Which of these Hall of Fame boxers would have the best chance to beat Mayweather?

[Willie Pep 229]

A 135 pound Duran bullies Mayweather and takes a one sided decision over 15 rounds.

A 147 pound Leonard matches Mayweather's skill and speed and then out powers him to a late stoppage over 15 rounds.

A 154 pound Hearns does to Mayweather what he did to Duran. Simply too big, too powerful for a blown up LW.

[Nash out]

A 135 pound Duran bullies Mayweather and takes a one sided decision over 15 rounds.

A 147 pound Leonard matches Mayweather's skill and speed and then out powers him to a late stoppage over 15 rounds.

A 154 pound Hearns does to Mayweather what he did to Duran. Simply too big, too powerful for a blown up LW.

You need to take those nostalgic glasses off, Willie. Prime vs prime, Mayweather wins all of these fights. Duran would barely touch Mayweather, never mind bully him. Nash out

[Anthony342]

Mayweather is an ATG, but the welterweight 'Money' version was a bit different than the younger PBF version. If we assume that this is Money May going up against Hearns, as Hearns never fought below WW, then we have to figure this is the Money fighting style we get.

Money May was an elusive defensive wizard, with tremendous speed, reflexes, and timing. He utilized the blade defense to perfection and remained out of the reach of his opponent, while using said reflexes to score points with lightning fast counters (especially a quick straight right).....but therein lies the issue I see him having with Hearns.

As far as I could tell, the only man Mayweather ever fought, who had a longer reach than he did, was De La Hoya; and DLH's reach was just barely longer than May's....and DLH was older and near the end of his career.

Hearns is significantly longer and taller than May, and though May is quicker and has better timing, he will have to pay the price to get within range to ever actually land something. And as much as boxing fans like to play with Willie Pep card, winning rounds by making the opponent miss and not needing to land on their own, Floyd would actually have to land to get rounds. Moreover, Hearns is no slug, he has enough speed and reflexes to make May pay for getting close enough to do any damage......

And thats my last point on why Hearns takes this, damage. Hearns' primary flaw is thought to be his chin, the thing is WW May did not have that much relative power. Hearns is willing to take shots now and then if need be to land something big. May plays it safe, but is too short to get in range to damage Hearns, which he cant anyways. His speed is negated by Hearns length. Just a bad matchup for May.

Good points, gotta agree.

[Willow The Wisp]

Good points, gotta agree.

Me too. Shoul be fairly obvious to all.

[mrbig1]

I think that Money, was a great champion. Duran was a great fighter. What gives Duran the edge he was a busy fighter. I can see Duran outworking Floyd out 15 rounds. if Mosley and Zab can jack him up, I know Leonard can. which takes nothing away from Floyd. Duran and Leonard where just a tad better.

[Anthony342]

Me too. Shoul be fairly obvious to all.

Well, I didn't watch much of Hearns until years later and not recently, so the post was a nice refresher.

[djtmal]

Mayweather is an ATG, but the welterweight 'Money' version was a bit different than the younger PBF version. If we assume that this is Money May going up against Hearns, as Hearns never fought below WW, then we have to figure this is the Money fighting style we get.

Money May was an elusive defensive wizard, with tremendous speed, reflexes, and timing. He utilized the blade defense to perfection and remained out of the reach of his opponent, while using said reflexes to score points with lightning fast counters (especially a quick straight right).....but therein lies the issue I see him having with Hearns.

As far as I could tell, the only man Mayweather ever fought, who had a longer reach than he did, was De La Hoya; and DLH's reach was just barely longer than May's....and DLH was older and near the end of his career.

Hearns is significantly longer and taller than May, and though May is quicker and has better timing, he will have to pay the price to get within range to ever actually land something. And as much as boxing fans like to play with Willie Pep card, winning rounds by making the opponent miss and not needing to land on their own, Floyd would actually have to land to get rounds. Moreover, Hearns is no slug, he has enough speed and reflexes to make May pay for getting close enough to do any damage......

And thats my last point on why Hearns takes this, damage. Hearns' primary flaw is thought to be his chin, the thing is WW May did not have that much relative power. Hearns is willing to take shots now and then if need be to land something big. May plays it safe, but is too short to get in range to damage Hearns, which he cant anyways. His speed is negated by Hearns length. Just a bad matchup for May.

He was steered clear from fighters who resembed Hearns in his own era.

[IronDanHamza]

I think that Money, was a great champion. Duran was a great fighter. What gives Duran the edge he was a busy fighter. I can see Duran outworking Floyd out 15 rounds. if Mosley and Zab can jack him up, I know Leonard can. which takes nothing away from Floyd. Duran and Leonard where just a tad better.

I’d pick Duran over Floyd aswell but the logic of that doesn’t make much sense to me when you could easily argue the other way and say “Well Duran was outboxed by DeJesus, Benitez, Kirkland Laing etc who are inferior boxers to Mayweather therefore what would Floyd do”

[Willie Pep 229]

I’d pick Duran over Floyd aswell but the logic of that doesn’t make much sense to me when you could easily argue the other way and say “Well Duran was outboxed by DeJesus, Benitez, Kirkland Laing etc who are inferior boxers to Boxer therefore what would Floyd do”

Kirkland Lange is off the table in my opinion.

Loss to Benitez came at WW not LW.

But to play devil's advocate with de Jesus, I would argue he had enought power to keep Duran off him, at 135 Mayweather didn't.

[IronDanHamza]

Kirkland Lange is off the table in my opinion.

Loss to Benitez came at WW not LW.

But to play devil's advocate with de Jesus, I would argue he had enought power to keep Duran off him, at 135 Mayweather didn't.

The two examples the poster used were Mayweather at WW so it’s the same logic, isn’t it?

Floyd could punch at the lower weights too. And he’s a vastly superior fighter to DeJesus on almost every category.

But like I said I pick Duran in that match up.