roberto MANOS DE PIEDRA duran

[paddy448]

Continued from my previuos post..


On a separate note, it’s a shame that Benitez and Duran didn’t fight at the right time as that could have been an absolute classic, a lot of Boxing experts that I speak to say that Duran would have been to much for Benitez, if you watch that fight again even commentating at ringside Sugar Ray Leonard said “that’s not the real Duran, he’s just going through the motions, that’s not the real Duran”.

On that list that ICB has put together, there is only one person I think would trouble Duran and that’s Williams just because of the height and reach difference, similar to Hearn’s, although Duran took the Hearn’s fight at very short notice and unfortunately was to busy spending $100.000k with a few women a couple of weeks before the fight. Now this is my personal opinion, had Duran been properly prepared for that fight I believe it would have interesting to see if Hearn’s could have taken Duran’s right hand over the top, but we’ll never know, anyway back on point.

I feel Williams may give Duran trouble at Welter or Middleweight, but then if Margarito could make a very close fight of it, you can’t help but think, again I want to reiterate what could have an in shape, fully prepared Duran have done?

We have come to except, even if it is reluctantly so, that bad decisions are made in Boxing, it’s part and parcel of this sport we all love, I can give you countless examples as I’m sure you all could as well (in fact that’s going to be my next topic, working title ‘Bad Decisions in Boxing’). Just to give you the bigger picture, I would like peeps to watch the first Camacho Vs. Duran fight, I mean Duran had no business fighting anymore but even at the age of 45 he beat Camacho who is a Boxer/Runner, Duran was patently stalking Camacho at his advanced age and he was hitting Camacho with that right hand all night long, that was a shocker of a decision, everyone who has watched the fight say’s Duran should have got a clear UD, he was up and motivated for that fight, so my point is even at that age of 45 look what he was able to do against a very good Boxer. He didn’t have his speed any longer, but he won that on pure ring smarts etc. (although he didn’t get the decision, I urge you to watch that fight if you have not seen it before)

So when we talk about the fighters mentioned on this thread I don’t think they, including Mayweather Jr would have been able to handle Duran. I would go as far as to say that Duran would have stopped Mayweather in the very late rounds 12 or 14/15 depending on the length of the fight.

You got to remember not only was Duran an amazing fighter/boxer but also he had one of the greatest corner men of all time in Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown, Arcel who also trained the great Lightweight Benny Leonard was once asked the question who he felt was the better lightweight fighter out of Benny Leonard and Roberto Duran, his response was to the tune of, if you are putting me on the spot then I go with Duran, he trained both, so again I reiterate at Lightweight there is no-one who could beat Duran, at Light Welter and Welterweight again an argument could be made here that he was in theory unbeatable, it’s only when he moved up in weight and took on some huge challenges that fighters today would not even dream of that he suffered a few defeats, but remember he was past his prime and above his natural fighting weight. So I think it’s unfair to even suggest a natural Lightweight up against a now Light Heavy in Hopkins, but I suppose that’s testament to Duran’s greatness that peeps are making dream matches like this one for example, but then I can’t really blame you because Duran beat Barkley for the Middleweight title who had just knocked out Hearn’s and he beat Moore who went on to beat Benitez.

Just thinking more about some of the bigger guys mentioned like Hopkins, …….and …. Let’s assume these are 12 rounder’s then we must consider that when Duran fought at Middleweight, he just so happened to take on a natural, one of the greatest Middleweight’s of all time, namely Hagler, in that fight Duran was beating Hagler on two of the three judges scorecards after 12 rounds, so he would have won a SD had it been a 12 rounder.

As good as Trinidad was and some would argue a modern great IMO he would not have been able to withstood Duran’s punch, work rate etc and would be KO’d later on in the fight.

There is no fighter that can Slip, Slide, Bob, Weave, Cut the Ring off, effective Jab, power in both hands, great head attack, great body attack, speed, roll with the punches, demonstrate will and even more will, desire all this in the space of a couple of moves and motions, imagine all that and some in front of you, that’s what he bought to the ring so bottom line at his peak unbeatable!!!!.

Paddy, so I agree with you, Duran is probably the greatest fighter ever in my eyes.

That’s just my opinion!

wow. great post that mate. i agree with pretty much every thing u said there brother. and yeah a lot of durans losses have come due to him not being prepared properly. ok its easy to say that and u cant gaurantee fully prepared hed beat those guys he lost to but i no that the outcomes would of been alot different. and u could definately make a case for duran being a defensive master nearly 120 fights he finished with and i dont think theres any sign of being punch drunk or anything to this day.i think the reason he was able to stay so good for so long was his underated defence,it was a massive part of his game. massive. any body who dont no it watch some of his fights. he didint look absolutely elusive like a witaker or a mayweather cause he loved to engage in battle more than them,he just use to move his head just that slight milimetre or two just enough to not take the full effect of the punch.he was so cute in how u use to slip and roll with puches, i think he had the perfect balance between defence and attack. anyone who dont believe in his defensive skills watch a few of his fights. and anyone who can say mayweather and co at lightweight would beat duran, NOT A CHANCE,boxer or not. you really just dont no how good roberto duran was