Poxy acknowledging that Duran's subsequent rematch wins over Esteban De Jesus essentially mean nothing & that De Jesus settled who the better fighter was the first time around.
What I'm referring to, is you and other claiming SRL fought the wrong fight. As if, he chose the wrong strategy for facing Duran. THAT wasn't the case in the point I'm making. SRL before and after fought the same way he fought Duran in their first fight. That's HOW he fought. That IS his style. So he didn't chose to fight the wrong fight and used poor strategy as people have claimed. That IS how he fought in general. Second, he didn't fight that way against Hearns... not even close. Which fight were you watching? He KIND of fought more than way against Hagler, but again not really. Point is, no that isn't how he fought, nor is it bad strategy to fight how you've always fought and won you a Gold Medal and a Title. Please. Third, Duran DID make him fight that for a variety of reasons. First, if you're fighting the toughest opponent of your career... wouldn't you fight the way you know how and what's brought you success? Of course you would. He did. Did Duran's talking pre fight make SRL even more convinced he needed to fight how he normally does and get this guy out of here? Yup. Then Duran staggering SRL in the second round changes the complexion of the fight. SRL by his own admission was in a haze for the next 3 or 4 rounds. Last I checked, when you're in a haze you're not fighting to the best of your ability. Again though, that is something Duran created by fighting superbly that night. Lastly, those shots in the 2nd set up the whole rest of the fight for Duran. It allowed him to feint SRL to death and keep him constantly guessing which threw off his game. He was also surprised with how good of a boxer duran was technically and most likely surprised by his power. All those things made SRL fight a little tighter than he normally might have. All this points to one thing though, Duran won that fight fair and square. He didn't win because SRL picked the wrong strategy. He won because he fought better than SRL, who was using his tried and tested best strat for him. He beat him with SRL fighting his most comfortable style. That's what was so impressive about it.
Hundreds of words praising Duran. Parts of it didn't really make a whole lot of sense but somehow I knew you would love it! PS- Any comment on the silly poll you requested...?
For those of us who were around at the time this was common knowledge. It's only Mayweather fanatics like yourself who think otherwise. The vast majority have Duran ranked in the top 10 all time. The post above helps those who weren't around understand what actually transpired. The polls fine. Virtually everyone who thinks he goes the distance thinks he turtles, which isn't something to brag about. But whatever floats your boat. I come from the school that when l watch boxing I actually expect both fighters to make an effort to hurt each other. But sadly l'm this is no longer the sport of my childhood and l'm rapidly loosing interest in it. l can go the rest of my life without watching another Pac-Mayweather fiasco or a Wlad - Povetkin fight.
Knowledge of what, exactly? He contradicted your suggestion that Leonard didn't run because Duran took the option away from him by making the other exact opposite argument--that Ray didn't run because he didn't plan to run and had never run in the past. His argument that Ray didn't fight a dumb fight is undermined by how effectively Ray used movement in the second fight and other tough fights (not to mention the fact that Ray has always been known for his legs...) Seems strange that you would be excited about a breakdown so inconsistent with your own, but like I said, you seem to like anything that gives glory to your guy Duran.
Make your mind up. According to you Lewis ATG' ranking suffers for losing to Rahman and McCall in the first place.:huh The only difference is when Duran lost to De Jesus he didn't come in unprepared, and out of condition the way Lewis did in Rahman 1. So yes De Jesus was the better man on the night it mattered most, which was the first time they fought. Similarly McCall was the better man in Lewis / McCall 1. Now if you want to talk who was the better man on overall career then I would say Lewis is better than either of the 2 guys who beat him, and I would say Duran was better overall than either De Jesus or Leonard.
BTW, where have I ever denied that Duran was a top ATG fighter? I just think that guys like you overrate his career above lightweight and overlook the psychological/personal flaws that prevented him from being more consistently great at 147+. Hard to think of many fighters with as much skill and natural talent as Duran turning in as many dud performances in recent years. Still, he gets a lot of respect for taking a narrow decision from Ray Leonard at 147 and another one against a 159-lb Barkley. I thought that he narrowly lost both fights but that's beside the point. And btw, I'm not even a Mayweather fan per se (a bit too safety-first for me), but I greatly admire his skill set and abilities, and disagree with the casuals and old-timers who constantly make irrational arguments diminishing him.
I think you need to learn to read. The topic is Tito v Duran of Montreal. Not Did Tito punch harder than????????????????????? However your theory that Tito would be the hardest puncher at 147 Duran ever faced doesn't seem to have carried much support, has it really? This could be due to the fact that most of us believe he would be too slow, one dimentional, and useless against Duran to make it count.
No, Van and I were arguing about a very specific sidepoint because he denied that Trinidad hit harder than SRL. A narrow point but that was the discussion nonetheless. You jumped into the discussion in a way that made it seem like I was saying something I wasn't. But back to the main point. I took the initial post to be a hypothetical question: Is there any way/scenario that Trinidad beats Duran? I answered accordingly and got attacked as if I was predicting Duran would lose.
Wrong again. I jumped into the discussion with post #45 with no reference to Tito punching harder or softer than Leonard for the simple reason I don't give a sh it either way. Then in post #52 I wrote You will notice I asked you if you thought KO ing the likes of Leushing compares to KO ing the likes of the guys Leonard KO'd. I didn't tell you anything. I asked. The second part about Tito, Joppy, and Hopkins is self explanatory. My post clearly takes issue with your Leonard fan boy type stance that he fought the wrong fight against Duran, when in fact he fought the fight Duran forced him to fight. He had no choice, even Carlos Padilla wouldn't allow him to clinch like a limpet, and Duran wouldn't let him run. Simple as that. You being in denial doesn't alter the fact that is how it panned out. You might like to take the time to actually read this report, particularly the underlined. Then look up the meaning of unable. It was, from almost the opening salvo, a fight that belonged to Durán. The Panamanian seized the evening and gave it what shape and momentum it had. He took control, attacking and driving Leonard against the ropes, bulling him back, hitting him with lefts and rights to the body as he maneuvered the champion against the ropes from corner to corner. Always moving forward, he mauled and wrestled Leonard, scoring inside with hooks and rights. For three rounds Durán drove at Sugar Ray with a fury, and there were moments when it seemed the fight could not last five. Unable to get away, unable to counter and unable to slide away to open up the ring, Leonard seemed almost helpless under the assault. Now and then he got loose and counteredleft-right-left to Durán's bobbing headbut he missed punches and could not work inside, could not jab, could not mount an offense to keep Durán at bay
The idea that Sugar Ray Leonard was unable to run because Duran prevented him from doing so is silly, credibility-destroying nonsense from fan-boys who believe in the supernatural. :nut When's the last time you saw the fight?? Sounds like you need to rewatch it instead of relying on someone else's writeup. Watch the fight and tell me how much time Ray spends trying to run. Any rational person watching the fight would recognize and understand that Ray was going out of his way to stand up to Duran and not run from him. Why does pointing out the obvious make me a Leonard fanboy? :huh No glory in fighting a dumb fight...
