A year before he challenged Sugar Ray Leonard for his welterweight world title, Roberto Duran went to Madison Square Garden to fight Carlos Palomino. This was just a few months after Palomino had lost his world title to Wilfred Benitiez. This was the fight that showed Duran was a legitimate contender in this weight class. Every time Duran fought at MSG the atmosphere made it an unforgettable night for all he saw his fight. For those who want to watch the fight online, here's a link to my Daily Motion channel: This content is protected
I think it was on radio but at any rate, during an interview, Roberto rated Carlos as the toughest guy he ever faced. Pretty sure it was THE and not ONE OF THE. When Palomino became privy to Duran’s compliment he was absolutely chuffed - as you would be. Duran faced a lot of tough hombres and also wasn’t overly complimentary toward opponents who did in fact warrant his admiration. So, for an opponent to hear him say that - well, it would be like WOW! Anyway, I saw this tidbit on a YouTube vid, the relating coming straight from the man himself, Palomino. Last check, Carlos looks great for his age - in great shape and still does all his boxing drills to stay in condition - at least as at the video I watched.
Duran said pretty much the same thing about Buchanan. I suppose Mr. hands of Stone could be gracious when he wanted to be.
Hi Puggy. Nice piece, regards Duran ( and Napoles, Monzon, Olivares ) but in particular Duran, this sounds pretentious, but those who know me, know it isn't like me, you had to be around when he was around, sort of grow up together in the sphere of the boxing world, we in the UK rarely saw the greats of the late 60s and early 70s, all we had was the sports mags and our own papers, so Duran and his exploits were almost mythical, you almost couldn't believe what you were reading, no fighter was that good, was they ? the deeper into his reign he went the more he appeared god like, a Panamanian Achilles, without the week spot, around the Lampkin defence he had developed into a truly fearsome fighter, after years of us thinking of him as a slugger, brawler, it dawned on us, he was so much more, why did we not notice the nuances and finery of his boxing when he was younger, it was as if he was so brilliant that he hid his skills, and revelled in his savage reputation, and then as the fights and years rolled by, the scales fell from our eyes, how dumb and uneducated were we, laid before us was a boxing master, with the cloak of a neanderthal, couldn't we have peeked under the cloak, or better still pulled it of him at the weigh in, no we were happy in the knowledge that we had this fighter pegged after all we knew our boxing, didn't we.......... stay safe amigo, chat soon.
Yes Mike, my Dad waxed lyrical about Duran. It seems many besides yourself and my Dad somehow forget or didn’t actually live through his great career as LW - certainly I myself wasn’t sufficiently cognisant if that reign, I was too young. My quick fave story - early teens sat to watch SRL vs Duran. Asked Dad who he thought would win - Dad said he only needed to see Duran disrobe (to gage his conditioning). As soon as Dad saw the tremendous shape Roberto was in, Dad simply said Robert has got this. Dad was correct but even so, he was relatively newly exposed to SRL and more than highly impressed by the durability upheld by the so called “pretty boy” Ray Leonard. Dad likened SRL to a younger Ali in that regard - two pretty boy fighters who some might’ve expected to fold in a super tough fight - but they didn’t fold, far from it, they actually shined.
Nice, I watched virtually all of Durans career as it unfolded and your Dad was spot on, you could tell how Duran would fight when he took off his robe, especially after the age of 30. For 2 or 3 years beginning with the 2nd Leonard fight Roberto replaced being in fighting condition with just making the weight and with him fighting much bigger fighters that was a disaster . Leonard II, Benitez , and the Kirkland Laing travesty put him on the road to retirement. Then for reasons known only to him as I watched the Cuevas fight he looked like his old self though heavier. When I saw him training for Moore and saw him at the weigh in I immediately bet on Duran . He was good for Hagler but Marvin was just too much, after that he was basically down until the Barkley fight ,and when he took off his robe for that one you could tell he was ready to fight. After that the two worst instances I remember where he took off his robe and I knew he would lose was the second Pazienza fight and the Joppy fight when he was 47. I knew Joppy would stop him
Spot on analysis here. I remember watching Duran against Pazienza in the first fight he looked great and in shape and IMO got robbed. Then the fight right after he showed up looking terrible on USA against journeyman Heath Todd, then showed up looking the same against Pazienza in the rematch obviously just for a pay day. He did the same against Hearns he just made weight after partying so hard after the Hagler fight where he made millions. Too bad he wasnt as consistent in the 80s as he was in the 70s.
Good post and expansion on the point of being able to sometimes gage a fighters overall readiness per their physical appearance - which includes the associated mental preparedness that drove them to arrive in their best condition. In terms of reverence, my Dad held Monzon in similar regard. Aside from the HWs, Roberto and Carlos seemed two of the biggest names in the 70s in the lower weight divisions - thoroughly proven in their respective weight classes.
One of the most brilliant displays of boxing I ever watched. Duran made Palomino look like a 4 round novice
