James Smitty Smith is a man who knows a thing or two about boxing having hosted America’s only weekly syndicated interview boxing TV show ‘In This Corner’.
Chatting with Smitty is an always enjoyable experience, a man with as in-depth boxing knowledge as you’ll find anywhere to pick the brains of and on top of that, an always very enthusiastic and energetic guy.
I recently caught up with James to talk on a number of boxing related topics and having just been inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame this year, and hosted the annual International Boxing Hall of Fame, he was full of news and stories as ever.
One particularly fascinating insight I got from Smitty in our latest chat was pertaining to his opinion on how a prime Floyd Mayweather might have matched up with a prime Roberto Duran.
Smitty had recently done an in-ring segment with Duran and first told me:
“Duran is in my top ten and way up – of all times.”
On a Mayweather vs Duran fantasy fight he said:
“Floyd is so brilliant defensively but the stuff that Duran does on the inside, and Floyd can move, he has great movement, but not as good as Sugar Ray (Leonard) and if they’re in their prime – Duran is going to get him in the phone booth. And the stuff that Floyd does with the arms and the shoulders would not work in my expectation against Duran.”
He concluded:
“He was just too physical, too tenacious, technical himself, hit hard with both hands and Floyd hasn’t faced anything even in the same area code like that.”
‘Smitty’ is a man who knows Mayweather’s genius perhaps better than any boxing journalist on Earth having actually stepped in the ring with Mayweather in the past who went through boxing technique in this highly compelling watch:
(Credit: Seconds Out)
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