A hard fight for Duràn no doubt. But Gavilan for all of his greatness didn't possess the firepower to dissuade Duràn. In a best night vs best night situation, at welterweight I lean to Duràn to take the win in a tough fight. His better overall skills gaining him the victory . A 15rd masterclass in infighting, where Duràn's better punching power being the key difference.
Very close fight to call. Gavilan is one of the few fighters who I think can fight close to even terms in a brawling match. Saying that I think Duran would still have the edge and can decision Gavilan by decision due to his better power and slightly better defense. Would have been a high octane skillfully fought fight with some terrific infighting and lots of punches thrown.
I don't like this for KG in terms of the styles for many reason all of them marginal. Firstly, KG invites people to fight him then takes them on generally very successfully with those run-together accurate punches, clipping, stinging, that often add up to a pretty overwhelming attack in a three minute spell. He was a great "rounds" fighter KG with a really good strategic understanding for a fight, and whatever else you have that on its own is a massive skill, he had a real sense for a fight. But Duran was a fight within itself. He controlled the territory like no other in Montreal, he can only be equalled in that space, and he's faster. So KG has a real problem - the equaliser here should be power, but the power, i'm not convinced where the animal is concerned. I just don't think the dissuading, stinging power he had at WW would be the something more that he would need to discourage Duran from beginning to seek the initiative in the space they would share. In short, Duran might start to out-monster KG late in the same way he did at lighweight. I don't mean that to sound disrespectful of KG. He's pretty much unbrawlable. Duran just might be the exception, that's all. And it wouldn't look like a typical out-monstering. It would look different. It would just look like Duran consistently out-hitting KG in the same way KG generally out-hits people, it would look like a failure of KG's summary technique under a technical test similar to that with Sugar Ray provided. You might even see KG dropping a healthy lead almost inexplicably. The fight that would be most like this fight (in theme, not style) is Oscar-Floyd. Oscar ran the show in the first half of the fight, but Floyd removed the jab and began to dominate the rounds, he began doing to Oscar what Oscar does to other people, but he didn't have the swat to take over completely. He just won the rounds. Duran would, in the end, just win the rounds.
