Duran Not Hype Witness for Yourself True Greatness

There's a thread on this fight every other day, legit.

Yup, its getting to that over-discussed "Why are dozens of other good topics being ignored" zone.

 

hmm i'm starting to think the great Iran Barkley might not be top 5 p4p of all time anymore. Duran was 75 years old here and no doubt didnt train and had stomach cramps. Iran was off form to lose in such a amazingly spectacular one sided fashion, unparralled by any other performance ever, the only time anybody past prime has beaten a nobody by split-decision.

This once a generation performance should be talked about more here on esb classic, i've never seen it brought up in completely unrelated topics before

 

you've contributed to more Duran spamming than just about anyone Pachilles.

 

THis was a great fight, as a huge Duran fan i was worried for him going into this as i thought he was far past it. One of the greatest performances ever for an old fighter. I thought it was a close fight and the knockdown was the clincher. I should watch this again its been awhile i think i had him winning this by 1 point.

I also remember Duran showing an awesome chin in this fight easily taking some big bombs from Iran.

 

Thank you for posting this.

I've watched that fight about 181 times since that snowy night 21 years ago and I absolutely love it. It only proves again that a strong case can be made that says Roberto Duran is the greatest living boxer on the planet. That bout is, by the way, a great choice to convert even the staunchest abolitionist to appreciate what the sweet science truly is.

Blue Mercury gave us a stylized interpretation of that fight that is magnificent. Very well done.

PS/ I just saw the video description on youtube. Read it. It's from an article a few of you may find familiar...

 

Barkley had a superb heavy jab.he wasn't the most educated in his use of it at times, but when he wanted to box on the outside his size and jab were actually quite a formidable prospect.

I find myself appreciating him more as the years have gone on and he's come under a lot of criticism in recent years.One thing to remember is that after the early Simms loss(which was a great war itself), nobody had an easy time against the prime barkley except kalambay, right up until the Toney loss when noticeably declined and dropping back down from light-heavy.

Benn may have done, but we were denied a satisafactory end to that fight imo.

 

Iran This was not great. Where is the win over Hearns/Benitez and Hagler? Where is his wins over greats as a poll in the general forum asks? Do all of the great wins duran has have to be overrated and fighters like Barkley made to be great so Duran gets credit? This was not a great win!!! It was good but not great. Barkley is not good.

 

because Duran fans know Duran is losing his all time great level a little and they are insecure and want to prove he is great, but a win over a guy who lost all the time proves nothing. Barkley beat all time great hearns in a fluke punch and that is all he ever did and then he lost o every middleweight he fought. yeah great fighter. benn stopped him in one.

 

You're right. Barkley is a shitty 3-division champion with a win over Hearns. As far as 3-division champs with a win over a legend go, he stinks. atsch

 

Damn your obsessed with Duran...its quite sad really. You and Pachilles would really get along.

Never seen someone talk so much about someone they dont even seem to like.

 

1. It was a great comeback fight in Duran's career. He won against the odds.

2. It was a brilliant performance. He looked as good as he had in years.

3. He beat a bigger man.

4. The styles and characters of these two fighters made it a very thrilling encounter.


BUT

It's become so overrated on here as an historically significant win, or the final proof of Duran's greatness, it's become ridiculous.

No one talks about Dick Tiger beating Jose Torres and Nino Benvenuti like they talk about this.
And some misguided individuals around here think Duran's win is a bigger achievement that Mike Spinks beating Holmes !

The two top middleweights in the world (Kalambay and Nunn) beat Iran Barkley around this time, and neither of them is high on the ATG list, and Barkley isn't even there biggest win !

Barkley wasn't exactly hard to hit.
Even in Barkley's big win against Hearns he was almost toast.