Barkley vs. Duran...

I thought it was one of the best fights of the 80s and one of the best MW title fights ever.

 

Assumed it would be a drubbing. Turned out to be a great fight. Lots of great fights in the 80s. It belongs amongst them for sure.

 

Yes definitely should be ranked very high. It was voted 1989 fight of the year. One of my all time favs.

 

In the 80s we were so spoiled by the MW division.
So many great fights.

 

I thought Barkley would absolutely pound Duran.
I was very wrong. Happily so, it was a great fight.

 

It probably should. Clean punching, no dull rounds, it was a slugfest but there was a high level of skill in there. Even Barkley was fighting the best I had ever seen him fight.
The greatest living fighter comes back yet again to show the world what is possible. Middleweight champion

 

The thing a lot of people overlooked about Duran was he didnt take a lot of punishment even catching some L's in the 80s he didn't get hit that clean. The Hearns fight being the exception.

 

Lol. Great point Antonio. But it was less than 2 rounds lol.

 

If we're talking whether it should be ranked higher we need to ponder where it is ranked.

I think it's ranked very high as it is. There's also different platforms here, layers. As an action fight it was very good with Duran coming from behind late against a bigger, stronger younger opponent. It was a rousing finish. From memory (i'd have to find my card) he was about 3 rounds behind with 4 rounds to go. That's a standout right there. When we factor in Duran's age, status and recent form (and Barks) well it's one seriously amazingly result. It was virtually half a decade after the Hearns drubbing and Barkley had only just TKO'd........Hearns!

Personally i rate it as a great fight for the combination of factors above. It's one of the greatest wins in history despite Duran only (somehow) being a 2 1/2-1 underdog. It's the sort of bout with enough "boxing" significance to be put in a time capsule for the future if we doing that sort of thing.

 

He took 12 rounds worth of a beating. Tommy just condensed it into a round and a half.

 

Man the eighties had so many insane bouts.
It certainly was a good fight but man I don't know like I said the 80s were just packed with great fights.
You will never see an era like that again.