Alan Minter 1980 v Roberto Duran 1983

Duran. He handled southpaws later in his career (Camacho) easily.
It would play out like Duran Camacho I, Minter outboxing him. As the bout goes on, Roberto would land more and harder. Duran wins by UD or gets robbed because he's old and not in the natural weight so the win for Alan looks good on paper.

 

Minter by close UD.

 

Antuofermo said Minter wasn't defensively elusive, nor were Alan's punches particularly hard to avoid. That's a bad combination of flaws to bring against Duran, who competed well against a vastly superior southpaw in Hagler.

This doesn't end on cuts. Duran wasn't the kind of puncher to carve a man up. But Minter does wind up on the losing end of a rare decision against him. One needed considerably more than vastly superior physical strength to beat the Panamanian.

 

Minter losing on cuts is usually the safest bet with Minter.

 

Anubis - love reading your work but this is one of those rare occasions that I have to disagree with you somewhat.

Your point about a bad combination of flaws is true, if we take Vito's word as gospel. I've always taken Vito's post fight comments with a pinch of salt - in the quotes I've read he always seemed grudging toward an opponent, I'm thinking of Hagler I & II, Minter I.

I do remember Vito saying that Minter didn't roll with shots, but his comment about Minter's shots being not particularly hard to avoid doesn't stand up to scrutiny, especially if you watch their second fight, Minter battered Vito. I thought Minter boxed supremely well in that fight, with both control and aggression - he was punching hard too.

I believe that the second Vito fight made Minter overconfident going into the Hagler fight and that as we know backfired horrendously for Minter.

Re Minter-Duran, I would not discount Duran cutting Minter, maybe not with punches but maybe with his head, Duran was crafty & who can forget his use of the thumb against Moore...in '83! The height differential may have been perfect for Duran's head to make contact with Minter's tender eyebrows.

I believe Minter is significantly underrated by many on this board, especially those who use the Hagler fight as the only evidence by which to judge him.

I have this as an almost pick-em fight, a good case can be made for either man, If Minter turns up with the mentality he did against Hagler (as the OP said was the time for this fight), I can see Minter making mistakes and falling into traps laid by Duran, possibly losing on points or punching himself out and getting cut as described above as Duran tucks up, counters and paces himself better.

If the cooler Minter turns up, I can see him keeping the fight long range often enough, using his strength to keep Duran out of clinches and winning a close but clear points win.

 

:confPerpetual agreement's boring. Dissent's always welcomed here.

To me, the most stunning difference between Minter-Antuofermo I & II was the way Alan turned around the appearance of having superior physical strength so completely in his favour.

In Las Vegas, Vito blocked Roland Dakin from scoring a clean 150-135 shutout for Minter by bowling Alan over with a right planted on the middle of the torso, aided by a backing Minter's right foot subtly tripping over Antuofermo's left in the closing seconds of round 14. It was really a combination of Vito's physical strength with Alan's southpaw stance working against him which produced Padilla's ruled knockdown [a ruling which I thought clinched the match for Antuofermo]. For whatever it's worth, a number of sources, including boxWRECK, have this KD occurring in round eight, but it happened with 27 seconds left to go in that penultimate round.

Yeah, Minter got too full of himself after their rematch. "Tell Leonard to come on up!," he said.

There's no way the Minter of Antuofermo I and Hagler decisions Duran. As for the Antuofermo II version, he halted Vito after eight rounds on cuts requiring 18 stitches. [Even Joan Antuofermo, the complete antithesis of a stereotypical squeamish boxing wife, was calling from ringside to halt this one. But Minter required just one less stitch than that after Hagler.]

Now, Minter-Antuofermo II was scheduled for seven more rounds, and Duran was no bleeder. Vito started oozing in the opening stanza, and red colored his rematch performance from the outset. If any blood was spilled at all in Duran-Minter, we all know who it's coming out of.

Duran utilized vastly superior punching technique to Vito's, and entering 1980 had won over the championship distance, while also scoring knockouts in all three championship rounds. He's not bleeding, and he's not gassing.

Put Duran-Minter in Wembley, have Roland Dakin I, Roland Dakin II and Roland Dakin III as the judges, and Carlos Padilla as referee in Minter-Antuofermo I mode, then Alan has a chance. Just keep in mind that Hagler had a four inch reach advantage on Minter, and was near peak at age 29 for Duran in 1983. He used his strength to stand his ground and keep Duran out of clinches, repeatedly forcing Duran to bounce back to the ropes before returning to work.

Watch Montreal and Hagler-Duran again, then think carefully before placing the Minter of Antuofermo II over 1983 Duran. Think of what El Cholo did to Cuevas and Bronx Davey Moore before challenging Hagler. This was Duran's best year after turning 30.

 

I was in company once with me dad, Walter McGowan, Ken Buchanan and Minter once when Duran was mentioned. there was a bit of banter going on between Ken and Alan and Ken said "well you didn't fight him." Minter looked quite indignant and said "You're joking aren't you, I'd of punched too hard for him."
Anyway, that was Minter's take on it.

 

I met Minter in week before the Hagler / Sibson fight, at a car dealership when his father in law Doug Bidwell was treating himself to a new Saab, and asked him having fought both of them for any betting tips.

He replied " remortgage your house, beg borrow and steal every penny you can and put it on mid round stoppage Hagler. Sibson is a strong boy with a good punch, but I guarantee you he wont see the end of the 8th round. Every punch from the opening bell til the end f&&&&&g hurt when I fought Hagler."

Needless to say, he was right.

Hagler only had Duran in serious trouble late in their fight. I can't see Minter doing the same, so I'd go for Duran for a close but clear win.

 

Minter's height, reach, natural weight and southpaw jab are too much for Duran to conquer. Minter by unanimous decision.

 

If the fight were in Vegas, or New York, Duran by stoppage on cut's , Minter's face would look like it went thru a meat grinder in a long 15 round fight with Duran, elbows, the head butts, forearms, Duran was a master of street fighting in the ring, look what he did to Dave Moores eye in 84, poor kid was ruined...

If the fight were in England that's a different story, i think they would find a way to screw Duran:deal

 

Duran was fighting well in 83. He was rejuvenated. In top condition I would pick Duran to stop Minter.

 

Sorry to hear Minter is punch drunk. That's a shame.

 

I'm Robertos Mgr the 1st thing I do is hire Ronnie Harris as chief sparring partner.
Robertos smart enough to pick up the blueprint from the landlord!

 

Hard to say I think I lean with Minter, his jab, range, movement, defence and angles to be too much for a Duran at this weight.