Top 5 147 and 154 pounders with best chance of beating Floyd

1. Vernon Forest - I know this is unexpected,but i think from a matchup standpoint,this is Floyd's toughest matchup. Vernon is 6-1 and has very good speed and counterpunches very well. He isn'd wild with his punches,leaving himself wide open to counterpunches like Oscar did. Vernon has the ability to counter off Floyd's missed punches. Plus he has a 4 inch height advantage. 2. Paul Williams - 6-1 6-2 147 pounder who is a southpaw. Floyd has never fought a guy this tall and long,but who is also very aggressive with his punch output. My only concern for Paul is his punching power. 3. Shane Mosley - They were supposed to fight way back in 1999 when both were much lighter,but Shane moved up to 147. Shane isnt exactly as quick as Floyd,but i could see him being able to match his speed a lot during the fight. Shane would give Floyd a lot of problems because of that,and his ability to attack the body. 4. Miguel Cotto - I got him low on this list because i think he is to vulnerable to counterpunches. I know he comes on strong late in fights,but i dont like that he at times takes so many shots just to get inside. I think Floyd would just pick him apart all night. 5 Ricky Hatton - Im pulling for him in this up coming fight,but i think is aggression will work against him. Floyd will just sit back and counter him all night.

Comments (20)

SkillspayBills

wrong again, duran has already been surpassed by floyd. duran didn't win his fourth title until age 37, floyd won his fifth title by age 30. and lose to bums like duran did. duran lost to vinnie paz for gods sake:ugh: what big boys are you referring to, please don't tell me you mean kelly pavlik and jt seeing as how duran never beat any prime weltwerweight in his career. where was he wehn james toney, michael nunn, and roy were fighting. duran couldn't even beat joppy:ugh: once again what did duran do that floyd didn't do. duran got his ass kicked once he moved out of 135 are you saying floyd should lose to bums like pat lawlor and kirkland laing to get your respect. Hey this kid is going pretty hard, way to keep up in the debate man.

18y ago

Muttley85

I reckon Williams, Mosely and Spinks would beat him

18y ago

kayjay

how is barkley comparable to taylor if taylor is the undisputed middlewight champion and barley never was Bercause Taylor isn't all that good. You sure as hell won't rank him with Hagler, will you? Anyway this point is so far beside the thread topic that there's no need to pursue it. So I give in, if Floyd beats Arthur Abraham the it'll be in that league. Better?

18y ago

kayjay

and the barkley fight wasn't close:nonono: I call bullshit, duran had been fighting at 160 for 5 years before he faced barkely and barkely was not lineal he won the title of hearns who won a wbc eliminator. after leonard vacated all of the 160 titles they weren't unified again until bernard hopkins defeated tito trinidad in 2001. so no duran did not win the lineal 160 title he won the wbc version. so stop trying to say floyd needs to beat a true lineal ring champ at 160 when duran never did. Whatever, still Duran's accomplishments are a bar that Floyd can reach, but he has A LOT to do. I hate this talk about 3 more fights. He better fight 10-12 more times, including better welterweights and some real big middleweights. I already said he was right to fight Baldomir, but still that's not a ww win to hang huis career on. If he beats Hatton and Mosley he's gotta go fight the big boys, win or lose. Then he'll get the respect he seems to want and that people like Leonard and Duran deserve

18y ago

RayLeonard82

floyd is extremely beatable he just knows how to pick his opponents and him and roger and his team discuss a every opponent before they fight them which is smart.. but hes not a guy that will fight anybody anywhere anytime BINGO your exactly right. Floyd's team does a great job matching him up with fighters that make him look good in the ring. Im not saying there is no way he would consider fighting fighters that are bad matchups for him,but he doesnt exactly go out of his way to fight them either.

18y ago

eric_maldonado

in a close fight and then beat a HUGE middleweight for the linear title in Barkley, and did so without retreating but instead stood and slugged with a guy naturally 35 pounds heavier. Barkley is comparable to Taylor, Hagler is way above that, of course Duran didn't beat him how is barkley comparable to taylor if taylor is the undisputed middlewight champion and barley never was

18y ago

kayjay

your exaggerating duran did not brutally beat barkely he got a gift decision:ugh: and duran started at 135 not 130. he also fought as a middleweight jr middle for 15 years of his career. Exaggeration is necessary sometime. It wasn't a gift and for parts of that fight he spanked him. The kd was priceless. Can you see another lightweight doing that against a guy who fought more than 15 times at heavyweight? The real exaggeration was when Duran's name got brought into this

18y ago

kayjay

He might have been the worse fighter, but he brought more to the table money wise, title wise, status wise. Fighting Margarito instead of Baldomir would have been stupid. He won the real welterweight title, that's all that matters. Margarito won a title in the heads of internet posters, Baldomir had the real one. edit: and I'm not sure who Marg beat for that imaginary title

18y ago

kayjay

duran lost to marvin hagler in a close fight and then beat a HUGE middleweight for the linear title in Barkley, and did so without retreating but instead stood and slugged with a guy naturally 35 pounds heavier. Barkley is comparable to Taylor, Hagler is way above that, of course Duran didn't beat him

18y ago

realheavyhands

He might have been the worse fighter, but he brought more to the table money wise, title wise, status wise. Fighting Margarito instead of Baldomir would have been stupid. how everybody wanted to see that fight he would of proved alot of pepole wrong

18y ago

Fox_McCloud

Baldomir deserved the fight, not Margarito. C'mon I hate Floyd too, but we can't be unreasonable about it. He might have been the worse fighter, but he brought more to the table money wise, title wise, status wise. Fighting Margarito instead of Baldomir would have been stupid.

18y ago

kayjay

weird but that's the current standard, if they let ken buchannan and pipino cuevas in then gatti gets in. 2 weight champion, multiple times fight of the year. yeah he will get in. No Gatti wasn't a real champ, you can't make that comparison.

18y ago

eric_maldonado

If Floyd were to brutally beat Jermain Taylor, that might compare to what Duran did at middleweight. Let's not go that far. duran lost to marvin hagler

18y ago

kayjay

Baldomir deserved the fight, not Margarito. C'mon I hate Floyd too, but we can't be unreasonable about it.

18y ago

eric_maldonado

he wouldn even fight margarito who i dont even think is that good.. he was guaranteed 8 million plus revenue he didn't have to fight margarito he got the same amount for fighting baldomire who at the time was considred the weltrweight champ

18y ago

Fox_McCloud

he wouldn even fight margarito who i dont even think is that good.. he was guaranteed 8 million plus revenue He got 10 mil for Baldomir and a lot more for De La Hoya. He does need time in between fights.

18y ago

kayjay

that's 1 more then what duran beat. If Floyd were to brutally beat Jermain Taylor, that might compare to what Duran did at middleweight. Let's not go that far.

18y ago

bdevils

And you have a right to your opinion. I just overreact because it seems at every turn someone wants to attribute more losses to Oscar. Quartey at least was a close fight not like another fight shortly before that which Oscar won by 6 points/QUOTE] Just curious what fight are you talking about?

18y ago

Fox_McCloud

he's faced five potential HOfers two in their prime: 1. Genaro Hernandez 2. Diego Corales 3. Jose Luis Castillo 4. Arturo Gatti 5. Oscar De La Hoya that's 1 more then what duran beat. and yet floyd stands undefeated. he hasn't come close to being beaten by anyone, that includes oscar and castillo, competitive though they were. once again name one welterweight fighter who has faced better comp then floyd. the closest is cotto and he is due to fight shane. the winner of that will undoubdetly be next in line to face floyd for his lineal ring title. and depending on what cintron does (take care of willimas and margarito) he may get a chance to unify with floyd for the 147 title. Gatti to the HOF?

18y ago

kayjay

how could you think hatton has a chance and not cotto Hatton's much trickier in his ability to get inside and hits the body from a closer range. He's also much quicker on his feet than is Cotto. Actually, Hatton's footspeed is the best thing he has going in this matchup. Don't get me wrong, Cotto is a better welterweight imo, but Hatton is a tougher fight for Floyd.

18y ago