Could Montreal Duran beat Wilfred Benitez?

I disagree with the notion that Leonard was somehow goaded into fighting Durans fight.

Duran imposed his will on him, as for the people talking Ray Robinson, there's the curious fact that he also had his Montereal moment in the form of Carmen Basilio, a smaller pressure fighter that always came out to have a fight, I have no doubt that Robinson hit harder than Leonard, but if he didn't outbox Basilio on that night after realizing he wasnt gonna knock him out, it was because he couldn't, not because he was goaded into a "macho" fight, but because he had no other choice given the man in front of him that night.

 

?????
Is that debatable?

Duran and Ross are both overwhelmingly considered ATG.

 

The comment was aimed specifically at Ney who sounded like he was a bit down on where Duran actually belongs in the pantheon and seemed to be touting Ross as superior. (He can correct me himself if I was wrong in my assumption.) I think they were both stupendously great and a fantasy matchup between them would be hellacious.

 

To be clearer, I’m not saying Ross is better or worse than Durán. My point was when a fighter comes along has as much to do with their greatness as their ability in some instances. Durán fought in colour tv. Some of us grew up watching him, or had direct relatives who told us about him at a young age. That’s not typically the case with Ross.

No one would argue against both being great…but there is a reason one gets ten times the attention of the other, & it definitely is not because he’s ten times greater.

 

Exactly what I thought about the Montreal fight, Ray actually starts out boxing good,but the pressure shook him a lot and he was forced to change gears,man,even later on the no mas fight Duràn still found a cure to Ray's outboxing.

 

He was a fierce aggressive fighter. A powerful puncher that had uncommon skill and finesse for a slugger. There have been many strong punchers not many who put it all together the way Duran did.

That is what was intriguing to me seeing Ray Leonard or Estaban DeJesus fire their shots with Duran right on top of them only to come up with missing or not landing solidly. Rolling with punches integrating his offense and defense together as well as anyone has.

Duran's Ring IQ/defense is the reason he was able to win a title at 54 and 60.

 

I think Wilfred would have always had his number from 147 up (at 140 he’s still not physically mature enough and gets overrun). Just too savvy and would offset everything Roberto did (same as when they did fight).

 

Doubtful.
Ross was more of a thinking fighter, he was calculating and very skilled, he was more like Benitez TBH, he set traps and fed off of his opponents mistakes. Much more a counter puncher. With very average punching power.
Duran especially at his very best was a scientific
Brawler ( my opinion his very best was from the 3rd DeJesus fight, to the Leonard fight in Montreal)
He could force his opponents to fight by his aggression and foot speed ( Note Carlos Palomino said he was the very best fighter he'd ever seen during this period, watch the fight, Duran feinted Palomino into knots during their battle . A masterclass of aggression and skills)
And then had the skills to slip and counter off of their counters, and just devastate opponents at mid and close range.
No one who knows a thing about the sport doubt Ross's greatness.
But put Duran in his place, more than likely we'd be debating who the actual G.O.A.T is.
Duran or Ray Robinson.
Or FIgher A or fighter A1.
No one has ever held Ross in that debate, at least that I'm aware of. I've heard more much more about Henry Armstrong or Ezzard Charles being considered the GOAT than Barney Ross over my almost 50 yrs of being involved in and studying the sport.

 

You could say a lot of this about Mickey Walker, he still figures in not even a tenth as many discussions as Durán does. The timeframe is hugely significant.

 

the answer is obvious

 

Duran also feinted Ray Leonard into knots in Montreal. Ray was flinching after that second round before steadied himself.

 

Due to proliferation of belts you can win titles without ever being the best in any weight class so I've never understood that as an argument.

He was never the best in any weight class above welterweight and even that seems suspect due to the presence of Hearns

 

He was a natural lightweight who reigned for 7 years ,the fact that he was competitive with big middleweights when in his last 30's counts ,well it does with me.

 

Ok; my bad.

 

I totally agree. Comparing number of titles between fighters of different eras makes no sense at all.

Duckelo has what? 50+ belts right now?

Nowadays, with the alphabet soup of titles and multiples categories, even a tomato can could eventually be champion.