Do you think Duran knew he was going to get blown up by Hearns?

It's decent, but the class of the opponent in the other two are telling, and they both took a good punch. Duran was never treated remotely like that before or after. Cuevas was right in the mix with Benitez, Duran and SRL at 147 when Hearns put him to sleep. Pipino had a horrific left hand which sent more than a couple of people to hospital.

 

It wasn't his word but others around him.

If he had quit the sport immediately before the Hearns fight, he would have been a Hall of Fame shoe-in.

 

He was a HOF shoe in before he left lightweight.

 

And then some. After he beat SRL, well..........

 

Duran did look a little nervous during the pre fight staredown. A total contrast to how he looked before the opening round against Marvin Hagler and Davey Moore. He may well have known that he was going to get beaten in this one.

 

And Dundee implied Ali partied before FOTC. Mailer openly said as much. Pacheko said it came too close to the Bonavena fight. People around a fighter tend to have excuses too. There might be more or less truth to them, but generally I'd want something very substantial to believe fighters at that level come in at sub-par condition for big fights.

 

The hangers on are hardly going to go against their meal ticket.

 

Duran was 16 years into his career and burned out and easily distracted post-Montreal. Boxing allowed him to see a bigger world than fighting for meals in El Chorillo. He was 33 years old and not the same hungry fighter of the 70's. That is the story in the book, at least. It seems plausible.

If you ask me if that was the best version of Duran, I would say no.

 

Nobody thinks the Duran who faced Hearns was the best version, but neither to we buy your claim that Duran wasn't in good condition for the fight.

 

The primo version of Duran fought at lightweight where he fought for 10 years out of a 33-year long career.

 

If his bio is to be believed he trained for a couple of weeks, and was about 190lb when he started. Near the end he had to focus on losing weight rather than training.

Regardless of whether or not this is true, it's still on Duran to show up in shape ready to fight. There are countless fighters who do exactly what Duran does and don't get passes when they lose.

 

The bio claims that he lost 45 pounds in two weeks?

 

You're moving the goalposts now. We're talking about Duran "appearing" to be scared. When you're scared you don't goad your foe, you don't taunt him, you don't invite him into a war. He was exchanging with Hearns at range.. and terrible strat, and one that played right into Hearns hand. Duran was a great boxer, and knew this, so did his trainers, yet he still fought that way. Somebody wouldn't fight to their foes strengths if they are scared. You do the opposite, you try and hold and spoil. Those are more indicative of being scared, not the way Duran fought. It's really that simple man.

 

He does not get a pass, no.

 

It wasn't that specific..I think he may have been trying to loose weight before he started training camp. I'll review this chapter again, as it's been about a year or so since I read this..and my memory was never great to begin with.