I just wish there was more available film of many of the old timers including Fitz instead of what we have today. For me it's too tough to make a definite prediction on many of these fantasy matchups due to the lack of footage. The film footage we do have of men like Fitz, or Jeffries for that matter is grainy, sketchy and non conclusive in my opinion. I'm certainly not doubting their greatness or belittling their accomplishments, but to accurately predict how they would fare against another ATG from 80 to 100 years later is just too difficult...at least for me. We're talking almost two different sports with different rulesets and equipment and that brings me to my next point. Form follows function. As the equipment improved and the rules changed, fighting styles changed. It's only natural. What worked in 1910 might not in 2010. Gloves improved dramatically, so did mouthpieces and handwraps. Air conditioned arenas as well as heated arenas allowed fights to take place anywhere at any time. no more 45 round fights under a blazing sun. Shorter duration fights put more emphasis on speed and combination punching instead of fights to the finish. bigger gloves with better padding allowed fighters to block with hands high instead of extendig hands to intercept a shot before it got too close. In fantasy matchups such as this one i think a better question would be this..How would Duran fare if he were time machined to Fitz's era and forced to fight under the same conditions and with the same equipment Fitz used and likewise for Fitz if he were time machined to Duran's era. I think they both would need to do some tweaking and ad******g to thier respective styles. Who would win? I can't say for certain. Forgive my being long winded here but I think these are valid points.
i think they're good points, picking like this is purely for fun, but a great mw should beat a great(and fat) lw regardless of glove size, conditions or rounds. In fact i like fitz more in a(proplerly officiated) modern ring: Duran's low blows will hit cup rather than balls, moving to a neautral corner is not hard(dempsey f'd it up but it shouldn't be hard) and fitz can be more aggressive(potentially not a good thing but unless duran hurts him it doesn't mater much) over a 12 round limit without gassing. fitz'd certainly need new shorts, as long as he can afford them i see a good fight but a fairly comfortable winner.
Respectfully, I can't understand this fantasy thread. How can you compare a true LW/WW like Roberto Duran to fight a man like Bob Fitzsimmons who was a monster puncher who flattened heavyweights like the bullish Tom Sharkey, Gus Ruhlin, Peter Maher, James J Corbett, and past his peak, gave Jim Jeffries a horrendous beating til his hand broke.? Fitz was a freak of nature weighing in top form 160-65 pounds with thin legs ,topped with a heavyweight's upper body. John L Sullivan called Fitz, " a fighting machine on stilts ". Roberto Duran was truly a great LW/ jr Welterweight, who would have never tackled Fitzsimmons were they to have fought in the same era.....
Depends on which era. In the Bob era, Bob would beat him like a dog! In the Duran era, Duran would outpoint him.