Also involving the Rock this from Peter Wilson ( The Old Holborn Book Of Boxing, sell a child to get this book ) the quote went like this : " It wasn't a punch received that told Joe he was going to lose, it was a punch landed, by him on Rocky's jaw just after the bell ended the 4th round, Marciano took it , and glared , Walcott knew in that instance the fight was lost " these old writers, don't you just love em. stay safe guys.
This wasn't about him taking a beating and having no chance of winning, though. He hadn't taken much punishment and wasn't far behind on the cards. Wasn't even tired. If you can't criticise quitting under those circumstances, in a rivalry where he had provided all the venom, then you can't criticise anything. Do you live up to that standard? That fight is not a guilty pleasure for me, though, since I get little joy out of it. Maybe it would be Ali-Williams. Normally I don't get anything from watching a fight where someone far past his prime gets pummelled, but it's just the grace of Ali in that fight which is mesmerising.
I get what you mean but you're just being deliberately obstreperous. Yes of course, we have never been in the ring with top fighters but nor have we ever landed a punch capable of breaking a man's jaw while wearing 10oz gloves. We'll still say fighter A wasn't that powerful. Nor have we taken punches that would knock 99.9% of the population unconscious but we still say fighter B was a bit chinny. I get tired breaking wind but I'll still say Foreman lacked stamina after the poor guy had been winging punches in heat for nearly half an hour. If we're only going to comment when we have done what these guys do and can do then there's not going to be a lot of discussion and we might as well close the forum down. We can only compare them to themselves and their boxer peers, not ordinary men. And given his talent, the favourable situation he was in and the fact that Duran loved to dish abuse out, compared to what we would expect he did 'quit like a dog'.
Very well put. Duran fans would do themselves a favour by just admitting this. Instead they beat even Tyson fans in being pathetic, and that is saying something. There is no excuse for Duran doing the worst quit job in the history of boxing. That doesn't mean that his performances against DeJesus, Palomino, SRL etc weren't just about as good as it gets, but it is still a fact.
Ali vs Spinks 1 I had just passed out from recruit training to protect Queen and country, and a group of us watched the Ali vs Spinks match in Feb 78, the image of Spinks being held aloft by his cornermen with his arms raised in victory, was to me a callow teen boxing fan the epitome of a real life Rocky scenario, still seeing the image brings back good memories, ok his career and indeed his life spiralled afterwards but for that brief moment in history Spinks was ' The man who beat the man' in only his 8th fight as a pro.