yeah that's true. my point was more that, while there was a lot of intelligence on display that night, at the same time, both men got smacked square on the jaw repeatedly. barkley was a better match-up for duran than many would have been, but duran still had no right to be able to absorb those kinds of shots, and hurt barkley too. barkley had good power, and a solid chin. before this fight, people were saying that duran couldn't deal with power at this weight (because of the hearns knockout), and that he would struggle to hurt barkley (because of the hagler fight). now, hearns certainly had more snap in his punches than barkley, and hagler had a vastly superior chin, but my point is a relative one.
interesting take on it. also completely agree about his later fights... when people say 'leonard went 5-1-1 against greats' i always cringe a little.
This whole thing is like saying 'I ran a 4min mile at the age of 40, this is greater than breaking the world record' ummm NO its very good for your age but no ones really that bothered. Its pretty much the equivilent of James Toney beating Holyfield/Ruiz at HW: Old -tick Way past best weight class - tick fat -trebble tick belt holder mascarading as a champion - tick Duran/Barkley were never legit MW champs either really. Kalambay was another titlist and had beat Barkley comfortably the year before, McCallum, Benn, Watson, Eubank, Nunn were the top MWs and all better than Barkley