Panama’s Roberto Duran vs U.S. Floyd Mayweather in their Prime – Who would be the Winner?

Floyd Mayweather vs. Roberto Duran (‘Mano de Piedra’ Durán) is a fantasy fight that many boxing fans have speculated. Trainer turned analyst Teddy Atlas has shared his view.  Both Mayweather and (Hands of Stone) Duran are boxing legends in their own right, with Mayweather dominating the sport in the 2000s and 2010s, becoming the biggest pay-per-view star and claiming world titles in five divisions.  He retired with a perfect 50-0 record, having beaten fellow greats like Manny Pacquiao, Oscar De La Hoya and Canelo Alvarez to name just a few. 

Before Mayweather ruled the lighter weight classes, it was Duran that was widely considered to be the king of those divisions, having become world champion at lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight.  He ended his career with an incredible record of 103 wins from 119 fights, winning 70 of them by knockout, and was involved in epic clashes against fighters such as Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler.  Former boxing trainer and now leading analyst Atlas has made his prediction on his The Fight Podcast for how he thinks a fight between Mayweather and Duran would go if they were both in their prime and it seemed a straightforward answer.  “I’m going to pick Duran. At the end of the day, body work, relentless, aggression. He’s smart too. You have to be smart if you’re going to beat someone as smart and as high IQ as the genius Mayweather, you have to be. 

“I’m going to say with all those things, Duran would have flown his jab a little bit, he did it with Buchanan, he would have jabbed to the chest, just to stabilize Floyd. At the end of the day I’m going to go with Duran pushing the fight, Duran in control being the boss a little bit.  “I’m not saying that Floyd is going to be relegated to just surviving, but a little bit more surviving than fighting. At the end of the day I’m going to go Duran unanimous decision.”  Atlas has become one of the most, well-respected voices in the sport in recent years, and he has also named the current fighter that he believes could be in the top 10 greatest of all time.