A fantasy showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Roberto Duran has been debated for many years.
The all-time-great welterweights took the sport by storm during their respective careers, with many fans and pundits left wondering what would have happened if they had locked horns during their prime years.
Duran was one of the ‘Four Kings’, made up of himself, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. Perhaps the most famous victory of Duran’s career actually came against Leonard, who he defeated via unanimous decision in 1980 to capture the WBC welterweight title.
As for Mayweather, he largely dominated each division he ever campaigned at, with the bulk of his success coming during the mid 2000’s, defeating the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao amongst many others.
Speaking to The Art Of Dialogue, ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, a former rival of Mayweather, had his say on whether he believes his countryman could have been victorious over a prime version of Duran.
“Now that you say that, now that I’m thinking about Duran [and] the way he fights, yeah I can see [Mayweather winning.] You’re right, but I can also see Duran getting inside and doing some stuff but Floyd wouldn’t fight Duran like that, Floyd would have moved from Duran because Duran is coming at you.”
‘Money’ Mayweather defeated all 50 of the opponents he faced throughout his tenure, including Mosley, who he beat via unanimous decision in their non-title bout back in 2010. Mosley famously stunned Mayweather in the earlier rounds, but the technical brilliance of ‘Money’ proved to be enough to see him through and pick up a dominant points victory.
