If you read the title of this post and do not agree with it, you simply have not watched much boxing this year. Hearkening back to the golden age of the early 1980's, when the best welterweights in the world seemed to face each other regularly, the division is once again sizzling. Future legends of the ring Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Wilfred Benitez formed a magnificent quartet, battling for supremacy at 147 and 154 pounds. Nearly 20 years later, a new Fantastic Four, including Floyd Mayweather (38-0, 24), Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25), Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KO), and Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KO), has emerged.
Based on their striking similarities in terms of accomplishment, fame, style and substance, I decided to pair the active fighters with their predecessors. What you will read below may surprise you.
#1 Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather & Sugar Ray Leonard. Like Leonard before him, the Pretty Boy has a million dollar smile, an Olympic gold medal in his collection, and quickness that would be the envy of any feline. However, the comparisons end there. For starters, Mayweather is simply not as exciting to watch as Leonard was. Sugar Ray combined amazing physical skills with an indomitable warrior's spirit that produced high-drama in many of his superfights against boxing's best (Duran, Hearns and later Hagler). By putting himself in harm's way, Sugar Ray endeared himself to boxing diehards and casual fans like. Of late, the Pretty Boy doesn't seem to be as willing. Maybe the names Cotto, Williams and Margarito change that.
#2 Miguel Cotto & Roberto Duran. Looking for debilitating body-punching? Watch Cotto or Duran. Trying to sell out Madison Square Garden? Invite Cotto or Duran. Expecting the fight of year? Buy tickets for a Cotto or Duran fight. Cotto's rabid Latino fan base, bone-crushing body-punching and relentless pressure reminds me so much of Robert "Hands of Stone" Duran. Both fighters' subtle boxing skills are constantly overlooked, but their opponents usually are felled as a result of it. Cotto has a ton of work to do, but coming off of his career-defining win over future Hall of Famer Shane Mosley, he is definitely on the right track.
#3 Paul the Punisher Williams & Thomas the Hitman Hearns. These two lanky warriors bring freakish height in comparison to their adversaries. Standing at an unusually tall 6'1" with a "Mr. Fantastic-like" reach of 82", Paul Williams is a matchup nightmare for any welterweight in the world (just ask his latest victim Antonio Margarito). Although he lacks the one-punch power of the Hitman, he throws and unusually high number of punches without getting fatigued. Ultimately, both men prove that height is right, especially at 147 pounds. Because of this fact, like Thomas Hearns, expect Paul Williams to be avoided like a 28 Days Later zombie.
#4 Antonio Margarito & Wilfred Benitez. First off, both fighters couldn't be more different, stylistically. Benitez used exceptional hand and foot speed to bedazzle his opponents while Margarito uses pressure and volume punching to beat them into submission. Additionally, Benitez has Hall of Fame pedigree and accomplishments (winning a world title at 21 years old, beating the legendary Roberto Duran close to his prime) that Margarito could only dream of having. However, beneath the surface, both fighters have some striking similarities. Benitez had the backing of rabid, die-hard Boriqua boxing fans while Margarito has an almost underground following of boxing junkies, particularly Mexican-Americans on the West Coast. But more than anything, I feel that both fighters were plagued by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Were it not for various Sugars, Golden Boys and Pretty Boys, both mens' stars would have probably shone brighter.
Note: I left the powerful Kermit Cintron (too green), venerable Sugar Shane Mosley (too old) and immensely popular Ricky Hatton (too small) off the list, but the outcome of the Mayweather-Hatton fight in December and the Williams-Cintron showdown in February will definitely have an impact on my opinion.
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