The greatest lightweight of all time - ROBERTO DURAN

That's certainly possible.

 

Beyond ethnic reasons, I love Roberto Duran because he fought in a manner that can only be described as controlled aggression. that is, although he had a very explosive offensive arsenal, once he became a seasoned pro he knew when to hold back and when to explode, thus avoiding being a "face first" fighter. However, the way in which he did this was so subtle (head feints, etc) that he never had to truly back up.

 

Really? He beat De Jesus x2, Buchanan and a host of other solid fighters like Ishimatsu, Kobayashi (admittedly at the tail-end of his career and above his best weight), Lampkin, Mamby and Viruet, with 10 defences and over 5 years unbeaten at the weight in about 35 fights, while only losing once to the excellent De Jesus.

 

Not so fast. Pernell Whitaker my boy had better opposition than Duran did at lightweight. Buchanan and Dejesus were not all timers. Don't overrate Roberto Duran when you have a real champion like Pernell who would have outboxed him easy.

 

I'm a big Sweet Pea fan, but I wouldn't be so sure on saying he had a better 135 resumé, and to say he would of easily out-boxed Duran is silly.

 

Right on the money. Yeah he had 70 wins yet most of those were tuneup fights. HA. He had 28 fights when he fought Buchanan and only 12 title fights after that so why didn't he have 40 wins? How did he get 30 fights after that? All tuneups. Overrated award here for Roberto Excusas Duran. I was all for Duran until you guys insulted my boy Pernell who fought Nelson an alltimer. Duran did not fight an all timer in his lightweight career.

 

you and I both know he would. Duran couldn't handle the great boxers like Sugar Ray Leonard or Wilfredo Benitez. The prove is in the pudding.

 

I am a Pernell Whitaker fan but Hearns was exciting and he knocked Duran out cold and sort of outclassed him. Pernell would have outboxed Duran and might have outboxed Hearns. Hearns would have been tough since he was fast and had the right hand, but he might have. Guys like Hearns and Duran who liked to rough guys up would work well into Pernell's hands but Tommy was fast so I am not sure and also Hearns would change his gear and fight plan if punching didn't work as we saw with Wilfredo Benitez but Duran always fought the straight forward fight with no other gear and against a multiskilled fighter like SweetPea he would have been outclassed. Leonard would have been tough for Pernell.

 

if the dude would have had two ways of fighting and didn't make excuses when he lost he would have been unstoppable. :rofl:rofl

 

****in' A. Skippy......... Duran is # 1 at 135 pounds........thumbsup

MR.BILL

 

Duran's win over all time great Feather Ernesto Marcel at 18 years of age has to be one of the most underrated wins of all time. His best outside of Leonard, IMO.

 

Absolutely under-rated. On paper anyway. I'll be honest, I haven't seen the fight, and nor do I know anything about the circumstances surrounding it. I'm merely looking at it on record and seeing that it's a year before his first title shot and just under 4 years before the Arguello win.

I wonder if Marcel was close to primed at the time of the Duran fight? People always talk about Duran from 135 and upwards as if that win doesn't exist, if Marcel was indeed close to his prime I think more than puts him on the map at least for discussion H2H at super-feather.

 

Marcel was in his prime years at the time. The fight's on Youtube actually, if you haven't seen it. The quality of the footage isn't the best, however. It's a very good, close fight and a complete contrast of styles. The TKO was completely bogus, however. The ref seemed to just stop the fight because of Marcel's inactivity in that last round, as he was just coasting along by that point. He was in no trouble at all. I won't lie, even though Marcel boxed beautifully it looked like he kinda phoned it in a bit. His inactivity in the last round and through certain portions of the fight is baffling, to say the least. I dunno, man. I'd rather not say the conclusion that leads to.

Either way, it's definitely worth checking out.

 

Duran? He is overrated. A guy like Floyd would out speed him easy. Marcel was fighting bums at the time Duran fought him.

 

Benny Leonard & Pernell Whitaker > Roberto Duran