why when mentioning the true greats of boxing does duran get talked about so highly

I don't agree that Leonard was much better than Duran.

Leonard barley fought a dozen title fights in a 40 fight career, 3 of these were against Duran, 2 of them against Hearns. Three of the 12 were losses, thats a quarter.

As for the second fight with Duran its well known that having ballooned up to around 200lbs Duran struggled to get in shape for the rematch, he also had millions of dollars in the bank for the first time in his life and was far less focused. No way was the Duran of New Orleans the same fighter he had been at Montreal. The third fight, around ten years later, was just terrible, Leonard was past his best and Duran, pushing 40, was even worse.

The most impressive fight of the three was the first at Montreal, when both guys were superbly conditioned, well focused and highly motivated. Leonard's wins count, of course, but the first fight was the most significant.

While Leonard's win over Hagler is still impressive due to his lay off and never having fought at the weight, its fair to say that Hagler was way past his best. The win is also controversial, given that it was so close with many people calling it for Hagler. Duran definitely faced a much better version of Hagler than Leonard did.

When you look closely at Leonard's record his most impressive wins are really Benitez and Hearns I. These are both excellent wins, of course, but his later fights are less worthy, at least in my opinion.

Leonard was a great boxer and had a great career, but no way was he better than Duran, either as a boxer or in terms of his achievements.

 

cyrax, we either consider duran's condition or discount srl's ego. objectively we can't pick and choose contributing factors. you're also ignoring the concept of lb4lb and the old adage about big and little 'uns. in this instance a true great went toe to toe with a smaller man and lost more clearly than he beat hagler. if we're talking strategies, hearns coulda boxed behind his jab to a ud against them all but chose to go to war.

2 atgs no doubt, i shade duran.

 

i love duran dead heads, you have to be on something to think duran had a better career than ray leonard.

duran was washed up after 1980. he didnt win another world title until 1984 beating 12-0 davey moore for the 154 WBA title before getting knocked out in his next fight against tommy hearns.
He then goes another 4 years and finally wins the WBC 160 title by beating barkley in a very close decision.

so Duran is more myth then legend. his reign at 135 is grossly exaggerated. he had 12 title defenses which is great but the only hofers he beat were dejesus/buchannan.

no title defenses outside of 135 which means he won the title but wasnt good enough to defend it.

ray beat him up so he could never rank ahead of ray in any rational persons mind, but being a duran dead head you consider him top 5 all time maybe at 135 but with no legacy outside of 135 he is around 30-40 atg.

 

duran did not got from 135 to 147 immediately he had been fighting at 147 for two years before he fought ray. so he was no little one as you suggest. more duran lies and myths

 

OP is a complete phaggot

 

buchanan had a total of 3 title defenses lol how does that make him p4p material another duran dead head.

 

I kind of agree. He is a true ATG, but on most peoples all time rating they have he inside the top 10.

Why so high?

 

OP is asking a legit question. Go watch WWE:|:|

 

:good

 

Certainly that's debatable. SRL was a welterweight, Duran a lightweight. SRL was only slightly ahead on the cards when Duran quit, you make it sound like he was pitching a shut out before Duran quit. And when they were both at their absolute best, it was Duran who won.

Had SRL fought as many fights and Duran did, and performed on the same level he did during the fights he had, I would agree that he would be rated higher than Duran, but that simply wasn't the case.

 

brandish, he fought 2 titlists because back then there were 2 titles, and he won.

and claiming duran isn't smaller than srl hurts your argument, not mine.

more positively, every day a man of your intellect survives is another victory over natural selection. congratulations.

 

Shake of the head...