I am not so convinced Duran could have handled some of the best Welterweights of today including Mayweather***8230;.
Seriously though, there will be close fights. Not even Mayweather can pull out a shutout vs everyone. But like he said in their final press conference, "I will find a way to win" and he did vs a style and aggression that gave him extra work than we're used to seeing.
Mayweather won a close, competitive fight vs an improved, strong and determined challenger who was not there just to survive or stay pretty. Maidana deserves credit for fighting his tail off. Mayweather deserves credit for figuring out a way to adjust with clean and accurate punches down the stretch. Maidana was landing a lot of body and temple shots, but Mayweather handled himself nicely vs Maidana when he needed to.
"Duran lost to Kirkland Laing! Kirkland Laing!! And this guy is supposed to be great!!!!????"
That's what you'd hear if BoxingScene was around in the 1980's.
Can you imagine if Mayweather lost to someone the calibur of Kirkland Laing? Can you actually imagine?
He beat Maidana, beat the guy, but had some issues and that's apparently a reason for criticism.
That's the standard set for Floyd. Ridiculous.