Is it Possible we Overrate Duran?

Because his low blow/late punch ended the fight? A no contest would have been fair too. The fight was an absolutely masterful performance by Duran but I think he lucked out not being penalized for that foul.

 

Frankly, I knew what your view of this incident was going to before you even made one post. Essentially, all issues in which there's a bit of subjectivity involved become Rorschach tests, and usually say more about the posters than anything else.

You obviously have a hate on for Duran and your posts, viewpoint and any evidence you obtain is seen through that lens.

 

Well that's a pretty definitive view of what happened and showed the ref trying to halt things, but in doing so he grabbed Duran in the middle of a punch and inadvertently redirected it. The only thing I wish they would have done differently was give Buchanan some additional time to recover.

 

Yes and no.

During his time at lightweight he was in incredible shape. The plan for Buchanan was to last into the later rounds and watch Duran tire, it never happened. And the fights between De Jesus speak for themselves.

So yes he started to train less, but by then he was 71-1 and was in his late 20's. Contrast that to Marciano who was 49-0 in his entire career and only fought until he was 32. Edge to Marciano no doubt, but not by a hell of a lot.

 

Not sure that's entirely accurate. Duran had a reputation for his lack of commitment and not wanting to put in work in the gym during his lightweight reign too. Read an article somewhere about how his trainers had to trick him to stay in shape by pretending that they had scheduled upcoming fights for him.

 

Untrue. Duran in his prime as a LT weight was always ready to fight 15 rounds. Not being in shape would not be a reason he loses to another ATG.

 

What did you make of his first fights with De Jesus and Viruet?

 

Not sure what you're saying is untrue but Duran developed his bad habits (ballooning in weight, ambivalence about training, etc.) during his lightweight reign. Difference is that it was easier for him to pull it off against 135-lb men (especially the many novices and mediocrities he fought during his reign) than against skilled 147 and 154-lb men.

 

Reality is Duran was ready to fight 15 hard fast rounds as a LT weight. He would overwhelm his opponents with speed and non stop feints and power punching. There is no way anyone can claim or use the idea Duran was not in the best of shape to diminish his LT weight years. If he were to lose to a Benny Leonard as an example it would not be because of conditioning.

 

I don't know if you know the score on the first Viruet fight but it wasn't all that competitive. The scores were 6-2, 5-4, 6-3 and of course the rounds not scored for either fighter would be have been even rounds.

In fact in one of his fights with Viruet a reporter said it reminded him of a fly flying around the mouth of a lion. So why you're trying to turn this into something it's not is a mystery to me, I can only surmise it has something to do with your desire to make it seem like Duran couldn't fight fighters with good movement, which ties nicely into your man love of Floyd. The fact is Buchanan was an excellent boxer, and Duran simply imposed his style on him, crowded him and forced him into the ropes. This is the same Buchanan who had wins over Guts Ishimatsu, Carlos Ortiz, Ismael Langua X2, and Carlos Hernandez, among others.


If anything, I think Duran is under rated, not over rated. I think he was a better fighter than Ali for example, and was probably the best, or certainly one of the best at in fighting, and transitioning offense into defense and vice versa while on the inside. The only thing Duran lacked, later in his career was conditioning and commitment, but even then, when he was focused, like against Moore, Hagler and Barkley it was almost magical. Had Duran had the same focus and commitment to conditioning he had in his 20's or the same commitment Mayweather had during his career, I think he could have been the best ever, or no worse than top 3.

 

I'd been assuming all this time that you were a Duran fanatic who only watched Duran fights and read about him. But after all these threads I've finally realized that you don't even watch his fights--you just parrot whatever you can find online. How do you love him so much when you haven't seen so many of his fights and can't even give your own assessments of them? Very peculiar.

 

Are you denying that Duran had problems against skilled fighters who used good movement? Buchanan was a solid little boxer but comparing him to Mayweather is a few bridges too far. Lacked Mayweather's mobility, reflexes, and ring iq, for starters. Other than that, pretty good comparison!

 

I saw the Viruet fight live and it was not as close as the scorecards. Viruet spent most of his time with his back to the ropes. He fought to survive.

 

Buchanan was a great and very tough fighter. There is no harm with any LT weight having a tough battle with him. It's false logic to say Duran in his prime would def lose to Mayweather because of how Duran fought Buchanan.

 

Not peculiar at all, it's called supporting an argument, you may want to try it sometime rather than just spewing the bs you're spewing because it's getting boring fast.