I'd narrowly favour Duran from the Moore fight, but only just, Benvenuti was more than useful and good deal bigger.
Benvenuti is a tad underappreciated imo.. he had a great career. Both Griffith and Benvenuti were capable of giving any of the 80s greats a hard fight if u ask me. Yes he lost to Monzon but i feel he was past prime then.
Hi Guys. I would also favour Duran, but not with a lot of certainty, despite his film star looks Nino was a tough resilient fighter, whose left hook carried KO power, if he caught Duran squarely who knows. stay safe guys, chat soon.
Duran can take a hook from Barkley,by it's to remember that Benvenuti had a possibly harder left hook than Barkley. Either way,the Pipino and Moore Duran was a superb quality fighters,might beat Nino on the dirty boxing game and infighting.
Benvenuti was a quick-handed counterpuncher who could hold his own on the inside. I think Duran would encounter essentially the same problems he had vs. Benitez, & from an opponent that was naturally bigger & maybe even faster than a 154 lb Benitez.
Yeah I’m on the fence about it myself. If we compare their careers as a whole then Duran is leagues better. But I’m thinking Benvenutti was the better fighter at 154.
As good as Nino was inside,strong shorties still managed to beat him actually. Past it Luis Manuel Rodriguez and Dick Tiger did exactly that. Duran would have a tough fight but he'll win.
Rodriguez didn't beat him, got knocked out. Nino was past his best by the time he fought guys like Tiger and Luis and the fight with Tiger was well above themiddleweight limit to boot. . Have a look at the guys Duran lost to, past his best. He's also a bit more formidable at 154 IMO as making the weight didn't seem to worry him. It's an interesting little tiff to be frank.
Rodriguez got ko'ed,but was doing very good on the scorecards,spoiling his way inside and almost became a two time and two weightclasses world champion. Still very interesting for both sides.