Good question it is easy to forget that Monzon was 5'11" because he fought tall....Hagler didn't fight alot of tall fighters as champion until I looked at his record it seemed his best fights were against short stocky guys, Hamsho, Sibson, Duran, Roldan but when he did fight taller fighters he came out aggressive everytime...Minter, Geraldo, Scypion, Lee, Obelmejias, Hearns? Looking at his title record he fought at least half or more fighters shorter than his 5'9.5" but the results were similar
I would give the edge to Monzon. Duran and Monzon were contemporaries and Duran would never have dreamed of challenging Monzon, but Duran wasn’t afraid of Hagler.
It's a great fight .. But make no mistake about Duran. He started sparring in the ring at age 8 against bigger kids and he grew up street fighting as a kid in the slums of Panama. He would have no problem lacing them up against Monzon
Duran was still a lightweight even after Monzon retired. Be a bit still going from 135 to 160 to fight a great like Monzon no? Monzon had been retired about 6 years when Duran eventually challenged for the middleweight title. Duran would have fought Monzon under similar circumstances for sure. Monzon however would not have given him the tactical and mental leeway Hagler did.
He'd make till maybe round 8 or 9 before the ceiling would cave in on him. Ice over fire...Monzon would have subjected Duran to a real beating...measured out slowly and cruelly...it would have been like Duran's beating he suffered from William Joppy, only much earlier on, and of course by a much, much better fighter. Ice beats fire.
Very good post JT, and you're so right. What Monzon had over Hagler in spades was a clever, psychopathic resolute mind when it came to fighting. A cold, purposeful, psychopath, that's what Monzon was. None of this bullshlt respect given Duran, none of this "should I fight him this way, or that way" kinda crap that Hagler, when up against the very best, could fall prey to. Duran makes it exciting for the first few rounds and pleases his fans with his emotional anger and all, but his opponent had no emotions in the ring...he was like a reptile, like a big constrictor vs a warm blooded mammal lol,...sooner of later, like within 10 rounds, all the escape avenues would have been closed to the mammal, and the reptile would close in. The last couple of rounds would have been hard to watch for Duran's fans. He would have had the shlt beat out of him. He'd find out that this was no Iran Barkley in the ring with him this time.
Everything Monzon did was timed to perfection , he managed to achieve a hell of a lot with a jab and right hand. Slow but silky smooth. A great boxer .
Duran doesn't last 5 rounds with Monzon.... LMAO... What a joke of a statement that is. The people who think that are overrating Monzon.
Ummmm.. I didn't see anything great defensively there. Did I miss something? Usually when people are talking great defense, you see somebody in and out of the pocket making people miss at all angles and ranges. Here, we basically see Monzon, at the range he usually fights at where he can use his length and height, and he leans back away from punches. He's not up close and in the pocket and dodging flurries. He's mostly already away from his foe, and at his range, so doing a lean back when you see somebody charging at you trying to get in range isn't overly impressive imo. It's good work, but let's not make Monzon out to be anything near great or even top notch in this area.