Roberto Duran, The Thread.

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Roberto Duran, also known as The Hands of Stone, is among the top fighters in history. He started off below lightweight and ended up fighting at SMW, and winning the MW Championship.
He was the 3rd man to have won both the Lightweight and Welterweight championships (with the others being Henry Armstrong and Barney Ross before him)
He has an excellent list of both staggering and unique achievements

• The only man to win a belt at both Lightweight and Middleweight.
• The Oldest Middleweight champion of All Time.
• The first Non American 4 weight Champion.
• He received The Ring Magazine Comeback of the Year award in 1983 and 1989. He is the only fighter to win it twice.

His résumé is both long and stellar with wins over

Ernesto Marcel
Ken Buchanan
Estoban DeJesus 2*
Lou Bizzarro
Emiliano Villa
Edwin Viruet 2*
Carlos Palomino
Sugar Ray Leonard
Pipino Cuevas
Davey Moore
Iran Barkley


Duran was a beast, I have him top 10 Pfp of all time. H2H at lightweight he is more than a nightmare, he was a killer. There are little to no lightweights I'm picking to beat the best Roberto Duran.
Which imo is the one that showed up to fight DeJesus for the 3rd time
For the thread I have watched these bouts

Palomino
Hearns
Barkley
Hagler
Buchanan
Bizzarro
Leonard 1&2
DeJesus 1,2&3


He was a master of infighting. But you already knew that, he was absolutely brilliant moving forward, he was cutting of the ring, throwing beautiful punches and bobbing and weaving in some of the most unpredictable ways. When he got inside he'd rest his head on your shoulder, and work the body with both hands, shuffling back and trying to set up his overhand right. It's one of the most ferocious punches in boxing in history.


He could throw every punch to near perfection. He could throw winding long Overhands that he set up from the inside with his feet or beautiful short hooks that could come out of nowhere.
If he found himself pressed back to the ropes (which was pretty rare) he spun his man and bulled them to ropes. Here he could do absolute damage, he showed this exact sequence in the Moore fight and he did it more than once.
His body shots look and sound lethal, he slowed down world level guys with them like Buchanan and DeJesus.

His power is unbelievable, he stopped and dropped hard chinned guys at LW and even after starting his career around the BW limit and was stopping top guys at 154. He also had such an aura for destruction that he had Marvelous Marvin Hagler himself showing pure respect for his power and Leonard wobbled and running, in fact the only person I've seen show a close to prime/not shot Duran no respect for his power was Tommy Hearns.

He didn't have any serious weaknesses and showed in the 3rd DeJesus and 1st Leonard fights that he could box conventionally
From what I've seen he could get complacent. He was decked twice by DeJesus, he could lose focus and forget to jab or move as he should and get caught by punches he could've slipped.

He could feint his ass off, against Palomino he had an elite WW champion looking confused as ****. Carlos didn't know if he was coming or going.

For me, the style he would perform worst against, and did, would be slick-moving, back-foot fighters. Pernell Whitaker and Benny Leonard being my cases. I think he would find both of these guys to be slightly too much for him and lose on points to both. I think he'd fail to cut off the ring against them too often and lose the rounds because of it.
Against Viruet, he had a couple of issues finding him constantly. Viruet was not remotely on the level of Whitaker or Benny.

Duran had a few commitment issues after the No Mas Fight. He showed up out of shape and not with the venom he had at his peak. A perfect example of this would be the Laing fight, the Duran who beat the breaks off Palomino would've smashed Laing. He also wouldn't have been shut out by El Radar or lost an SD to Sims.
For the No Mas fight he was clearly not in great shape, he looked sluggish even compared to the old version that faced Barkley. However it must be noted that the situation he was in was completely Duran's fault, and either way him quitting was a poor way to go out.
That's not to discredit Leonard, he did brilliantly and making Duran (who was still prime imo) quit, is among the best wins of all time. Say what you want about it.
Duran looked a true H2H menace in his previous bouts, he was champion, and his camp situation was his own fault. Leonard should get full credit for his performance.

Anywho, to me, Duran exactly didn't look the epitome of health above 147. He seemed more flabby than toned and more like he was ill. But either way he was still a handful for guys there. He'd beat the average champion at 154 and 160 with relative ease.
How many lightweights can boast that?

Who beats a prime Roberto?

 

Roberto Duran, The Thread, Scorecards

DeJesus 1

1. DeJesus 10-8
2. DeJesus 19-18 (Duran 10-9)
3. DeJesus 29-27 (DeJesus 10-9)
4. DeJesus 38-37 (Duran 10-9)
5. DeJesus 48-46 (DeJesus 10-9)
6. DeJesus 57-56 (Duran 10-9)
7. DeJesus 67-65 (DeJesus 10-9)
8. DeJesus 76-75 (Duran 10-9)
9. DeJesus 86-84 (DeJesus 10-9)
10. DeJesus 95-94 (Duran 10-9)

DeJesus 2

1. DeJesus 10-8
2. DeJesus 19-18 (Duran 10-9)
3. Even 28-28 (Duran 10-9)
4. Duran 38-37 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
5. Even 47-47 (DeJesus 10-9)
6. DeJesus 57-56 (DeJesus 10-9) CLOSE
7. Even 66-66 (Duran 10-9)
8. Duran 76-74 (Duran 10-9)
9. Duran 86-83 (Duran 10-9)
10. Duran 96-92 (Duran 10-9)
11. TOS

DeJesus 3

1. Duran 10-9 CLOSE
2. Even 19-19 (DeJesus 10-9) CLOSE
3. Duran 29-28 (Duran 10-9)
4. Duran 39-37 (Duran 10-9)
5. Duran 49-46 (Duran 10-9)
6. Duran 59-55 (Duran 10-9)
7. Duran 69-64 (Duran 10-9)
8. Duran 79-73 (Duran 10-9)
9. Duran 89-82 (Duran 10-9)
10. Duran 99-91 (Duran 10-9)
11. Duran 109-100 (Duran 10-9)
12. TOS

Buchanan

1. Duran 10-8
2. Duran 20-17 (Duran 10-9)
3. Duran 29-27 (Buchanan 10-9)
4. Duran 38-37 (Buchanan 10-9)
5. Duran 48-46 (Duran 10-9)
6. Duran 58-55 (Duran 10-9)
7. Duran 68-64 (Duran 10-9)
8. Duran 78-73 (Duran 10-9)
9. Duran 87-83 (Buchanan 10-9)
10. Duran 96-93 (Buchanan 10-9)
11. Duran 106-102 (Duran 10-9)
12. Duran 116-111 (Duran 10-9)
13. TOS

Brawl in Montréal

1. Duran 10-9 (Duran 10-9)
2. Duran 20-18 (Duran 10-9)
3. Duran 30-27 (Duran 10-9)
4. Duran 39-37 (Leonard 10-9)
5. Duran 49-46 (Duran 10-9)
6. Duran 58-56 (Leonard 10-9)
7. Duran 68-65 (Duran 10-9)
8. Duran 77-75 (Leonard 10-9)
9. Duran 87-84 (Duran 10-9)
10. Duran 96-94 (Leonard 10-9)
11. Duran 105-104 (Leonard 10-9)
12. Duran 115-114 (Even 10-9)
13. Duran 125-123 (Duran 10-9)
14. Duran 134-133 (Leonard 10-9)
15. Duran 144-142 (Duran 10-9)

No Mas

1. Leonard 10-9
2. Leonard 20-18 (Leonard 10-9)
3. Leonard 29-28 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
4. Leonard 39-37 (Leonard 10-9) CLOSE
5. Leonard 48-47 (Duran 10-9)
6. Leonard 58-56 (Leonard 10-9)
7. Leonard 68-65 (Leonard 10-9)
8. TOS

Duran vs Barkley

1. Barkley 10-9
2. Barkley 20-18 (Barkley 10-9)
3. Barkley 29-28 (Duran 10-9)
4. Barkley 39-37 (Barkley 10-9)
5. Barkley 49-46 (Barkley 10-9)
6. Barkley 59-55 (Barkley 10-9)
7. Barkley 68-65 (Duran 10-9)
8. Barkley 77-75 (Duran 10-9)
9. Barkley 87-85 (Duran 10-9)
10. Barkley 96-95 (Duran 10-9)
11. Duran 105-104 (Duran 10-8)
12. Even 114-114 (Barkley 10-9)

Palomino

1. Duran 10-9
2. Duran 20-18 (Duran 10-9)
3. Duran 30-27 (Duran 10-9)
4. Duran 40-36 (Duran 10-9)
5. Duran 50-45 (Duran 10-9)
6. Duran 60-53 (Duran 10-8)
7. Duran 69-63 (Palomino 10-9)
8. Duran 79-72 (Duran 10-9)
9. Duran 89-81 (Duran 10-9)
10. Duran 99-90 (Duran 10-9)

Hagler

1. Hagler 10-9
2. Hagler 20-18 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE
3. Hagler 29-28 (Duran 10-9)
4. Hagler 39-37 (Hagler 10-9) CLOSE
5. Hagler 49-46 (Hagler 10-9)
6. Hagler 59-55 (Hagler 10-9)
7. Hagler 69-64 (Hagler 10-9)
8. Hagler 78-74 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
9. Hagler 87-84 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
10. Hagler 96-94 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
11. Hagler 105-104 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
12. Even 114-114 (Duran 10-9) CLOSE
13. Hagler 124-123 (Hagler 10-9)
14. Hagler 134-132 (Hagler 10-9)
15. Hagler 144-141 (Hagler 10-9)

Rounds 8-12 were all very close and could go either way, Hagler was landing harder shots and a lot of them whilst Duran was boxing better and still landing good punches, whilst Hagler's punches looked to be heavier neither seemed to be damaging eachother and Duran was showing pristine Defence, ergo I gave him the rounds. Hagler has a case for anyone of them or even all of them.

 

I agree with these picks, except for the Gans one. I think Duran stops him in either era. Grappling with him just puts Duran where he wants to be, inside. I can't see Gans setting himself up that type of punishment for very long, and once he realises how badly that tactic would work he wouldn't have a back up plan that would work against Duran well enough to win.

Just my 2$

 

I assume your joking? I didn't score it coz obviously it ends in 5 minutes but if your not joking I could score the first round