I've been watching both their fights lately and am in awe of two things.

How, despite the obvious lulls in interest during the early to mid 80's, Duran managed to always improve as a boxer. How raw he was as a young man and how refined he was a middleweight is astonishing.

Also, I was not aware of Chavez' movement and defensive ability, as a young man. I always thought he was a typical brawler/ slugger type with will and power but jeez the guy had smarts and timing and the sort of arsenal that would make any army's front line retreat.

I see these two almost as polar opposites in that Chavez was a lot better (IMO) the lighter he was, where as you could argue that Duran got better as fighters round him got slower and heavier in hand and foot.

I never really considered a fight between the two as I assumed Duran was a lot bigger than Chavez but I see a lot of things in his work that leads me to believe that
A) he ain't getting floored by Duran
B) he isn't getting outworked by Duran (not at least in the mid-late rounds).
C) he isn't getting out manoeuvred by Duran

So it would have been a very VERY close and exciting fight.