Could The Older,More Experienced Duran, Do Better Against Hearns?

That version of Duran does much better and could very possibly beat Tommy. The Duran who showed up in 1984 was weak from making weight and over confident, not taking the fight very seriously at all.

 

Older Duran mostly prevailed from his experiences,allowing him to get under his opponent's physicality and crush them from under.

I don't think Hearns would let Duran crawl under him like that, Duran survives for 5 rds.

 

It’s a nightmare matchup for Duran at any stage of his career imo. Too much height, too much reach, too much power.

 

Barkley was the same size as Hearns, the size is not the main issue for Duran in 84 he simply couldn't deal with the speed starting off slow as he usually does. Against Barkley he started faster and he would have to against Hearns as well. Barkley also hit incredibly hard as a middleweight, and he had a much better chin than Hearns.

 

It’s not a size thing, it’s the blend of power and speed that get to Duran against Hearns at either stage.

 

Being older & having transitioned to more of a counterpuncher is exactly what got Duran decimated in the 1st place. Being even older & even more reliant on his smarts isn't going to make the situation any more favorable for him.

If there is a version of Duran that could've beaten Hearns, it was the swarming attacker/infighter of the Palomino & Leonard 1 fights. anything after that, Hearns would deserve to be favored.

 

All that extra ‘experience’ between the Hearns and Barkley fights for Duran amounts to losing to Robbie Sims and beating up a few Paul Thorn types.

None of that extra ‘experience’ helped Duran a lick against Ray Leonard one fight after Barkley.

He’s just not built to fight a rangy, fast-twitch guy who has like a foot on him in reach. I don’t think Roberto went and learned a lot of new tricks after his 83rd fight that would help him solve this particular puzzle.

 

I don’t think so. Hearns was literally all wrong for Duran and if they fought again, at whatever stage, it would simply be rinse repeat. I don’t think Roberto ever went after a rematch either.

 

Barkley gave up his size being a brawler that crouched and often squared up to his opponent. He hooked and opened himself to Duran's counters.

Hearns fought tall behind that lethal straight left jab and straight right hand. He also was much faster than Iran.

 

His hooks was set up good with his uppercuts made to counter Duran ducking,but yeah,sooner or later you cannot throw looping shots vs Duran.

I do think welterweight Duran beats welterweight Hearns,but not at any other weight where his experience and counter punching carried him.

 

I agree

 

Tommy and Duran are some of my favorite fighters of all time, but I don't think any version of Roberto would be favored against any version of Tommy in this lifetime. Same way Tommy will never beat the Marvelous One.

 

No because the improvements he made weren’t things that would help him against Hearns, he improved his boxing and counter punching abilities, not something that would work for a 5’8 guy against the 6’1 Hearns who keep his punches long.