Floyd Mayweather Jr and Roberto Duran dominated the welterweight division across two different eras.
‘Money’ Mayweather captured world titles in five-divisions, from super-featherweight to light middleweight, but perhaps the bulk of his success came at 147lbs where he defeated the likes of Manny Pacquiao and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley.
Duran, who became a four-division world champion, winning titles at lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight, and middleweight, also made his mark at 147lbs with those two iconic battles with Sugar Ray Leonard.
Leonard and Duran stood alongside ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, a quartet of legendary fighters that made up the ‘Four Kings’, all of which rose to super-stardom during that golden era throughout the 80’s.
In an interview with Box Hub TV, Leonard admitted that he believes Mayweather would have fallen short against Duran had they fought, before going on to sum up the former pound-for-pound star’s chances against the rest of the ‘Four Kings’.
“Mayweather can compete with the four of us in our era, but a bit more fire would come his way. Could he beat me? No. Could he beat Tommy? I don’t think so. Could he beat Hagler? No. Could he beat Duran? No.
“With that being said and all due respect to Mayweather who was an incredible technician, if you ask him he would say the same thing that he could beat us and beat our guys in my era. Fighters say that and believe that. Fighters believe they can beat anyone, and if you don’t say you can beat anyone, you’re not a fighter.”
Mayweather drew the curtain on his accomplished professional career back in 2017, just months after he defeated MMA icon Conor McGregor in their monumental crossover showdown.
