I think Mosley beats Duran… he is too much faster, and he is stronger IMO than Leonard, and I always though that Duran wasn’t as strong at lightweight as he was at welterweight.
As soon as i read the title i thought…ha Duran easily. Then i started to member Shane at lightweight… boy he was special. Just find it soo hard to bet against Duran at lightweight though, total pick em fight for me.
ALthough I rate Duran higher as an all time p4p I think Mosely might have been too quick.
Duran, very much like James Toney tended to struggle against certain fighters.
He was tougher than anyone else out there at lightweight or welterweight, same as Toney was compared to any other middelweights, but that doesn’t always win you fights.
It’s a pick’em fight but I’d go with Mosely on MD through a greater volume of punches.
I rate a prime Duran as one of the all time greats certainly to watch anyway but if theres one style or one guy that can beat him , its Mosley . Shane would be abit too quick and would frustrate him IMO
You can’t have a lose by KO at that and be invincible… Duran was good, but I think that he wasn’t worse at welterweight he just fought better opponents who were more his size. Mosley is one of the few that can match him physically at 135.
Duran wins 73 of his first 74 fights from 1968-1980 and then only loses to the great Sugar Ray Leonard, most fighters have come and gone in that timespan. His only blemish as a Lightweight was a decision loss to Esteban De Jesus who if it was not for Duran would be considered a great Lightweight champion.
Mosley was good at Lightweight no doubt but against Duran circa 1974-5…no i don’t think so.
When did anyone KO Duran as a Lightweight anyway? Never happened.
Duran by KO
Dam right! Totally agreed,CC on me. Naive fans think that just because training methods have improved(how would they know that anyway) and just because times have changed,that old fighters have somehow lost their clout,not as good as they are. It’s poor to see and althougn Mosley was awesome,Duran fought more great fighters at the weight and how the fwock would Mosley KO this Duran,this monster who went up weight and STILL WON,proving his toughness whereas Mosley got his ass handed to him 3-4 times! Duran would have got into his head before the fight,en route to a late stoppage.
Someone said Shane UD over Duran easy. Not in my mind. If it were Floyd I might say ok. You have to move all the time with Duran or have the power of Hearns to flatten him so he does not move forward, but Shane is too stationary to fight with Roberto.. Roberto would get to him in a few rounds and start to bust him up sort of like he did Davey Moore. Duran knockout 9 Shane. Shane does not have the foot movement to beat a Roberto. Like with Hagler, a guy who beats Hagler has to be a step ahead of Roberto or Marvin.
First of all, Roberto Duran was an awesome fighter and if you are basing his career on his later fights against the likes Hearns and Hagler (who he fought at 154 or higher) you are just not doing him justice. Furthermore, contrary to what someone mentioned earlier in this group, he did not move up to meet those fighters who were “more his size,” when he moved up to 147 and higher, those fighters had a huge size advantage on him. Duran was not a big man. Still, he took on the great Sugar Ray (absolutely no sarcasm intended), who had a big height advantage and a massive reach advantage and still beat him, and that was at 147. Also, he fought Benitez and Hagler to tough fought decisions at even higher weights.
The first thing that came to my mind is the size difference, but I don’t think Mosley’s size would be enough in this one, he would need Hearns or Hagler type power to go with it, and he just doesn’t have it. If Duran could beat Leonard at 147, and go the distance with Benitez and Hagler – HAGLER! – at even higher weights, I think he could handle whatever Mosley could give him. It would be a great match up, no doubt, but I would have to go with Duran, especially at 135. At lightweight Duran was devastating.
