Report: Duran in great shape the week before Leonard-Duran II

When looking at his record. Into his LW reign... when he had 5 months or more in between fights, he was often taking fights at 147 and 154. When the layoff was less, he was more apt to defend his LW title then and there.

 

Surely it was considerably more than 20 pounds though. If he was LW champ and taking fights at 154 because he couldn't get down to 135. That's more than 20 pounds right there. He didn't just show up at 154 to camp and they took a 154 fight. That was him working his way down to 154, them taking a fight to keep him active. Then after the fight keep working him down to 135 to defend his title. So that right there seems to strongly imply he gained more than 20 pounds.

 

Not just boxing fans, but fans of logic and reason as well.

 

Was the pattern the same at 147 and 154? Would he balloon to 160 or 168 or 175?

 

I don't know how high in weight he would get. It's very hard to say. What we can say is, he had issues of ballooning up in between fights. From about the middle of the LW reign on. So why then would I believe he happened to stay in good shape after the most important win of his career, where he finally got a big payday? Seems to me he would be more likely to get further out of shape after such a win, if he did that when it wasn't such a big win or payday.

 

Right, but I think you see where my question would be.

If Duran has a history of ballooning up to a weight that he could easily trim down to 147 or 154 from, that actually isn't so bad. It just means he was getting too big for LW.

On the other hand, if Duran has a history post-Leonard II of ballooning up to the point where Duran would be closer to 168 or above, then it would certainly strengthen your argument that he got too fat after Leonard I.

 

Let's examine what I mean... while still the reigning LW Champion

75' - Salgado (Super Lightweight)
Then defends his LW title after the above fight

75' - Peterson (Super Lightweight)
75' - Toro (Super Lightweight)
75' - Acuna (Super Lightweight)
75' - Viruet (Super Lightweight)
75' - Defends his LW title (Again illustrating them trying to keep him active to keep him down in weight because he balloons up in weight with too much time between fights.

76' - Mamby (Super Lighweight)
76' - defends his title
76' - Villa (Super Lightweight)
76' - Defends title against Rojas and Fernandez back to back. Illustrating he could still do this, yet in the above, he was clearly not in shape in enough to lose the weight to do so, so they took Super Lightweight fights, but he wasn't moving there, nor did he campaign there.

77' - Muniz (Welterweight)
77' - Diaz (Super Lightweight)
Demonstrating they are gradually getting him in shape to defend his LW title, which he does in his next fights with Viruet and then against Dejesus back to back

78' - Adolfo (Welterweight)
78' - Obando (Super Welterweight)
78' - Brooks (Welterweight)
This is before he relinquishes his LW title, as he hadn't decided where or what he was doing.
Takes some more WW fights and two more fights with no division listed because they were catch weight fights.

The point I'm making here is, he clearly struggled to get down in weight in between fights. Hence why he had Welterweight and Super Welterweight fights while still LW Champion. Arcel is quoted as saying they did this because they just needed him active to work his way down to LW to defend his title after his last title defense. That doesn't sound like somebody who's good with his weight in between fights.

 

I don't believe he had relinquished his belt when he fought those last three fights. So no, I don't believe that to be true. He didn't just show up to those Super Welterweight fights and Welterweight fights. He had a camp for those fights. That was the point. Keep working him into shape to defend his LW belt. He didn't just show up to the arena and fight as he was from the couch. So I'm not sure what you mean by... come as you are fights. He was taking those fights because he WASN'T in shape enough to get down to the LW in time. If it was so easy for him and he only gained 20 pounds as you claim. Why the need for a Welterweight fight and a super welterweight fight before you defend your title? He clearly could defend his crown back to back when he was in shape enough and the fights close enough together. So what does it say when he takes the above.. or even when he takes 4 Super Welterweight fights before he defends in 75'. A full 5 years before he even moved up. Why the need for those fights if it's so easy to only lose 20 pounds in between fights. I'm not grasping your logic here. Seems 1+1 = 2 to me, yet you're seeing something different. You believe he took this fights because he was just fine in between fights and gained little weight? That makes more logical sense?

 

For the record, how much could he have realistically ballooned up?

Do we know what Duran weighed at his fattest, at any point in his athletic life?

 

He kept the belt because he was waiting for Arguello but Alexis kept saying not yet then lost to Fernandez and Roberto said **** it and moved to the glamour division for the money.

 

Certainly trained for SRL 1 and Hagler anyway.
The man boxed spanning over 5 decades, lives a hectic life. Training obviously wasn't always a priority.... As bad as that may sound.