12.05.08 – By William Pinkard II: First off I am writing this, knowing that 99% of fight fans will disagree violently. Duran has fight fans that (rightfully so) think very highly of him. He dominated the 70’s and the lightweight division like no other. He used a very violent, but not reckless, style of fighting that also incorporated brilliant defensive tactics. He hit hard,, fast, and often.
Mayweather is a different story all together. He is generally either overrated or underrated. Those who overrate him think he is a all time top 5 fighter. NO HE IS NOT. They quickly say he is undefeated, and has 5 world titles and is undefeated and no other fighter has done this. That makes him the greatest. That is garbage.. You have to look at his quality of opposition, and measure certain factors that are in his era, that were not there when fighters like Ray Robinson fought….Hmmm Like Jr. Welter and Jr MiddleWeight divisions. He also beat a Judah who has been beaten by every big name fighter he has faced. He beat Baldomir, whom I am not going to waste time discussing that. He beat Hatton at a weight that Hatton had shown to be very ineffective and average (to say the least) at, then he BARELY beat DLH, who had lost 4 of his last 12 fights. To equate Mayweather’s accomplishments vs. the quality he faced to win fights at 140 through 154, as reason to place at the top of the list of pound per pound top fighters of all time, you have to be seriously punch drunk.
However, those that underrate him, say he is handpicking opponents. This is not true. He has fought the champions in each division. No not all of them, but they were WBC champions. Now he needs to fight Cotto and stop preventing the fans from the fight that will truly test him vs. the biggest challenge of his career. Many fans hate his style, but it is effective. He literally shuts his opposition down defensively, then as the fight progresses, he starts to pick then apart. Is it crowd pleasing , maybe not, but he wins. You have to give him credit for moving up in weight from 130 to 154 and not losing. It may not be legendary, but it is a dammm great accomplishment.
Mayweather is not Duran, by any stretch of the imagination, but he did beat better oppositon than Duran has, wtith the exeption of Leoanrd. Mayweather has moved up with out a loss, Duran moved up and got repreated whippings. You can say Duran faced better opposition that is why he lost, and you may be correct, but the fact is he lost 4 out of 5 fights when he faced to big 4. Mayweather has moved up and fought good figters with flaws as I pointed out earlier, but he has won every fight he has been in, thus until he losses the edge has to go with Mayweather in the category of greatness at the higher weights. Save the weak and factless argument that Duran was past his prime. False. he was only 29, and so was Mayweather when he started at Welter.. Yes Duran dominated the lightweight division and had 70 fights, but the quality of his fights at lightweight is all time WEAK. He fought fighters that had records ( some may be partial records), that quit frankly a champion today, would be kicked out of boxing for even sparring with that low grade of a fighter. Duran in effect PADDED, his resume. Also Duran did not have a Amateur career worth mentioning. Yes, it may be because many Latin fighters did not have the money to go the amateur route, and thus boxing at a early age was what they had to do. I am not questioning that. However, when you bring up his 70-1 lightweight record and criticize a fighter like Leonard for having 40 fights, you are leaving out the reality. Leonard had 150 amateur fights. He faced many fighters in the amateurs that were tougher than Duran faced as a professional, so did Mayweather. So while Duran was facing fighters as a pro with records of 0-3 and counting these towards his professional record, Mayweather and Leonard fought these fights as an amateur and thus when they became professionals their resumes shows that when they reached around their 10th professional fight, they progressively fought better and better opposition,. A;lmost every time they stepped inside the ring it was vs. top notch opposition. Not that same for Duran. Not to say he did not fight top fighters, because he did,. However, if your arguing the point that his 70wins at lightweight is reason to place him above a Leonard or Mayweather, I simply ask you to examine the quality of those fights.
With that being said, I believe a fight between Mayweather and Duran at their peak, would be a fight that closely resembles the Leonard Duran fight in New Orleans. When Leonard decided to box Duran, he became frustrated and simply could not deal with it. Many Duran fans try to this day to offer lame excuses (excuses no other fighter in history makes. Crramps….wow), for his poor performance. Duran himself in his book “Hands of stone“, points out that he always added weight between fights, this was nothing new or unique to him. Actually for this fight, he was in good shape by the time Ali fought Holmes in October, which was one entire month before the fight. He was quoted several times before the fight, stating he was in his best shape ever , and this time he would KO Leonard. Hmmm how funny the story chamges when he got humiliated. If Duran had cramps then he would have shown signs of this,. If the reason he was quting was because of immense stomach pains then why no signs on any tape of him holding his stomach, gramacing, etc. Why when he quit, did he say I am not fighting anymore with this clown, and his Ray Arcel the chief in his corner immediately after the fight when asked about the rumor of stomach cramps, said the Howard Cossell, that was false, he had not heard anything of the sort. He was the CHIEF OF THE CORNER,,if his fightes was complaining of cramps to the point where it was about to have him quit, he would know!! However once Duran lost, one of his handlers offered the excuses. The fact is Leonard BOXED Duran in the 2nd fight, and did not in the first fight. He used lateral movement, which means Duran faced a completely different fighter and set of challenges than he ever faced before. Even when Leonard boxed in the first fight. (rounds 5-7) he won each of these rounds on every judges scorecard. For some stupid reason Leonard elected to go back to toe to toe combat in round 8 of the first fight, and thus he fell back into Duran’s trap. Look at the fight. Duran did not ever FORCE Ray to fight his fight, Leonard willingly went toe to toe. There was not cutting of a ring. Does any one think Mayweather would make this mistake?
Based on what I saw in New Orleans and Mayweather’s style, I believe he would beat Duran. If you think Duran was frustrated by fighting Leonard, what do you think would happen when he tried to hit a much better defensive fighter in Mayweather. Leonard was not a counter puncher by trade. He did respond to any punch with his own firepower, and he could counter but he was not a counter puncher. Mayweather is a counter puncher supreme. What Leonard beat Duran with in New Orleans with, was defense, movement, counter punching, hooks and uppercuts. That is exactly what Mayweather does all night long. Ask Diego (no disrespect intended) or Hatton.
What some will counter with is his fight vs. Castillo. Those who point to this, are pulling a Hillary Clinton, (the big states should decide who wins the Democratic contest…ha ha). They leave out many things, including the important fact that in the 1st fight, Maweather was winning the first rounds rather handily, until he damaged his shoulder (did you hear them talking about this in his corner and did you see a noticeable decline in right hands after the early rounds). Those fight fans leave that out, and he still won a very close fight in my book. Just because Castillo threw more punches, does not mean he wins. Also, you have to factor in the fact that he did not have to worry about the counter right hands too much.
Many Duran fans will die when they read this, but I truly believe that it would be clear cut boxing decision and Duran would blow a gasket chasing a more difficult to hit Mayweather. Also, we know Mayweathers braggart style, mouth, and taunting before fight would have Duran trying to KILL him. Thus Mayweather would do more to infuriate Duran with his taunting, his bragging, his style. Duran would become so frustrated with Mayweather and along the way he would be catching much more counters than he did vs. Ray. Sorry but Styles makes fights, and Mayweather’s style spell’s doom for Duran.