When should Roberto Duran have retired?

Duran should have retired, ideally, after he beat Barkley..but then he fought Leonard...THAT'S when..realistically..he should have retired. Hanging around and getting mopped up by the likes of Pazienza..and then a past it Camacho...TWICE each..was disgraceful...they don't seem to know when to quit...like Monzon...as big a disaster that he was in his personal life, at least he was smart to go out at the top..what..there's just a handful of greats...Tunney, Marciano, Monzon...who walked away at the top and NEVER to come back..what a rarity.

 

His past prime losses are pretty meaningless to me...His out of shape performances when he was pretty near his prime is what hurts his legacy IMO.

Part of his greatness was coming back from these setbacks though and I couldnt see his career panning out any other way.

 

1990

 

Wouldn't change a thing.

 

Tough one. I recall thinking after his superb losing effort against Hagler,that it would 've been a good time to call it a day. Then,six years later,I thought exactly the same thing after the Barkley fight. Very few of the great ones get out after a win.

 

I might say after the Hagler (Great loss), but then I would be missing one of the top wins ever , in beating Barkley.

He seems to be in good metal state, so I would leave it , but if I was around in that time would say to retire a lot earlier.

Just like I thought that Pac was crazy for fighting Oscar

 

:rofl

I think after beating the Blade, especially with the hearns link. Would have been perfect

 

Ideally after that savage beating over Moore. In front of the New York crowd which loved him so. It was a magical night. And that final right would have been the perfect capper to a wonderful career.

 

He should not have taken the William Joppy fight or have been fighting at that point and that was in 1998 so I would say after the 2 Pazianza fights where he looked respectable would have been the best time to get out.

 

No way, the Barkley fight was a huge win for a 37yo fighter.

 

Definitely after the Hearns fight. I know that hindsight is always 20/20 and he really wasn't that old but the Hearns fight was a horribly one-sided destruction and he had already made enough money to be set for life. It was a slow, steady crawl into obscurity from there.

 

Ideally, after Barkley. However, how many of us would walk away from the multi-millions to fight Leonard in the rubber match? I still wish Duran didn't take that bout though because for as long Leonard had legs and Duran was past 30, Duran wasn't going to beat him -and his wife gambled his purse away anyway.

 

after he lost to Lawlor in 1991. At that point he accomplish all he was going to. He would have avoided being stopped by Joppy, who never should have stopped him since he was that great. And we would have had to see the joke fights with Pazienza and Camacho which were more like sparring sessions. Actually Hearns should have probably retired after Barkley in 1992. so both Hearns and Duran should have retired in the early 90's as Leonard first did after Norris. It would have been fitting, the guys from the 1980's retiring at the beginning of the 1990's.

 

AFter his win over Barkely.