Quote Originally Posted by Master View Post
Quote Originally Posted by THE THIRD MAN View Post
The last time we saw the truly great Roberto Duran was in Leonard 1, he was an outstanding Lightweight, arguably the greatest LW of all time, certainly top 3. As a Welterweight we only have that one fight to judge him by, he was never the same after 'no mas'. Everything post Leonard 1 shows Duran as half the fighter he once was. People forget that by the time Duran fought Leonard he was 71-1 and not quite 30 years old. Think about that for a minute and begin to imagine any of today's fighters having 72 fights before they turn 30!! He was already a well worn veteran, the Leonard fight was the pinnacle for him, there was only one way he could go after that. Fights against Napoles and Cervantes were talked about, and no doubt Duran would've been trouble for both of them. The one fight i would've loved to have seen was Duran V Pryor.
He wins against Cotto and Curry, Napoles goes either way as he was a great Welterweight champion.
Whitaker is the one who would drive him crazy....
He is the only fighter that people will forgive him for quitting agagainst Leonard and still put some great victories well past his bes against Moore and Barclay.
'No Mas' is still the strangest thing i have seen in boxing and i can only put it down to lack of preparation and poor conditioning. Duran should not have fought a rematch with Leonard for at least a year. In retrospect it might've been a better thing if Duran had lost the first fight, but would Leonard have given him a rematch? Duran had some good wins in the 80's beating Moore and Cuevas, but he was beaten by all the elite fighters of the time in Benitez, Hearns and Hagler. He was still a good fighter post 'No Mas', no longer a great one. If you look closely at Duran in Leonard 1 as the ref gives his centre ring instructions you see a man possesed by boxing, the intimidation factor alone already had Leonard beaten, you can see Leonard looking uncomfortable at the stare down as he glanced towards the floor, he was wondering what in the hell am i a doing here? That intimidation all vanished after 'No Mas' as the boxing world discovered Duran's lack of discipline outside the ring with regards to training and looking after himself. I suspect that Duran thought he had already reached the mountain top, saying to himself " i have nothing else to prove?" He follows up his loss to Wilfred Benitez at 152lbs to average pug Kirkland Laing. Duran had lost control of his body.
Duran really should've finished after being destroyed by the 7 years younger and hungrier Thomas Hearns in a fight that really signaled the end of Roberto Duran. I still don't know how a 38 year old Duran beat Iran Barkley years later, that was a truly remarkable effort.....