Well, hold on a minute, the weights of the 2nd LaMotta fight were Ray 144 LaMotta 160, and we must presume that the previous fight the weights would have been similar, and maybe even up to the 5th fight Ray would have had a significant weight disadvantage no ? If we agree on that, then your assertion that Ray didn't fight anybody as strong as Duran, could be up for discussion, so the question is : who is stronger- LaMotta at 160 or Duran at 147, the floor is yours. stay safe buddy.
Yes good point. Turpin was a strong guy, Sugar Ray said that himself. It certainly helped him win that first fight.
Aww, not really, Robinson was 20-0 anyway and had beaten some good guys. A few guys got fights with Duran with worse records than that, even title shots. It would be fascinating at the very least.
Robinson would have beaten him UD, but it would have been blood, sweat, and tears. It might have been the greatest and most exciting fight in history.
It would of been amazing but I'm agreeing, the best welterweight would beat the best lightweight in an exciting fight.
I think Robinson might actually just take him out quite quickly. It’s unconventional but this is Robinson fighting a 135lber albeit one of the best and Duran isn’t shy.
Robinson might have beaten some good fighters by that point but that wouldn't have meant he was ready for a title shot, let alone against a champion of Duran's calibre. The fight would be an interesting contrast of styles but I think it would only be fascinating from a historical perspective.
As much as I would love to say Duran wins this I don't think he has a chance. All stylistic nuances aside, Duran was better than everyone but the very best once he moved up from lightweight. I say that with the caveat that he bypassed 140 and may have been the best ever at that weight if he had decided to stay there for a few years. The reality is that he did lose to almost every Hall of Famer he fought once he went above 135. Famously, Duran won the first Leonard fight as much mentally as he did physically. I cannot see Duran goading Robinson into fighting a style for which he wasn't suited. I say Robinson wins by wide decision.
Training hard for Montreal took a lot out of Duran too. His frustration would be unbearable against a prime Robinson.
Didn't LaMotta's aggressive style give Robinson issue ? it's not out of the question that the Duran from Montreal could give him trouble also. PS i just did some research and apparently LaMotta weighed 157, 158, 159, 160 x2. In 5 of the fights vs Robinson who weighed 144, 145 x2, 148, 150. So basically Robinson who was a Welterweight. Was basically fighting a Middleweight so maybe my comment above isn't correct.
Robinson's power would distinguish this from, say, the first fight against SRL. Leonard punched damn hard bur Robinson is in the convo for the hardest puncher ever at 147 and is usually given for top 5 when discussed. He could be as high as #3 for me. He's also more dangerous inside and against aggressors than Leonard and loves letting his slashing hands go. Duran simply wouldn't be able to charge in with gay abandon and after a couple of rounds you'd see a less aggressive quite respectful Duran spending quite a bit of time at distance which will be a losing, albeit competitive game against the bigger, faster man. I would not be surprised to see Robinson hurt him or even sit him down in the first round or two. Someone has to be the man and at 147 it's Robinson.
Something else of note is Duran wasn’t going to walk through shots the way LaMotta could. He’d soak stuff up to press the advantage if he had to, he was also a boiled down LHW.
At 147, I think SRR would have won this fairly comfortably. But It would’ve been very interesting if they fought at 140, a weight between their specialist divisions. I often wondered why Duran never fought at that weight…he would probably have fought Aaron Pryor in 1980 instead of SRL. Now that would have been some fight!
He skipped 140 because most likely Carlos Eleta, his manager, didn't want to upset the applecart on the way to a fight with SRL. In 1980, SRL was a WAY more lucrative fight than Pryor, who wasn't a "money" fighter until he fought Arguello a few years later. No reason to risk upsetting things against Pryor (although I would pick Duran anyway) when a SRL big money fight is on the table.