I could write a long-winded analysis, but I wouldn't come up with anything new on the subject. I'm pretty much in agreement with McGrain on this one. For me it is an utterly timeless and fan-****ing-tastic win.
Barkley is sadly underrated, more or less simply because he didn't possess sublime skills nor was he pleasant to watch at times. He beat good names from MW to ****ing heavyweight with little to no inherent advantages with those wins, such as good matchmaking. Yet he was a dangerous combination of power, tenacity, durability and willpower. He was more then the sum of those parts.
Allow me to be the second after yourself to acknowledge the moment then, and pay tribute to a truly magical performance from one of the very very best fighters in the history of the sport. :happy
I thought the decision was a bit questionable. Certainly that lopsided scoring for Duran was bull**** IMO. Basically, Duran won the last third of the fight, and Barkley the middle third, and it all depended on how you scored the first third. Duran fought in spurts and sometimes landed the more eye-catching head shots, but Barkley was busier and more aggressive and did some good body work.
Wow you are right. Amazing. I remember the commentors were Gil Clancy and Al Bernstein. One day later was Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno 1 on HBO I think, and Leonard said in the broadcast that he had sent Duran a letter of congratulations.
Both fighters landed their share of good shots. The late knockdown of Barkley was obviously the tiebreaker.
"The eyes of Roberto Duran... there's a sinister look there. Even now." ~ Bernstein. "I just can't believe this man, Al. Duran is proving to me again that he is one of the greatest fighters who ever lived." ~ Clancy There's a pretty good article over at the Sweet Science commemorating this fight. http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/6588/roberto-duran-fourth-crown/
Thanks for the link. I will read it. The Barkley fight turned out to be Duran's last great win. After that he lost to Leonard and entered the 1990's fighting on USA and having an occasional fight of the Pazienza and Camacho caliber. And that loss to Joppy. I do wonder what would have happened had he not had the auto accident. Would he have kept fighting until 2005 or so? Who knows.
The scoring in general was a bit funny..with all judges scoring a lot of drawn rounds by the looks of it. 118-112 for Duran is just bizarre and plain wrong. Though Im not suprised an Italian judge scored a fight like that. From memory I think I split the first 1/3 with Duran taking the first two and Iran taking the next two. And then building some momentum to take a lot of the midrounds. Ive watched the last few rounds a couple of times in the last few weeks just to remind myself of the drama that ended that fight and the greatest of Roberto. I dont think Ive watched the whole fight in a while though...seen it a lot of times in the past.
Duran would have fought indefinitely. I think that his guardian angel deliberately turned his back and let that car crash --knowing that otherwise he'd only be unnecessary brain trauma in the ring. Duran's last great performance was the first Camacho fight. He proved himself a master strategist (again) in that one... who would have thought that he could cope with a speedster at 45 years old? He did and he won. If I ever meet those judges, I'd mail three pairs of eyeballs to Duran with a note attached.
I've watched that fight over 150 times. It is great drama. It's David and Goliath. Beuwulf and Grendal. Odysseus and the Cyclops. Jack and the Beanstalk. I'm getting silly.
I'm a 'Duran' psycho............ BUT! I kinda' sense that the 11th rd. knockdown SECURED the deal for Duran..... In truth, Duran looked gased in rd. 12........ I needed / wanted Duran to finish strong.... He really did NOT!.... Still.... MR.BILL
The interesting thing is that even though Iran Barkley fought Duran's perfect style, he gave Duran the fight of his life. Both guys must have been sore after that one.