
Originally Posted by
Ricardo Finito Lopez
I had a debate yesterday with a couple of members, and i want to learn more about Duran and watch his fights, i have downloaded Duran beyond the glory and i will get round to watching that. But what fights would you recommend watching ?? i have seen these.
Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard 1 2 3
Roberto Duran vs Esteban De Jesus 2
Roberto Duran vs Thomas Hearns
Roberto Duran vs Ken Buchanan
Roberto Duran vs Marvin Hagler

Roberto Duran vs Davey Moore
Roberto Duran vs Iran Barkley
Roberto Duran vs Robbie Simms
Roberto Duran vs Kirkland Laing
Roberto Duran vs Pipino Cuevas
Your missing out on some of his best performances.
For starters you HAVE to see all 3 of his fights against 'El Vita', to not see them would be like to not see Alis trilogy with Fraizer.
You have to understand where Duran opponents had been prior to facing him and where they went after.
Coming out Party: Ernesto Marcel - The name will not ring a bell right off the start but if you look closely Marcel was top contender in the Panamanian circuit by the time a 16-0 Duran met him. Duran boxed well all the way through and went on to stop Marcel in the last round. Marcel went on to become the WBA champ he made a couple of defense of his title in his last defense he defeated the 'great' Alexis Arguello. To me this is Durans coming out party where he showed early on that he could fight at a high level of skill.
Getting the BIG name: Hiroshi Kobayashi - A lot of up and coming prospects/contenders do this they look for a prominent name possibly a former world champ who will make their record look better. This was the case here when the 'Japanese great' Kobayashi stepped into the ring. Former WBA & WBC Super Feather champ. Hiroshi stood his ground there with Duran but the younger and faster Duran proved to be too much and stoped Hiroshi in devastating fashion. Duran established himself as one of the top contenders with this win.
Check Mate: Ken Buchanan - After the Hiroshi win Duran earned himself a shot at the Lightweight crown. One thing to keep in mind is that Ken was the WBC & WBA champ. Ken dropped the WBC title due to some politics. Ken won the WBA title from great Ismael Laguna (yet another Panamania)
Ismael is IMO rated somewhere in the top 10 Lightweights all time. Ken beat Ismael twice, Ismael himself fought 3 of the best Lightweights around. Ismael beat argueably the greatest lightweight Carlos Ortiz once and lost twice. He also defeated Mando Ramos & Guts Ishimatsu. So keep that in mind when you watch Duran vs. Ken. Duran wins and thus crowning himself WBA champ.
They Meet: 'El Vita' I, II & III - To not see Durans trilogy with El Vita is to be missing a great deal of Durans skills. The 1st meeting, Duran stepped in the ring against El Vita and was droped in the 1st round. The rest of that fight was fought at a pace which was mostly dictated by him. Duran went on to loose what had been a perfect career. The 2nd fight, by the time they met El Vita had earned himself a shot at the title (which Duran had won from Ken) when he beat Lampkin for the NABF title. Surprise! Surprise! Duran hits the canvas again in the 1st round but comes back strong. The pace of this fights was crazy and you just couldn't see it going to the cards. Duran returns the favor along the way and drops El Vita. Duran goes on to stop him late in fight and retains his title. The 3rd and final meeting, when they met for the 3rd time El Vita had become the WBC lightweight champ and was working on his 4th defense of the title. This was a unification bout Duran beats El Vita yet again in another great battle and reigns supreme there. This final bout for me showed his greatness to overcome a fighter who had beaten once and dropped him twice in their 2 previous meetings. It was Durans signature win IMO and what makes him one of the greatest Lightweights all time and one P4P one of th greatest fighters all time.
I can't stress it enough 'tho people need to be more careful when commenting on fighters whom they haven't seen all that much on. You have listed there 12 fights out of 119 that he fought. I'm not saying see them all but you gotta see more then that. I like your enthusiasm about wanting to learn about great fighters but sometimes you go a little overboard when trying to analyze a fighters career and or opponents. It's easy to look for recognizable names but sometimes theres some who don't stand out that are there and have some type of print.
Good luck on your search for the fights.
(I'm still working on your fight

)
Other Must See Fights: Guts Ishimatsu, Hector Thompson, Carlos Palomino, Lou Bizzarro, Ray Lampkin and Wilfred Benitez.
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