Duran by WIDE UD... he didn't quite have the power he had a lightweight but is still the far superior fighter. You just have to watch him against Leonard to see how great he was.
I would never go that far. Even if Pac beats Mayweather, people who've followed the sport for decades like myself, realize that Mayweather's no SRL. And fighters such as SRR, Greb, and Langford are truely special and modern day fighters simply aren't busy enough to leap frog over them. Many of these older fights had well over a 100 fights under their belts. Hell at one point Duran was 76-2 and ended up with over 100 wins. That's a completely different level of activity than anyone is fighting today. And he fought into his late 40's and started out in his teens. So how is a win over Mayweather going to allow Pac to jumo over these accomplishments, which also include him beating one of the top 5 welterweights in history during the prime of that fighters career? In fact SRL is ranked second all time to only SRR in welterweight history according to the IBRO, and Duran beat him.
Where does the far superior stuff come from? Doing what? He quit against Leonard when Ray started to land punches on him. Wide UD. No way possible. The only way Duran would win is by knockout, because Pac's speed would be much quicker during the fight. Pacman fought better guys at the lower weight than Duran did at lightweight, and Pacman even though he didn't fight the guys Duran fought at welt and 154 like Hearns,Benitez and Leonard, is winning when Duran lost.
:rofl How can Duran be overated when he dominated a division for the best part of a decade when back in the day of only 2 governing bodies WBC/WBA & then jumping up 2 weights to become only the 2nd man in history to sucessfully navigate from Undisputed Lightweight Champion to Welterweight Champion since Homicide Hank & defeating the P4P king Welterweight Goldenboy SRL & 2nd best welterweight of all time in doing it & Dominating a former great welterweight champion in Palomino on the way to handing SRL his arse & you think all that is worthy of the statement of "OVERRATED" :roll: You should go watch a bit more of Duran & then go watch the 6th/7th/8th rounds of the Margo fight & then come back & tell us all how Manny would have survived being trapped on the ropes by Duran instead of a plodding slow Margo........Duran would have chopped Manny in half & thats coming from a 100% packtard:smoke
The Duran of Canada in '80 was as strong as an Ox at 145 toned pounds of muscle... Duran who bested SRL over 15 rds is still too powerful and ferocious for Manolo Pacquiao at welterweight... Duran had to box more so than steamroll his victims as he added weight, and that is also true of Manolo P. as well....... However, "The Packer" can no longer truly stop a man who is world class at 147 or 150 pounds.... Oh, sure, he can still slice and dice, but his punching power has gone south...... I cannot envision Manolo P. being able to deck a solid 160 pounder like Iran Barkley or being able to extend and cut the great Hagler up at 155 to 160 pounds... WORD! Duran RULES!!bbb MR.BILL:good:hat
Why do people think because Pacman is faster he would beat Duran? First of all Duran had the iron chin to take Manny's best and for Duran to catch SRL, who is among the fastest fighters ever, says alot. Duran also beat bigger murderous punchers like Pipino Cuevas who like Margarito didn't have much of a defense, but hit as hard as Mosley did. Even Roach said Pacquiao would lose to Duran. Duran beating Leonard is like Pacquiao beating Floyd today and it hasn't even come to that for people to really compare Pacman to Duran. Just sayin. After it is done then you can compare Pacman to Hands of Stone.
Critic, you really are not doing yourself any favours, that is a terrible insult against the fighter Roberto Duran was at his best.
Posters under age 32 will take Pacquiao because he is the "In" thing here 2010..... Older folks who've seen BOTH men live in action know that Duran is still greater...... TRUTH! MR.BILL
Leonard, Hearns & Benitez would all beat Pacquiao tho & the only one of those 3 to fight a 1980 peak Duran was SRL (the best fighter of the last 30 yrs) & the smaller Duran went 1-1 with him so please stop with this carry on !
I was thinking about this tonight when I rewatched the fight and saw Duran at ringside and actually ended up watching him more and his motions than the fight. Sitting shaking his head every time Margarito was getting hammered. Don't know if it was because Margarito was getting pounded or if there was something about Pacquiao that he saw that he didn't like. However, to the question I'd go with Duran by a close decision. the Duran that fought Leonard in the 1st fight against Pacquiao that beat Margarito/Cotto/Hatton would be bigger, his power was unquestionable as he went up through the weights (look at the beating and I do mean beating he gave Moore). What is certain both would come to fight and it would be toe-to-toe and Duran's boxing skills are sometimes overlooked. razor thin decision, maybe an MD or SD in favour of Duran.
That is exactly ITyep I can't get enough of watching all of manny's fights on disc especially the Hatton massacre which i must watch about 3 times a week. He's a warrior in the Duran mould & the same Duran background but without the finite skills of the panama animal:smoke
What's overlooked most is Duran's defense and his ability to stay in the pocket, avoid most of the incoming fire and return fire with a vengence. That's an amazing attribute and it would be the difference in the fight as over time, Duran starts landing brutal bodyshots..and Pac starts to slow down. And as others have mentioned if Margarito can hurt Pac, (in fact he apparently got quite beat up in that fight) then really as much as I enjoy Pac he really would have wondered what hit him cause Duran's on a whole different level than Margarito's ever going to be when it comes to landing power shots.