Duran was beyond good and he beat SRL in a decisive fashion. Close but Duran IMO is greater even if Pac beats Cotto. Duran fought some amazingly talented guys north of his natural weight, killers in fact.
It's not even close. Had Barrera and Morales been in their absolute prime like JMM was, PAc's fans would have a small case. Leonard is a top 10 atg. Pac won't come close to that status ever unless he fights Floyd-and no catch weight either, and a couple of other good fighters.
Its hard to believe that after reading threads and posts over the past few years promoting Pacquiao as nearly as good as god that people have returned to reality. Pac is very good but Duran was the best lightweight ever.
my thoughts exactly. the quartet of duran, srl, hearns and hagler can be compared to the quartet of the mab, em, pac and jmm. although the latter group campaigned in a lower weight class. while i would rate duran to be high based on that win against srl, you are right that it was indeed a bit raw srl. I watched the fight and my thoughts exactly was that srl was fighting the duran fight, not the srl fight. and he did win the rematch convincingly until no mas. duran is great, no question about it. i think he is a bit higher than pac because of that sole srl win. but the truth is he, duran also lost big time to most of his other opponents. he has one of the best resume, true just like dlh. unfortunately, he lost most of the big fights imo. pac won over em, mab and JMM. that in itself is huge milestone and that coming from a huge EM fan also. if pac wins over cotto, i think he can be considered a little higher than duran based on over-all resume.
ATG . . . it's Duran. In terms of stature and accomplishment . . . Pac. We will have to wait and see how Pac's career will end up and his final place at the ATG list . . . that's the time we can make a logicall comparison and opinion.
Good post! one more thing... Duran vs Hearns - DAMN! Duran lost big time to HEARNS! Via devastating KO! Now it's PAC vs Cotto - If, PAC wins over Cotto especially if it's a great as what pac did to Hatton then we have a case... Winning on his 7th weight division is no easy feat! Even the mighty duran was not able to do that!
Good way not to prove Duran was great. Robinson, Ali, Louis, Pep,Leonard,Whitaker,Holyfield,Spinks,Hearns, Hagler, Armstrong Moore, Benitez. Who else? Guys who I thought were better than Duran and had better resume's. Duran did not have a great resume. If you look at his resume, he lost to the greatest fighters he fought. How is that the best ATG ever or coming close.
:good:good. you know your stuff and does not get swayed by historical melancholy. i am a fan of srl but the way duran fought was truly a masterpiece for that night. i cannot for the life of me understand why srl chose to brawl.