Quote Originally Posted by Troy McClure
Quote Originally Posted by LegendBoxing65
Duran was in my mind overrated. I will never think different. He never fought that great a guy at lightweight, although he was dominant. When he moved up to welt in 1980 that was not that big a jump and even when Ray fought his fight, he couldnt stop Ray, Then Ray easily beat him in 2 fights. Duran then lost to these great fighters Benitez,Hearns,Hagler. Having an excuse for all of them that he did not train. He would fight the top guys and lose, then fight a guy like Davey Moore and Iran Barkley between those fights and look good and that would boost him to another big fight. And then he would lose to the top guy again. But the memory of his dominance made people forget that he lost and he also knew how to make excuses. Although no one really buys his excuses. I respect him as a warrior, but his skills have been far overrated. His foot positioning was too wide for a good boxer to not exploit. He was good defensively on the inside, but not on the outside. he had great inside reflexes. But when a guy had him on the outside he was very ordinary. Problem is at lightweight he did not have a Pernell or a Floyd to fight and outbox him. Which they would have.
yeah but duran was great in defeat. he always gave it his all. with the exception of leonard 2
and c'mon he lost 2 guys 3-4 weight divisions above his natural weight
Troy, that has always been his excuse. But in the 80s they were all moving up in weight and trying new challenges. Hearns moved up to Cruiserweight eventually. And he won two titles 30 pounds above welt. Duran could normally go up to 220 pounds. Even Thomas Hearns who people say is so much bigger than Duran cannot get above 205 pounds now. How much does Duran weigh now? I saw him at the Hall of Fame event and he looks to be 250 or 260. My point is this. If he was so great as some people say top 5 P4P ever. What did he do to warrant that high a ranking? For that high a ranking he should have beaten Leonard in the rematch,Benitez in his fight with him, Hearns in his fight and Hagler. But he lost to them all. Beating Moore and Iran and having a dominant lightweight career vs. average competition does not make him top 5 p4p ever. Not in my mind. I know it is almost crazy for anyone to challenge the status of the great Roberto Duran. But in my mind there were flaws in style and one excuse in one fight ok, but excuse in all of them he lost? yet then when he beat Iran he was in good shape. Well coincidentally Iran fought Duran the way you fight Duran for Duran to win. On the inside. Then that wide stance is a benefit and not a hindrance.