Duran-DeJesus III

[Violent Demise]

Duran was a beast, not a man. I swear he would have murdered Chavez, Pryor and Pacquiao at any weight.. Speaking of Dejesus, it's criminal how underrated he is.. He's the 5th greatest Puerto Rican fighter in my eyes, right behind Tito..

De Jesus would've been one of the greatest Lightweight champions of all time if not for Duran.

Duran prevented him from maybe being the greatest. Didn't prevent him from being one of the great ones

[THE THIRD MAN]

Duran was a beast, not a man. I swear he would have murdered Chavez, Pryor and Pacquiao at any weight.. Speaking of Dejesus, it's criminal how underrated he is.. He's the 5th greatest Puerto Rican fighter in my eyes, right behind Tito..

De Jesus would've been one of the greatest Lightweight champions of all time if not for Duran.

Duran prevented him from maybe being the greatest. Didn't prevent him from being one of the great ones

No doubt one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters, he beat Duran once and knocked him down twice at his peak. If Marquez is difficult for Manny today then DeJesus would give Manny one helluva time.

[marbleheadmaui]

Duran was a beast, not a man. I swear he would have murdered Chavez, Pryor and Pacquiao at any weight.. Speaking of Dejesus, it's criminal how underrated he is.. He's the 5th greatest Puerto Rican fighter in my eyes, right behind Tito..

De Jesus would've been one of the greatest Lightweight champions of all time if not for Duran.

Duran prevented him from maybe being the greatest. Didn't prevent him from being one of the great ones

No doubt one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters, he beat Duran once and knocked him down twice at his peak. If Marquez is difficult for Manny today then DeJesus would give Manny one helluva time.

Yup. Esteban would give anyone a hard time.

[Mr140]

Duran was a great fighter but what a saw in the Leonard rematch as that he could be out boxed.

[Spicoli]

I'd be interested in going back and having a look at these 3 in a row. Nothing like a two, three fight series and seeing a fighters adaptation to a familiar opponent. Duran developed much respect for his power yrs earlier, brought out his best.

[Gallegos Boxing Gym]

DeJesus was a very good fighter. Anyone who knows anything about this sport can readily witness his excellence jumping off the screen.

I think his exclusion from the Hall of Fame is correct, however. His actual accomplishments are more on par, in my mind, with a Terrence Alli or someone of that ilk. That could be overstating it a bit, but I don't think he's near any of the top 5 PR fighters.

The win over Duran looms large, perhaps more than any non-title win over a champ in history. I don't see any other fighter's career buoyed by such a win to the level DeJesus enjoys. He beat several leading lightweights--the Johnny Gants and Ray Lampkins of the world. A nice run as WBC champ, too. Throw in wins with Viruet, Peppermint, Guts Ishimatsu, Yamabe. A good career? You bet.

But! He was never the best in his weight class, never won a genuine championship, and loses any sentimental mojo by being an apparent scumbag as a person. It's not often I side with the Canastota Crew, but they got this one right.

[JazMerkin]

DeJesus was a very good fighter. Anyone who knows anything about this sport can readily witness his excellence jumping off the screen.

I think his exclusion from the Hall of Fame is correct, however. His actual accomplishments are more on par, in my mind, with a Terrence Alli or someone of that ilk. That could be overstating it a bit, but I don't think he's near any of the top 5 PR fighters.

The win over Duran looms large, perhaps more than any non-title win over a champ in history. I don't see any other fighter's career buoyed by such a win to the level DeJesus enjoys. He beat several leading lightweights--the Johnny Gants and Ray Lampkins of the world. A nice run as WBC champ, too. Throw in wins with Viruet, Peppermint, Guts Ishimatsu, Yamabe. A good career? You bet.

But! He was never the best in his weight class, never won a genuine championship, and loses any sentimental mojo by being an apparent scumbag as a person. It's not often I side with the Canastota Crew, but they got this one right.

Interesting take, I happen to disagree, as being competitive with Duran in the way he was & beating some credible contenders makes him deserving for me, although there are maybe a few other absentees who would get in ahead of him for me.

[johnsebastianmiran]

I saw that fight on the day it happened and I underestimated Duran's boxing skills until that fight. I must have watched it ten times and said to myself what an adjustment. Duran was a great fighter but don't forget one thing, Dejesus skill, courage and fortitude made Duran go through the rites of greatness. To be great you have to demonstrate to those equally great that you deserve their respect and Duran got it even past his prime.

[THE THIRD MAN]

YouTube - ‪Esteban DeJesus Knocks Down ROBERTO DURAN‬‏


Look at that left hook, Duran is all over the place, he shakes his head, he is shocked!

[marbleheadmaui]

Duran was a great fighter but what a saw in the Leonard rematch as that he could be out boxed.

LOL, yeah. By one of the 15 or so greatest fighters and top 3 welters ever to lace'm up!

That's like saying a baseball player couldn't hit a fastball because he couldn't hit Sandy Koufax's

[Mr140]

Well yea i give a pass to Leonard and Benitez but come on Laing wtf happen there dude.

[marbleheadmaui]

Well yea i give a pass to Leonard and Benitez but come on Laing wtf happen there dude.

A TERRIBLE loss. No question.

[Violent Demise]

Well yea i give a pass to Leonard and Benitez but come on Laing wtf happen there dude.

That Duran was already a couple of years removed from his prime. A prime Duran murders Laing

[CutMeMick]

In my top 10 favorite trilogies of all time...
"El Vita" in my opinion is 1 of the best lightweights of all time. Sad to know about his life after boxing, very tragic.