[Jack 1000]

On the positive side, we know of Floyd Mayweather's superb boxing ability and ring generalship. However, it is possible that we may never see the best of Floyd Mayweather for his refusal to fight top Welterweights in his own weight class, for whatever reasons. That's not important. But assuming that Floyd was able to somehow fight the big foursome of the 80's how would he do against them?

Don't just say in your response _________ would kick Floyd's ass or Floyd would kick________'s ass. Instead do an actual scenario where Floyd would actually fight these guys. Because Mayweather never fought in the 15-round era, if I give a decision as a result, in my analysis I am assuming the fight would be 12 rounds.

Benitez: A good tactical chess-match with each boxer having their moments in a tough to score fight. But Floyd's just a little quicker on most of the exchanges to take a close unanimous decision.

Leonard: Floyd takes the early rounds with a slight lead as Leonard waits patiently for his openings. Leonard's combinations and experience in the later rounds allow Floyd to experience deep water and have to deal with pressure that Floyd never has experienced before Leonard, behind on the cards, rallies to win late: Leonard TKO 12.

Hearns: That all depends on if Mayweather could take Hitman's punch early If he could not I would take Hearns by KO in 6. If Mayweather could survive, Hearns for all his punching power and ring generalship was not known for great stamina. But I could see Hitman taking the decision because Hearns would have too much of an early lead for Mayweather to overcome. Leonard is really the only welterweight in this group that stops the great Tommy Hearns.

Duran: Again, which Duran shows up? If it's the Duran from the first Leonard fight, a match where I think Roberto was invincible that night, Duran TKO 8. (Floyd maybe quitting in the corner.) If it's the Duran from New Orleans and "No-Mas" the rolls are reversed with Floyd making Duran quit in 8 like Leonard did in their second fight.

In some of the 80's Welters, I would pick Whitaker over Floyd by close tactical split decision, but Floyd getting a split decision in a rematch. Floyd would win easily over Donald Curry by a late stoppage (TKO 10) and would beat the shit out of Mark Breland (TKO 5). Floyd over Marlon Starling in a pretty easy unanimous decision and a TKO in 8 over Lloyd Honneygun.

Jack

[JLUVBABY]

On the positive side, we know of Floyd Mayweather's superb boxing ability and ring generalship. However, it is possible that we may never see the best of Floyd Mayweather for his refusal to fight top Welterweights in his own weight class, for whatever reasons. That's not important. But assuming that Floyd was able to somehow fight the big foursome of the 80's how would he do against them?

Don't just say in your response _________ would kick Floyd's ass or Floyd would kick________'s ass. Instead do an actual scenario where Floyd would actually fight these guys. Because Mayweather never fought in the 15-round era, if I give a decision as a result, in my analysis I am assuming the fight would be 12 rounds.

Benitez: A good tactical chess-match with each boxer having their moments in a tough to score fight. But Floyd's just a little quicker on most of the exchanges to take a close unanimous decision.

Leonard: Floyd takes the early rounds with a slight lead as Leonard waits patiently for his openings. Leonard's combinations and experience in the later rounds allow Floyd to experience deep water and have to deal with pressure that Floyd never has experienced before Leonard, behind on the cards, rallies to win late: Leonard TKO 12.

Hearns: That all depends on if Mayweather could take Hitman's punch early If he could not I would take Hearns by KO in 6. If Mayweather could survive, Hearns for all his punching power and ring generalship was not known for great stamina. But I could see Hitman taking the decision because Hearns would have too much of an early lead for Mayweather to overcome. Leonard is really the only welterweight in this group that stops the great Tommy Hearns.

Duran: Again, which Duran shows up? If it's the Duran from the first Leonard fight, a match where I think Roberto was invincible that night, Duran TKO 8. (Floyd maybe quitting in the corner.) If it's the Duran from New Orleans and "No-Mas" the rolls are reversed with Floyd making Duran quit in 8 like Leonard did in their second fight.

In some of the 80's Welters, I would pick Whitaker over Floyd by close tactical split decision, but Floyd getting a split decision in a rematch. Floyd would win easily over Donald Curry by a late stoppage (TKO 10) and would beat the shit out of Mark Breland (TKO 5). Floyd over Marlon Starling in a pretty easy unanimous decision and a TKO in 8 over Lloyd Honneygun.

Jack

i agree with all of your thoughts except i think leonard is just a diffrent breed of fighter than the guys fighting today... those guys where hard... i think leonard starts out boxing on equal terms with pbf and eventually goes on to start out boxing him and going in for the kill in the later rounds... leonard ko pbf between rounds 10-12 in a pretty one sided affair... leonard was at least an equal if not better boxer than pbf with good ring generalship and smarts with a solid defense as well, the diffrence in the fight would be ray leonard is a solid great welterweight and a full fledge welter that would prove to be able to fight as high as light heavy later in his career... also ray had a solid punch for a welterweight something it seems pbf might be lacking...

[True-Boxing-Fan]

Who knows how PBF would do against the greats of past. All I know is, he needs to fight the greats of this era first.

This post has been edited by True-Boxing-Fan: Sep 26 2009, 05:11 PM

[True-Boxing-Fan]

Against guys like Leonard, Duran, Hearns or Benitez. He's getting hurt.

[thehype]

None of those fights would have ever happened because Floyd would have demanded the lion's share of the purse.

I think he loses to Leonard and Hearns, but I can see him outsmarting Duran and Benitez. All good fights though...I just hope he finds guys in this era that will give him good fight. I have a bad feeling that he won't though...even if he does fight Manny, Cotto or Shane.

[MarzB]

I have a slightly different opinion.

Tommy had excellent/underated boxing skills which are very prevalent in his fight with Leonard and Benitez. Floyd would be forced to fight and Tommy's jab would keep Floyd at bay and it would be very hard for Floyd to roll that right hand. Tommy ONLY had trouble with brawlers(or guys that could) and unorthodox guys. I've seen enough of Hearns sparring also to know boxer type style was something he had little problem with. I know that Tommy's loss to Leonard was part Leonard and part he was overtrained and just exhausted. Tommy by decision 116-112.

Leonard, very interesting fight. Someone who can match Floyd not only in handspeed but footspeed. The welterweight Floyd what I hate about him is he doesn't throw that many combinations as he used to. I believe he did in the Judah fight and I may need to watch that one again but he's not gonna beat Ray without throwing combos. Floyd has the defensive advantage but one thing I noticed with Ray Leonard is he mainly circles left. He rarely went to his right. Floyd I think is smart enough to recognize this nuance and he would force Ray to that right side which would nulify a lot of Ray's attack. Ray nor can Floyd potshot and move to win because the speed difference is a wash.

Benitez, ah one of my absolute favorites. Floyd would win this great defensive battle though by going to Benitez's body and trying to break him down that way.

Donald Curry,lol. I have a funny Donald Curry story if anyone wants to hear I'll post it. I really liked this guy but I think Floyd stops him late.

Marlon Starling the ORIGINAL "MAGIC MAN". This is a lot tougher than I think most would believe. Marlon was another gifted defensive fighter but his defense is more Winky Wright based with a high guard. Floyd would win this fight by pot shotting and moving but if he's unable to do that he's in trouble.
-- --------------------------------------------
Now that said, I have someone who I never heard of before (I thought I had a good grasp of boxing history) who is by far the best defensive fighter I've EVER SEEN. Better than Pep, Floyd, Benitez, Toney, etc. I know thats a huge leap. I've been watching his youtube clips and am in serious awe of this guys defense. Now I know we were talking about Welters but this guys was a junior welterweight 140 and Floyd did indeed fight in that division. Floyd would have had big time problems trying to land against this guy and his name is

Nicolino Locche.

His defense is based on head/torso movement, slipping, rolling shots and he also has that philly shell a'la Floyd when he's on the ropes. He counters off the miss also.

Here's some highlights of his career. Someone created a tape of their own collection of the defensive wizards (pep, sweet pea, etc)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ct2jCu7y9Y

Locche starts at the 3:24 point.

This post has been edited by MarzB: Sep 26 2009, 05:26 PM

[salvador]

Who knows how PBF would do against the greats of past. All I know is, he needs to fight the greats of this era first.

Exactly. We'd have a much better idea of how Floyd would do against Hearns if he'd fight Williams, against SRL if he'd fight Mosley, or against Duran if he'd fight Marg. I suppose if he fights Pac we'll have a better idea of how he would have fared against Wilfredo Gomez.

What we do know for absolutely damn sure is that Floyd is a natural ww, as his body was unable to get down to 144, so any bullshit about him being a small ww is yesterday's argument.

[D-MARV]

Exactly. We'd have a much better idea of how Floyd would do against Hearns if he'd fight Williams, against SRL if he'd fight Mosley, or against Duran if he'd fight Marg. I suppose if he fights Pac we'll have a better idea of how he would have fared against Wilfredo Gomez.

What we do know for absolutely damn sure is that Floyd is a natural ww, as his body was unable to get down to 144, so any bullshit about him being a small ww is yesterday's argument.

Floyd beating Marg over 12 rounds wouldn't tell us shit about how he would fair against Duran.

Duran was an animal and in my opinion one of the top 3 G.O.A.T. Duran's relentless attack combined with his superior boxing skills would be too much for lil Floyd.

[salvador]

Floyd beating Marg over 12 rounds wouldn't tell us shit about how he would fair against Duran.

Duran was an animal and in my opinion one of the top 3 G.O.A.T. Duran's relentless attack combined with his superior boxing skills would be too much for lil Floyd.

We'd have a better idea of how he'd do against Duran by fighting Marg than by any other guy he's fought, even Castillo. Marg's a volume puncher with heavy hands who goes to the body relentlessly and who has a great chin. He might not be an all time great, but style wise it's as good a comparison as I can think of.

Duran's my favorite all time fighter, but if you look at the second and third fights with SRL, Duran, like Marg, could be outboxed by a master/speedster like Floyd or SRL. I'd take Duran (possibly by ko) at 135 and Floyd by decision at 147.

Again, we'll never know because Floyd ain't going to fight anyone who will test him as long as he can make money fighting smaller/easier opponents.

[D-MARV]

We'd have a better idea of how he'd do against Duran by fighting Marg than by any other guy he's fought, even Castillo. Marg's a volume puncher with heavy hands who goes to the body relentlessly and who has a great chin. He might not be an all time great, but style wise it's as good a comparison as I can think of.

Duran's my favorite all time fighter, but if you look at the second and third fights with SRL, Duran, like Marg, could be outboxed by a master/speedster like Floyd or SRL. I'd take Duran (possibly by ko) at 135 and Floyd by decision at 147.

Again, we'll never know because Floyd ain't going to fight anyone who will test him as long as he can make money fighting smaller/easier opponents.

I think Floyd will step it up. He's waiting on Pacquiao now... But I expect to see a Floyd-Mosley fight next year.