Behold your false god, Roberto Duran

:crybaby *****! ...That emote is hilarious. Makes me wonder why it's not used more often....

 

I'm so emotional right now!

 

Do you value my opinion less because you know I'm 5'7 and resemble Winona Ryder, Teeto? ...The avatar was a terrible idea.

 

How did I "fail"? It was there to see plainly. To elaborate, compare the 15:th round against Bonavena to the 15:th round against Chuvalo or Terrell.

You have to be truly blinded by bias not too see the very clear difference.

That this also is backed up by many accounts amkes even stronger, of course. And how are they "second hand accounts"? These were people who worked closely with Ali most of them and D'Amato only related what he saw first hand of Ali.

 

You did state that DLH would have beaten Pacquiao, though. (Despite the fact that he's never convincingly beaten even a Cotto-level WW let alone a Pacquiao-level one.)

Ironically, Duran was actually in excellent condition for the Benitez fight. He was under the limit weeks before the fight, trained very hard, refused to allow girls and food to distract him. Ray Arcel claimed he was in the best shape "physically and mentally" since he trounced De Jesus for the second time. Yet, he performed poorly.

Perhaps - dare I say it?! - Duran was just not in his prime at that stage? Oh no, what an outrageous excuse-maker I must be... prime for prime, Laing whoops Roberto every time.

 

Yeah, that's all it is! I'm 5ft9, i could dominate you. Hahaha

 

We've been through this before. As I stated to you, Bonavena was a unique stylistic challenge that Ali had not seen before, and a better fighter than Chuvalo. Nonetheless, he was sharp enough to effortlessly slip Bonavena's best and return fire with some of his strongest ever punches.

What bias?

 

Well, he beat Trinidad in reality, and I still maintain today that a prime Oscar De La Hoya would have dealt with the Filipino relatively easily. The disparity in size coupled with Oscar's own strengths such as hand speed and punching power, I just think Manny would be biting off more than he can chew.

As I say, I saw evidence in the Benitez fight to convince me that Duran was operating at a far lower level than he had a few years previously. Perhaps the weight class was a factor, and El Radar was always going to be a difficult assignment, anyhow.

I saw a well conditioned, and competitive Roberto Duran in the Leonard rematch...until he quit.

 

So then maybe you shouldn't have been poking fun at the reasons given for Duran's losses post-Leonard II? :smooch

 

Duran lost because he was beaten by the better fighter on the night...not because he needed a poo, not because he didn't train, not because he was out of shape, and not because Leonard forced him to do anything. That's all.

 

Kirkland Laing, now there's a guy who never trained properly or got himself right for a fight.

 

that's what I admire about him. I remember the time it was announced he would face Hearns after Hagler, one black gentleman remarked "Duran is hard core"

But there is no resemblance to young Duran to Duran from '81 on. It's like comparing young Rod Stewart to old Rod Stewart

 

guys like you take success for granted. just do your job right for a day and people make a big deal about it...because it is a big deal. imagine you are a plumber and you have to fix the toilet. i couldn't do it. you gotta do it fast & right. you have to go house to house. you can't sit 2 hours at one place figuring it out. and your customer will be angry if you didn't fix it for good and have to come back. doesn't sound so easy. don't take success for granted.

duran did his job...and he did it very very well...he deserves all the praise.

 

Same for Ray Leonard. :good:happy

 

That Bonavena was awkward and probably hard to look good against doesn't explain why Ali was so tired in the last round. It was not a very fast paced fight, certainly not as fast paced as the one against Chuvalo.

Mildenberger was also an awkward customer, but that didn't make Ali look slower or more tired against him, just less fluid than usual. Against Bonavena Ali fought more flat footed and at a lesser pace than he ever had before the lay-off, but still looked more tired than he had in previous fights. That should say something - and just not that Bonavena was awkward.

Ps. Ali also looked surprisingly tired after the Quarry fight, and said himself that he was chocked at how tired he felt. In the very next fight he came out flat footed.