No not me. I have been distracted by what is on TV and all which is going on. Not that I have the virus, it is a little nerveracking what is going on. I saw these guys posting on this thread and thought people would think it is me.
You’d be wrong. Durán managed what no one else in history did. Taking Leonard’s 0. Having moved up 2 weight classes above his natural weight. It is easily the greatest win of any of the fab 4 wins and arguably top 5 wins in the history of boxing.
Roberto was the greatest lightweight of all time......but I still don’t understand how people rank him ahead of Sugar Ray Leonard...its a complete bull**** argument ...and I’ve been listening to it for years. .....Eastside boxing is the best thing that ever happened to Robert Duran and Carlos Monzon
I genuinely think Jofre was “better” than Duran but Duran was “greater” the same way certain guys are “greater” than Duran that he’s “better” than. Good article BTW. I enjoyed it a lot and didn’t disagree with much of it.
You can disagree with it but you would have a shallow case. How do you not understand it though? Duran moved up two weight classes took his title at age 30. Before that Duran had defended his title 12 times 11KOs. How many successful defenses did leonard have? Half? Duran had 70 knockouts. Leonard had 39 fights. Leonard got whipped at 35 was done by Norris. Duran was busy beating Iran Barkley at 37. Ray cant even claim longevity, Duran beat Camacho, Leonard cant go 5 rounds.
It’s not hard to rank Durán ahead of Leonard. First of all he beat him, having moved up 2 classes above his natural weight. Secondly he fought 3 times as many professional fights as Leonard and fought everyone without delaying. Thirdly he is the GOAT at a weight class - the same can’t be said for Leonard. Fourth point, Durán defended his title a ridiculous number of times more than Leonard rather than running off into retirement. And finally he competed 5 weight classes above his natural weight and well past his best and was still competitive against world class guys.
Duran isn't the greatest or the best. But he ranks quite high in both. Not greatest because he lost to ALL the greats he fought, and beat one of them for a score of 1-5-0. Which leads to the next argument, I don't have him as the best because there are opposition/styles I just can't see him ever overcoming. I can't say that about Sugar Ray Robindon and a handful of others in their prime and fighting around their best weights.
