For me, it's Pacquiao and Tyson, by far, any other is a distant third. Roy Jones when he wanted to. But Manny and Tyson fought the same way against every opponent, Roy didn't.
I'd probably pick Duran over both of them. Especially during the Barkley fight. He's get all fired up and start jumping up and down, (Moore) or give you a stare, or worse, he'd sneer at you after getting hit and start coming at you with an expression that said "you want to go to war" you got it..lol and he'd walk through your punches. And unlike Tyson he never got KO'd when he went to war, (Hearns being the exception). Hands of stone, chin of granite. He fought much the same way as those two but he was more skilled, had a better defense and a better chin than both of them. But they're all from the same mold.
Duran is a great choice. You're right that Tyson got KO'd while going to war but it's part of the game. My favorite fighters are my favorites because of their style, win or lose. See Pac vs JMM4, Pac was brutally KO'd but he and JMM put on an amazing fight, but Pac is always the one making the fight, he's always first.
:rofl Some of my favorites to watch are Pac and Duran for pure entertainment value. If i was trying to get a person who had never seen boxing before to like it, I would show them some of their fights.
I agree, but if you haven't watched the Barkley-Duran fight you should give it a look. The shots that Duran took would have definitely knocked out Pac. It was a brutal, brutal, war, in fact it was fight of the year. The only fighter I've seen take that much punishment and win was when Ali was fighting Foreman. Foreman hit Ali with shots that would have dropped a horse.