Cuz his lw resume sucks. Dejesus, cuz he dropped Duran he's now underrated, and didn't give Buchanan a rematch for a low blow
i dont think his resume sucked at all, but its based more on the film, with reference to the quality of opposition, for me. Carlos Eleta was conservative with matchmaking and certainly avoided some fights that duran should have won anyway. you are badly underrating dejesus
Duran's lightweight record is excellent. Aside from De Jesus (top thirty all-time) and Buchanan (top twenty) you also had Lampkin, Viruet and Mamby who were all very good. Any others, such as Hector Thompson, were at least competent and no worse than any other champions' filler material, barring Bizzarro and Rojas. Sandwich a lightweight run like that with names such as Ernesto Marcel, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Carlos Mendoza, Carlos Palomino and Ray Leonard and that 72-1 looks extremely impressive. Wondering if Duran deserves that top ten all-time pound-for-pound placing? Remember he'd been fighting for twelve years before he lost to Ray Leonard, then got slightly fat and even older before beating Pipino Cuevas, Davey Moore and Iran Barkley. #2 or #3 lightweight (can never choose between him or Gans), #8 pound-for-pound. Put it this way; Duran's lightweight reign was probably slightly greater than Marvin Hagler's at middleweight. Then you add the other stuff.
Senya has a point. For me the most extraodinary thing about Duran is how absolutely exceptional he looks at that weight. That is my opinion. It's an excellent lightweight resume though, as Manassa stated, it's not like he's Ricardo Lopez or some ****.
But would you rate him outside the top ten? I could see Duran, in Ike Williams' era, coming out slightly better than him; perhaps getting the better of Joyce, for example.
