Is Roberto Duran overrated?

Great fighter great longetivity maybe overated on some people's lists but isnt that any fighter i think most have him placed properly

 

Only a simpleton would tell you so.

 

I am not going to get involved in this one. The Duran threads add my post count up quickly.

 

I'd say you can argue him anywhere from top ten to top 25 ATG. I'd say top three is too high. He's in my top ten. If you interpret his entire legacy based on his one win over Leonard, you are just very ignorant about him.

 

I have him at #8

 

Claiming that Duran's resume is constructed of a win over " one great fighter ", does not even begin to do his legacy any justice.. He was arguably the greatest lightweight of all time, defeated many very good contenders and titlists, plus was competitive in multiple divisions and had longevity that was absolutely sick..

I do agree with some who say that he was a little overrated though... While his reign at lightweight was one of the most impressive in any weight division in history, having your best wins coming against Estaban Dejesus and Ken Buchanan wasn't as much so... They were certainly good fighters, but his great reign lacked great wins.... His ascent to the welterweight division, resulting in victories over Carlos palamino and the greatest win of his career against Ray Leonard, are what places him over the top...competing admirably against Marvin Hagler and beating Iran Barkley at an advanced age, were respectable feats as well, but not quite historic.... He also had a very bad loss to Thomas Hearns, and was beaten by such forgetables as Kirkland Laing and Robbie Simms...

All in all, he is probably worthy of being a top 10 pound for pound guy, but some have him anywhere from #1 to #5, and I think this is a tad over generous..

 

I have Duran in my top 3 of all-time, given his longevity and multiple titles in 5 different weight classes. Not to mention being the only LW in history to win the MW title.

Do I think he is overrated? In terms of greatness or in a P4P sense, no. In H2H fantasy matchups at 154 lbs and above, yes.

 

I keep hearing "the" middleweight title. But as great as the accomplishment was I think we should be careful to say "a" middleweight title. Otherwise, you could throw ODLH on the heap too.

 

He was one of the greatest lightweights of all-time. He defended the title 12 times over a six year period and look scintillating in those fights. Then he went up to welterweight and looked great beating Ray Leonard for the title, a shot he earned with a very impressive victory over former champion Carlos Palomino.

The rest of his career, from the disgraceful quit job in the Leonard rematch onwards, is not particularly good. The Barkley fight in 1989 was one last miraculous comeback, but the vast weight of Duran's greatness lies in the 1970s and no later than 1980.

 

On here he is both underrated and overrated. He is better than Henry Armstrong as a fighter throughout their respective weight classes, but Armstrong gets major wank time. However he isnt clearly better than Leonard, thats where the major overrating comes from.

And he gets more excuses for losses than any fighters in history, whenever he loses to a great fighter whos a bad style, its 'I had to lose loads of weight, I was weight drained, but Im also small at the weight'

And apparently he only trains hard for C class opponents but never for the great 1s he faces, he just drinks beer and eat tacos and takes diuretics against the greats, obviously he would have kicked their ass if he trained

And whats worse is its not just the nuthuggers who lap it up

 

His greatness rests on excusing all 16 of his losses. Which Robertards are fluent in. Or some just flat out refuse to believe his career went on beyond Montreal. You see, how he lost is irrelevant, why he lost only adds to his greatness!

He is without a doubt the biggest ***** in the history of boxing and is the king of excuses.
His victories don't recieve the same double standards. His greatest wins are...

Ray Leonard - Fantastic win, made his career, from the hate people had for Leonard.
Carlos Palomino - Was at the very tail end of his career, infact it was his very last serious fight. He was merely a faded big name used to boost the reputations of hot WW contenders Benitez and Duran.
Iran Barkley - Absolutely in no way, shape or form ATG career defining competition
Davey Moore - Absolutely in no way, shape or form career defining competition
Ken Buchanan - Finished the fight with literally an almighty punch to the testicles, anyone else else would've been disqualified.
De Jesus - Went 2 - 1 with him. His very best wins at LW.

Now all you have to do is hype the above fighters up beyond measure(except for Leonard because he made Duran quit like a ***** in the rematch and beat him in the 3rd fight...just pretend they never happened). Hype these fighters up to delusional standards, and then make as many excuses you can for the following losses....

-De Jesus, Leonard, Benitez, Laing, Hagler, Hearns, Sims, Leonard, Lawlor, Pazienzax2, Camacho, Castro, Joppy, Gonzales, Camacho

...and then you have credibility on ESB Classic.

 

Actually, he wouldn't.

He'd definitely make my top 10 lightweights of all-time though. Perhaps top 5.

 

If somebody says he is Top3, he is overrating him. If somebody says he is Top20 he is underrating him. He should be Top10, perhaps Top15.