Article on Pac "swallowing" Duran

you have just become a charter member of the I DON'T KNOW **** ABOUT DURAN club.
because if you knew something about him that statement would never come off of your keyboard. duran was not there to be hit by anyone. he was one of the best defensive fighter of this era. seldom getting caught cleanly. often not getting touched at all.
at 135 he destroys the smaller pac. and at 135, a weight that pac has never fought at, you are right, duran arguably the best lw to ever lace them up is not lagues above pac, he is worlds above him.

 

But even if Pacquiao were to stand toe to toe with LW's, how many current LW's currently have Duran's chin?

Duran's defense is much better than you describe. He will stand right in front of you and slip punches easily, or roll to one side. Pacquiao still hasn't figured out how to do this, though he has learned to move his head a great deal more. But when he does it, he is often out of position to retaliate and must reset. Duran was much more subtle. He was actually very hard to hit. And Pacquiao's speed is declining at each weight since 122, going from arguably one of the 2 or 3 fastest fighters in the world to probably just top 15. At 135, it will decline even more.

The biggest factor here is that Duran is big LW. One big enough to eventually fight Marvin Hagler at MW. Pacquiao is just now growing into 135. On top of this, I have always said that Pacquiao will be in trouble the second he steps into the ring with someone who won't go backwards because they are too big for him and can take his shot. Duran is one of those fighters. He also hits harder than anyone Pacquiao has ever faced, and I don't think it's at all crazy to suggest he hits harder than Pacquiao at 135. The only advantage Pacquiao would have in this fight is speed (not as much as one might think), and because he stands right in front of fighters, it won't really matter much.

 

tried to ignore this but couldn't help myself......

Pac has never fought at lightweight, has got progressively slower as he has moved through the weight divisions, and yet some people honestly believe he would beat unquestionably the greatest lighweight of all time? I'm fine with people having different opinions to my own, but this is just delusional.

 

duran is top 3 p4p of all time in many highly regarded pundits opinion and pugilists alike, if u disagree he is definitely top 10. pac is a future hall of famer but comparing him to duran is laughable

 

This post is almost as assinine as the articles that prompted this thread. At 135 Duran was one of the best defensive fighters in history! Duran's phenomanol defense is the main reason most people believe he would have beat the other greats around that weight in any era. And if you look at that era, Pac would have lost by KO or TKO to guys like Danny Lopez, Bobby Chacon, Alfredo Escalero, and most certainly Alexis Arguello. Duran was a class above all those guys, and his defense was probably the main difference! And by the way, I like Pac, and love to watch him fight. I'm just being objective.

 

As I mentioned to you already, I am more favorably disposed towards Pac than many on here. That said, i've already explained to you why Duran walks right through Pac. (P4p better and bigger, stronger, better chin , hits harder). You seriously underestimate Duran's defensive skills.

Pac is a great fighter and a great guy but he 's well off Duran's mark.

 

Obviously there are alot more people like Paulo that stereotype fighters, obviously Paolo does not know much about Roberto Duran, except for the fact that he's stereotyped as a Latin "macho" type of a fighter.Alot of great fighters from Latin America get stereotyped that way, even though there defense is just as good as their offense.At lightweight of the fighters I've witnessed in my 28 years of watching the sport, only Pernell Whitaker brings to the table better defensive manuevers, and thats only bcause Pernell Whitaker sacrifices too much on the offensive side.Whitaker could never combine the defense and offense that Roberto Duran exhibited.Let me remind people that JMM in alot of peoples minds won 18 of the 24 rounds that were fought between him and Pacquiao......and JMM did it fighting a purely clean fight from a technical standpoint.Duran brings so many other variables to the game that fighters have to worry about.With Duran, you've got to worry not only of his pure skills, but his extra curriculur activities as well.Duran could get down in the dirty deeds dept. with the best of them.Ray Leonard noted that he was bleeding behind both his ears, as Roberto Duran was grinding the wrist part of his gloves, behind his ears.Elbows, head, shoulders, if Duran could use it as a weapon, he would not hesitate to do so.Manny Pacquiao would never be able to find a rhythm against someone like Duran, there would be just too much holding and clinching, and all this extra curriculur activity that I speak of.......and not that Duran would need it, he'd likely do it just because he could!I honestly dont believe that Pacquiao would take a round against Duran!

 

Alright people, let's not overrate Duran's defense, it wasn't that freaking good. People are in such a rush to give him credit for this underrated quality that they have started overrating it.

 

SHUT THE **** UP NOOB!!!!

 

Duran was certainly not "there to be hit", which was my problem with his statement and analysis.

 

Duran would ko Pacman bcoz the hand of stone is bigger, stronger and a dirtier fighter.. I just hate it that people here are Underrating Pacman against past great fighters who are the same weight as he is. They seem to have a unanimous idea that Pac will just lose to those fighters. Well, im pretty sure that Pacquiao will give hell to those fighters no matter how great they are as long as they are of the same wieght divison!

 

Agreed. Even though I don't think Pacquiao could've defeat Duran, Pac would've still have been a problem back in the day..

 

Whoa....

First off let me reiterate that I do favor Duran in this matchup because of the size factor and the fact that he's got a great beard (figuratively). But you guys come off like Pac would have utterly no chance. Duran is worlds away from Pac....oh really?? The slipping punches is a great point about Duran but when I said he is there to be hit, it's under the context that he won't be running away or playing a waiting counterpunching style. Don't twist it in a way as if I was implying he has no defense. In a style aspect, Pac would still do well against Duran’s style than someone like Marquez (whose style is accentuated and amplified by Pac’s style). That’s where I’m coming from. For those who say that I haven't watched Duran, please get off your high horse. Obviously you don't know me. Calling someone's call on a fantasy matchup asinine makes you look asinine and it sure as hell doesn’t mean you’re making a good point.

It really is quite simple. The way I see it, Pac has a chance with ANYBODY within 10 lbs of him and that's including Duran. A little off-kilter? All he’s done is prove people wrong. Bear in mind that in Pac's biggest fights he has always been the smaller guy. He has always been given little or no chance. But based off what we’ve seen of him, none of these bigger guys have come close to knocking him out. Usually it’s the other way around. He has PROVEN that he comes up big when the challenge is biggest in every sense of the word big. You gotta ask yourself why is that exactly? The dude’s a fighter in the same mold as Duran. More specifically, IMO it’s because he wins exchanges to the point where the opponent is on the defensive. A given for me in this matchup is who wins the initial exchange between Duran and Pac. The one definitive advantage for Pac is his speed and his straight punches. I can with good conscience say Pac will get off first. As in my other post, the big big question is how Duran takes those punches. Pac being an unorthodox fighter and a southpaw, would Duran slip those punches as effectively as he would lesser offensive fighters? Would Pac’s power translate at 135? These are some big question marks but let’s just say that if the answer is yes to the latter question….then I have a feeling Duran would be in the defensive. Why? Because that’s what Pac does best, put people in the defensive hence the success of a defensive counterpuncher like JMM against Pac.

But like I said before, this is all contingent on what Pac shows in his foray to 135. Diaz is a good barometer of where Pac’s speed/power combo stands relative to bigger fighters. It’s also a good barometer of how getting hit by bigger man affects him. As of now at 130, I’ve seen him get hit flush and the worst I could say is that he’d get buzzed but recuperates very quickly. So I’m not so sure that Pac is stretching himself. I mean the guy is starting to look like a running back. But as someone pointed out though, it could very well be that he’s stretching to his limit. But we don’t know that for certain yet until he gets a couple of fights at 135 under his belt.


But seriously though……worlds away huh? Give it a break. Peeps here need to start givin Pac his due. Pac’s rewriting the history books as we speak and still some of you so-called boxing experts treat him like he’s a stepping stool. Enjoy him while you still can coz I have a feeling the next slew of up and coming fighters are regrettably being bred into the JMM’s and PBF’s of the world.

 

Duran would have knocked Pac out and it would be a very brutal knockout.

 

Well said!!:good You sounded like a mild mannered Pacdbest. What you said is all true. Duran was the Top P4P in his era. Pac is the top P4P in this era. There's a reason why. The Mythical matchup will be a close toe to toe Battle. Pac has the Chance because both are Proven Great fighters.