Rodolfo Gonzalez Chango Carmona Antonio Cervantes Kuniaki Shibata Bruno Acari Anyone of these guys stand a chance of knocking off a young but unpolished Duran?
The only one who may have had a chance was the junior welter champ Cervantes..and then, due to his size. It's interesting to speculate what would have been the result..maybe Duran wasn't ready at that time to deal with Kid Pambele. All the others Duran would have mowed down, Carmona and Shibata within 4 or 6 rounds, Gonzales would have lasted into the 8th, and Arcari may have had the smarts and durability to make to 15.
I honestly think Gonzalez at that time could have given him all he could handle...But I agree the Cervantes is best bet to actually trouble him enough to quite possibly get the upset. That would have been hard going for Duran...but without a doubt Id pick Roberto to beat once he had fully developed his skills.
One has to remember, this was not the Roberto Duran that legends are made of. In '72 this was just a rough, tough kid still learning the rudiments about boxing, unaware or uncaring how wide open he was to counters. His style, however, was just made to take Buchanan. And much as I like Ken, Duran's style would beat him 10 times out of 10. Duran was too raw to know he was doing anything wrong, which was to his advantage. Styles are everything in these matchups. Against Gonzalez, who had just peaked (albeit at 140), I would go slightly with Gonzalez. As heavy-handed as Duran, but Gonzalez fought in a cool, refined, methodical manner. I see Gonzalez keeping him in check for a decision. Strange, two big bangers going the distance, but Gonzalez was the only lightweight I saw who was stronger than Duran and this could amount to an exciting, hard-banging chess match (an oxymoron if there ever was one). Against Carmona, in '72 he too was an animal. Especially after what Chango did to Mando Ramos. But he didn't have the strength or chin (not that it was weak, just not stone) and see an explosive match for about 8 rounds with the real winners being the audience. Cervantes was becoming a counter-punching master at this time and I see he too taking a 15 round decision over this version of Duran. Shibata was funny how he could handle a slugger when he was 'on', but get clocked by another. Really handled big bangers like Villaflor, Saldivar and Arredondo, but KO'd by Hawkins, Villaflor, Escalera, Sanchez. His chin was his worry and Roberto would be too big for this 130 lber after eating alot of counters and stop Shibata in about 7. Arcari was a very strong southpaw and very successful in European circles but his blood-letting would be his undoing against this Roberto. I don't think it would be a pretty fight, leftie against rightie, lots of head-banging. Duran on cuts at the mid way stage. Scartissue
Gonzalez was far better and more versatile than Arcari from what I've seen. Any version of Duran blasts him, but I agree with scartissue on his Gonzalez take against this green version of Duran.
