By the time of De Jesus III Duran could be whatever he wanted or needed to be, as he showed. He was anything but a brawler who was "very hittable". Duran was extremely versatile at 135, more so than Chavez. Chavez had a great chin but i'm not sure how it is "better" than Duran's. A couple of flash kd's where he was unhurt against a top counter puncher over a decade or so is pretty impressive. Then we have him taking SRL, Hagler and Barkley's best at higher weights with barely a grimace. His chin is crazy good. Chavez had a great chin too at various weights but i can't say it's better as such.
Chavez is great. But Duran is better in every department. He would win a wide UD. The style match up favours him as well.
This. I always assume we're taking the best version of each fighter in these fantasy matchups and if we take '78 Duran against '87/'88 Chavez, I'd pick Duran, although I think it would be a great fight.
Pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly. I wouldn't even need a gun to my head to pick Duran. In my view, he's simply better than Chavez at pretty much everything. The only exception might be chin. Even Chavez famed body attack isn't going to deter Duran who dug to the body just about as well and had more power too boot. I know people don't like saying Duran should win against another ATG because it seems like we're slighting the ATG he's beating, but in this case I don't think that's the case. You'll never convince me that Chavez style is the style to beat Duran, it's actually the opposite of that, and not a good style against Duran. I'd favor Pea's chances much more than I'd favor Chavez's against Duran.
It's always been strange that people use the 3rd DeJesus fight as this career performance. DeJesus won at least 3 or 4 rounds in that fight and had been beaten by Cervantes WAAAAAY more convincingly than Duran ever did.
Duran was as John said a bit better in just about every phase. Julio did go to the body more consistently. Probably cuz he needed to has Duran hit harder punch for punch. The biggest difference I believe would be Duran's boxing ability. He was quicker with his hands much more slippery on defense as he was able to roll with punches and and take the steam out of them better than Chavez could. Julio took punches moore square. Chavez was tough as nails no question. I think he last the distance against Duran. It's a good possibility that lightweight was the best division for Chavez though he didn't stay there as long as he could have. It's a fantastic fight a vicious fight and I wouldn't blame anybody for picking Julio though I would like to see their logic on it.
Cervantes great fighter but remember that fight was at 140 lb. Duran knocked out De Jesus twice and in the third fight almost killed the man . Hard to be more convincing. The reason people use the third fight is because Duran had evolved from just a slugger with speed to a more patient boxer who almost toyed with another excellent fighter. Duran was in total control in Las Vegas had Arcel sent him an earlier he probably knocked him out a few rounds before but he was having fun inflicting pain on his rival.
This is just not true of Duran at 135. Chavez had quicker hands, better head movement and a better jab than Duran did.
and Bowe beat Holyfield way more convincingly than Lewis did. Does that mean Bowe is above Louis, or that Lewis wasn't near the HW he could become? No to both of those. Styles make fights, and so Cervantes doing that to Dejesus is of little value here. I see a Duran that mixed his aggression with his boxing skills, that mixed his infighting with his outfighting very well. I see a more sound and fundamental Duran. That is why people say that. He likely could've gone balls to the wall and finished him earlier, but he had more patience at this point and knew the openings would come and he could get aggressive then. So it was all that, not how many rounds Dejesus won before refusing to get up to take anymore of a beating.
Really? I don't see what you're seeing. Do you think Duran was quicker at 47? Because he damn near matched handspeed with Ray Leonard. De Jesus was quicker than Chavez in my opinion and that's why it would be close to a toss-up though I probably would favor Julio to wear him down. Julio was great at cutting off the ring working the body. He had heavy hands he made fighters quit on their stools like Mayweather, Fuentes etc. Precise on the inside he picked his punches but also was very busy. Not saying Julio couldn't box better than maybe he was given credit for. I don't want to use fights at 140 or 47 to show that he couldn't hand with Duran because I do believe that lightweight Chavez probably peaked. Though if you were saying he was quicker than Duran stronger than Duran hit harder or had even close to as good a defense I'll have to disagree very strongly.
It’s amazing that Duran was ever in a competitive fight since he does “everything” better than “everyone” “ever”. All hail the new GOAT