Crawford’s Canelo win vs Duran’s Barkley win, which was more impressive?

Both super impressive performances, both upsets.

Crawford made it look easy, he was dominant. My view of Canelo is the same as before. He is a very good fighter. Not great though. I thought he fought a decent fight. He threw everything he has at Terance.

Duran ofcourse would fight just about anyone, anytime. Both of these guys ask for nothing as far as concessions. It probably never crossed his mind. Props to Crawford for doing what he had to do.

Both of them hurt the bigger man. Duran messed Barkley up in the later rounds to pull it out. Crawford hurt Canelo at least twice. That wasnt supposed to happen.

Crawford took a big risk going into an unchartered weight class not even close to his prime division. I won't throw any shade on Crawford because I heard 'there's weight classes for a reason' too many times in the last couple of weeks.

If he's in the conversation with Duran that is a good place to be.

 

Barkley ran Mike Nunn to the wire a few months later, when Nunn was being widely touted the best lb4lb boxer on earth at that time

 

I would say Crawfords win was better, and I never felt Duran REALLY won that fight. It was a great fight, and a great effort by Duran, but I always felt Barkley edged him - even with the knockdown. Thay had to give it to Duran to keep the Leonard vs. Duran 3 fight alive. Too much money at stake! Great question!

 

I agree Barkley should have received the decision, but still say Duran. He was almost 10 years past his prime and fought a prime opponent who was much bigger. And Barkley came off a win against Hearns and would soon after pushing Nunn really close (as well noted by Bulldog). He wasn't as good as Canelo but a good fighter nonetheless.

Even though Crawford is older than Canelo, most were in agreement already before the fight that Canelo had slipped more. And much was made of the Crawford going up two weights, but he is naturally about Canelo's size. A MW who managed to boil himself down to WW for a good number of years while Canelo is a small SMW. Still very impressive, but Duran going toe to toe with the much fresher and bigger Barkley is just the more surreal experience for me.

 

Crawford’s, just. He definitely appeared more “prime” and the physical mismatch was greater but Canelo’s status was superior to Barkley’s and Crawford absolutely dominated.

 

Duran. Crawford victory was an easy call. Duran was in the sport for sooo many years, He was 37 Barkley 28

 

Those are all valid facts, but size of an opponent is overblown compared to the context of the skill of the opponent.

Crawford may have had some stylistic advantages on paper over Canelo, but it wasn't like people were picking Crawford to simply box his ears off without having to get tagged, and that's not what happened in reality either. Canelo won at least 3-4 clear rounds in my book with 1-2 somewhat even competitive rounds. He kept Crawford honest and rocked him multiple times. Canelo was still an elite boxer with elite body punching, head movement, ring IQ, tons of experience against various styles, and a titanium chin. This wouldn't have been an easy task in any universe for a late 30's guy moving up with limited experience against elite opponents.

I could also argue Duran has stylistic and experience advantages over Barkley. You're mentioning Duran's lengthy career as mark against him due to wear and tear, but that only aided the aging Panamanian who knew all the tricks of the trade and drew upon those experiences. He had faster hands and better defense than Barkley too.

 

I did not see Crawford getting rocked multiple times.

 

Two right hands and a body shot had him in pain.

 

maybe a couple times. but not multiple times IMO.