Who's Greater: Roberto Duran or Muhammad Ali?

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by George Crowcroft, Jun 13, 2020.



Who's Greater?

  1. Muhammad Ali

    50.0%
  2. Roberto Duran

    50.0%
  1. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    Ali weighed about the same as Barkley did against Duran who the later beat when he was a shot 38 y/o, so in theory the size disadvantage shouldn't be an insurmountable obstacle for a prime Duran to overcome. So now it just comes down to a battle of skill and will and fact is Ali never fought anyone remotely close to Duran's skill level whereas Duran actually beat a more skilled opponent than Ali in SRL. Sure Foreman, Frazier, and Liston were all formidable punchers, but they were big slow plodders and Duran was more skilled than all three of them combined.

    One of the most important factors to take into consideration in this one is Ali wouldn't have his obligatory speed advantage against a prime Duran and speed was his bread and butter and if you take that away from him he becomes a lot easier to beat.

    I doubt it would be easy because Ali was no walk in the park for anyone but I think a prime Duran could pull this one off on his best day.
     
  2. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    26,101
    41,914
    Mar 3, 2019
    :lol:

    Who'd you pick, Serge?
     
    Serge likes this.
  3. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    26,101
    41,914
    Mar 3, 2019
    @Olu G. Rotimi how do you feel that Duran would beat Floyd and it wouldn't even be his best win?
     
    Somali Sanil, lufcrazy and BCS8 like this.
  4. BCS8

    BCS8 VIP Member Full Member

    51,551
    63,485
    Aug 21, 2012
    I'll take Duran.

    He moved through the weightclasses and beat guys at much higher weights than people might have thought possible, at an age where he had a LOT of miles on the clock. They both have some huge wins, but I feel Ali's defining wins are closer and it can be argued that he'd actually lost some, like vs Norton. When Duran was supposed to be washed up he was beating down guys like Cuevas, Barkley and Moore.

    Also, while they are both exceptional fighters, I think Duran's baseline skill was higher.
     
  5. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    Ali was great but HW Level has always been grossly overrated and truth be told as great as Ali was he was still a good three or four levels below the prime SRL who Duran beat and for that reason I'd have to favour Duran even though he would be giving away a lot of size, weight and length to Ali.
     
  6. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    26,101
    41,914
    Mar 3, 2019
    Imagine if he'd gotten those fights I mentioned! His résumé would be:

    Ernesto Marcel
    Hiroshi Kobayashi
    Ken Buchanan
    Hector Thompson
    Guts Ishimatsu
    Esteban DeJesús (twice)
    Ray Lampkin
    Edwin Viruet (thrice)
    Leoncio Ortiz
    Saoul Mamby
    Lou Bizzarro
    Vilomar Fernandez
    Monroe Brooks
    Carlos Palomino
    Sugar Ray Leonard
    Pipino Cuevas
    Davey Moore
    Iran Barkley
    Jorge Castro

    Depth... AND THEN you add in:

    Alexis Arguello
    Antonio Cervantes
    Wilfred Benitez
    Aaron Pryor
     
    Serge and BCS8 like this.
  7. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    Yeah the casuals don't realize that Ali was actually the bigger man most of the time, whereas Duran was a blown up lightweight bashing up legendary consensus top 2 or 3 ATG welterweights and pushing legendary consensus top 1-3 MWs down to the wire.
     
  8. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    26,101
    41,914
    Mar 3, 2019
    I've actually seen people score that fight to Duran, I didn't but I've seen it. His coiling left handed strategy is one of the most perfect performances I've ever seen in a loss, and IMO is one of Duran's most underrated performances/achievements.
     
    Serge likes this.
  9. BCS8

    BCS8 VIP Member Full Member

    51,551
    63,485
    Aug 21, 2012
    There we go. He went the distance with Hagler, and that in itself speaks volumes about his quality.
     
    Serge likes this.
  10. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    26,101
    41,914
    Mar 3, 2019
    Yeah, it's nuts. I think it's even better when you compare it to Leonard and Hearns, though. I had both Leonard and Duran winning 6 rounds vs Hagler, but Leonard fought an older Hagler, and was bigger than Duran. Then obviously, Duran did much better than Tommy did.
     
    BCS8 likes this.
  11. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    Yes, a blown up lightweight not only going the full 15 round distance against arguably the #1 MW of all time who was also a legit bald baddass, but actually pushing them close and snarling at them like a rabid wolf at the final bell is about as alpha as it gets.
     
    George Crowcroft, manex and BCS8 like this.
  12. BCS8

    BCS8 VIP Member Full Member

    51,551
    63,485
    Aug 21, 2012
    Only one disagreement with that

    https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/9019

    ;)
     
    George Crowcroft and Serge like this.
  13. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    Yes and he arguably beat Hagler's half-brother Robert Sims too when he was 35 y/o too
     
    George Crowcroft and BCS8 like this.
  14. Abysswalker

    Abysswalker Member Full Member

    234
    338
    May 13, 2020
    A slight correction, question should be "do you even know Duran?".
     
    George Crowcroft likes this.
  15. Serge

    Serge Ginger Dracula Staff Member

    71,010
    107,800
    Jul 21, 2009
    :lol: I have a Greb career box set if you're interested? It's a complete career set and all the fights are HD.