marquez could time Pacquiao, I think Duran would too. His speed is his biggest asset so early on I can see that causing Duran some problems, but once Duran finds his range and starts timing him, I think he'd be able to dominate.

 

You mean, like his nickname?

 

Whitaker, Ortiz, Williams and Armstrong all have a good chance.

Mosley, Pac, Floyd? I don't think any of them stand a chance to be honest. Duran would be too cute for Mosley and Pac and too cute and aggressive for Floyd.

Chavez? I agree with you about him, X, but I think he'd do okay. He'd lose but it'd be very entertaining to watch.

 

Of course.

 

I don't entirely agree with the old axiom of "Duran does everything better than Chavez." I think Chavez's technique is a bit more polished than Duran's and he has a better left hook to the body. However, I think Duran wins because he has more all-around talent and would use Chavez's more methodical approach against him.

 

Stephen

 

Prime lightweight Mosley was bigger than Duran, according to gym stories he was exceptionally strong (which usually was an advantage for Duran), he had a tremendous chin and his style was perfect for aggressive guys.

Is that enough to beat Duran? Likely no, but Duran would get his nose hurt as well.

 

I don't think Mosley has the defense or infighting skill to beat Duran.

 

Yeah Shane obviously some tremendous attributes but he was lacking skill wise when it compared to the top tier. Additionally I think a problem with Mosley was that he could in a sense be "tamed". Fighters like Chavez and Pacquiao would put up much more spirited efforts against Duran even if they were getting beat up, whereas Mosley would likely start playing it safe rather than risk getting abused even worse.

 

People are looking at this all wrong. It's not skills that beats Duran, if it was, he never beats Leonard and he's never let near Hearns.

It's.......mentality. Approach.

You need a suicidal clown in there.

For me? Fritzie Zivic. Bald, flat nose, maniacal, but he was also a tall, dirty insider who beat really good names.

Tall, rangy infighter just as dirty as Duran and could make the 135 limit with the same-day weigh in I am sure of it.

Obviously Pea Whittaker is the other end of that spectrum in that his skills would erode Durans confidence but at the cost of the raw physicality.

I think Zivic could get at Duran mentally via his physicality.

 

Agreed 100%.

 

I would agree that Chavez's technique was more polished. Although, part of what made Duran who he was his unorthodoxy.

So while he wasn't as textbook as a Chavez or Arguello, his fluid style allowed him to do more.

 

It seems Duran and Chavez are compared purely because they're ATG latino fighters that applied pressure and liked to get inside. It's like saying Foreman and Tyson were very similar because they're black American guys who intimidated many opponents and hit very hard.

 

Pac was used to dictating the terms and used to his opponents reacting to what he decided to do. Duran wouldn't let him dart in and out, he would stay right on him and make him fight all the time.

 

I think Chavez was a bit boxing-by-numbers....he went through the gears albeit with intensity and efficiency. Duran by contrast fought off the cuff, seat of his pants stuff at times, but within the confines of boxing rather than that reckless style that the likes of Pryor sometimes adopted.

I don't think orthodox efficiency beats Duran. I think you need to go loco a bit with him.

Ray Leonard rematch is an exception. Duran got heavy and Ray wound him up with the big ring and running..

 

Yeah, you summed it up well here.

Chavez is simply outgunned in too many areas to have bested Duran.

I'm of the thinking that Duran would have beaten him a lot easier than people think. Not saying it would have been some one sided blowout - Chavez would have his moments - but I also don't see it being some hotly contested fight the way many do.

I think Duran wins by a pretty substantial margin.

 

I think the boxing-by-numbers is a big reason why Chavez was underestimated by so many of his opponents even after he became well known.

Future opponent watching some footage: "Yeah he likes to come forward, goes for left hook to the body a lot. Nothing really special here, seen it all before".

Never recognizing any nuances they get in the ring and can't handle the onslaught of such simplicity.

 

I agree- especially when he did it so relentlessly and persistently.

We watch fights and one thing the commentator will always say is "OH so and so is in for an easy night........IF he can keep this pace up".

Chavez did.

Of course The Duran is a different proposition.

It's hard to see Chavez get into that routine or stay there long enough. Guys like Duran, or my guy Zivic vs Charlie Burley, they are experts in throwing people off their game and imposing their own style. People like Froch try to impose themselves physically but the best guys seem to dictate the intangibles, the range, the pace, how it's "going down" as it were.

Imagine a verbal argument where one guy is always on the back foot, allowing the other to dictate. You can't be always reacting, you never develop your own flow.

I'd like to have seen Duran vs Taylor at 140, I feel that Duran doesn't need to half the damage to get the guy under control and out of there. He'd deal with Taylor's speed somehow, likely by timing him better, making him miss, not just trying to catch all the shots and coming forward in that same-old same-old.

He wouldn't have been looking for the hail mary with seconds left to play, that's for sure.

 

If Duran could beat Leonard clearly, then I dont see the cheap imitation of Leonard (Taylor) faring well.

I'd be more interested in seeing how Chavez deals with some Duran victims - like Buchanan, for instance.

I definitely favor Chavez to win, but I dont think Buchanan would be easy for him.