It was an odd fight to watch I thought, Barkley looked in the best form I ever saw for him and boxed text book very well, was faster, moved well yet Duran was so cagey and slightly outlanded him. The knockdown was unexpected and while landing solidly it was also pretty slowly thrown. Barkley couldn't be faulted in anything he did, Duran just had great ability.
The champion shouldn't get the benefit of the doubt. I dislike that view on scoring. It's just as easy to say, "If he's the champion he should convincingly win the rounds, if not give the benefit of the doubt to the challenger."
Really? Did you feel that there were six or more rounds that Duran definitely, incontrovertibly won? I can't see it.
I thought Duran won close but clear. He was landing the cleaner punches, his punches had the most effect and he was better defensively. Barkley did fight a great fight. He punished the body as much as he could and tried to wear Duran down. That right hand Duran landed in the very first round almost ended it for Barkley.
I need to rewatch and rescore but it wasn't too far from that. I had Barkley slightly up going into the 11th, but while recognizing that there had been a few rounds that could have gone either way.
I haven't viewed it in awhile myself. I agree Barkley won the majority of those rounds 2-8. There were at least a couple that could've went either way though. All Duran needed was one of those rounds and he had the fight. Barkley did everything he could. Probably one of his best performances in a losing effort.
The commentators talked about Barkley ouworking Duran in the first part of the fight. I did not see that. The fight was close throughout and then Duran finished stronger and had the edge. I think I had it Barkley up by a point after 9 rounds. It is hard to ignore Duran's clean shots to the head.A tremendous performance by both fighter though
Boxing had a tradition of this, and I was always comfortable with it. The Challenger should have to win the belt, not edge it. It does not happen now a days, and was dying out in the time of Duran/Barkley.
It's been awhile since I saw it but I remember scoring it 115-112 Duran. Duran sometimes got these score crazy scorecards in his favor, such as the Hagler and Benitez fights being as close officially as they were, and one judge having Duran ahead in this 118-112. That's crazy, it was closer than that: But I thought Duran fairly beat Iran. One time they introduced him at a fight recently and I thought it was Biz Markie.
This is probably in my top 5 favorite fights. Every time l watch it l keep thinking if l could show a newbie boxing fan one fight to get him interested in boxing and show that size doesn't always matter this is it. In terms of scoring this is a difficult fight to score, but l had Duran up by 2 points, but a draw or a Barkley win wouldn't have been a robbery.
I'm re-watching this fight for my youtube channel next, I'll try and pay enough attention to put together a coherent scorecard.
Barkley was not "the champ" unless we want to pretend Sumbu Kalambay was never born and we make stuff up as we go along. Barkley was ranked something like #4 by The Ring and wore a pricey decoration. Duran-Barkley is my favorite fight. I had Duran up by 2 rounds, but it was close. Clancy had it right -the knockdown clinched it in Duran's favor.