My pops has fighters he is a fan of, but he is about the most objective boxing fan I know mainly cause he used to bet and win so much money on boxing(it got to the point nobody would bet him cause he always won, he loves them betting websites now). So I asked him if Spence and Crawford fought the 147 versions of Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, and Roberto Duran who would win and why. My dad is 65 so he saw all of them fight in their primes this is what he said.
Vs Ray Leonard: Ray Leonard was great with feints and upper body movement and had fantastic handspeed. Said he would flick the jab out and move(the Ali jab), but said he could be cut off cause his footwork got predictable as a fight went on(says Tommy Hearns had much better footwork, but was more in and out than Leonard was Leonard was a lateral mover). Spence would cut him off, but would Spence be able to handle the feints and the combinations. Spence has good defense so he won't get hit clean alot, but Ray Leonard is one of the few guys he thinks will be able to keep up with Spence's workrate. Says he would lean towards Ray Leonard in that fight 60-40.
He actually says Crawford vs Ray Leonard is actually a fight he would slightly favor Crawford. Says if Ray Leonard just stays back at mid range and tries to trade with Crawford he'll get beat up because that is exactly what Crawford wants to do is fight at mid range, says Crawford would probably pot shot his body repeatedly in exchanges under Ray Leonards jab since he was taller and keep Ray Leonard from wanting to exchange with him. Says Ray Leonard would have to pressure him and stay in his chest to beat him which he could(he did to beat Hearns) because he doesn't think Crawford has enough of a backfoot game to handle that kind of pressure.
Vs Tommy Hearns
This may piss a lot of you guys off, but he says as long as Spence could take Hearns punches he would probably stop him. He says besides Shawn Porter he don't know if any of these current WW's could take Hearns punches for 12 rounds. Says he doesn't think Spence has a glass jaw, but nobody he has fought so far has has Tommy Hearns type of punching power(in Spence's defense he says only Manny has faced anyone even close to that type of power). Other than that he says Spence's style is the kind of style that Hearns always had trouble with. Hearns liked to fight tall and long, and since Spence has that tight high guard and body attack he could see Spence staying under Hearns in the phone booth and wearing him down with a body assault because Hearns was an in and out fighter, but wasn't that good going backwards. Says Spence's footwork is underrated, he is never off balance or out of position and said as great as Hearns footwork was under pressure he got sloppy and would leave himself open, also said Hearns had a bad habit of allowing himself to get pinned against the ropes under pressure. He basically said Spence is a bad style matchup for him.
He said if there is a fighter Crawford would see in his nightmares it would be Hearns. Every advantage(besides switch hitting) Crawford uses on opponents Hearns has it in spades, longer arms, much taller, and he punches harder. He actually gives Crawford a lot of credit, said he is a damn good mid range fighter and aint too many people in history who he thinks will just stand back and fight a mid range fight with him and beat him, but he said he also never saw anyone stand back and just box Tommy Hearns and not either get KO'd or brutalized for 12 rounds either. Said Hearns wins this one comfortably.
Vs Roberto Duran
He says as far as action goes Spence vs Duran would be the most exciting matchup cause while they may start out with a feel out process, by the middle rounds it would be 100% in the phone booth cause they both like to mix it up. He says it's a 50-50 fight maybe slightly lean towards Spence since he is the naturally bigger guy.
He says Crawford vs Duran is the hardest one to call. Duran would struggle against Crawford's length, but from what he has seen the few times he has been Crawford isn't that great under pressure. Says it would depend on who sets the tempo of the fight, can see it going either way depending on how the fight goes.
I was just sharing this with y'all cause everything he said makes logical sense, I was kind of shocked he didn't view it with rose tinted glasses like a lot of old heads do. He gives Crawford more credit than I do says he is a damn good fighter, just fights for Bob Arum so he doesn't have a lot of control over his career(says Arum has been doing that for years).
.. but I guess its much easier to play the blame game and blame the new guys on the block ... 
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interesting
