Benitez-Duran '82 / Weight Issue.....

yeah it changed at the end of the round. Tommy was throwing more arm punches. He landed some good punches when Marvin had him against the ropes at the end of the round, but I think he felt desperate to land clean even though his hand was broken since Marvin was coming on very strong, so he tried to throw some good punches. Marvin's strategy was good. Both guys threw wild punches, but since Hearns punched so hard with that right hand, a punch which was a little wild and which hit Marvin's head a little awkwardly was enough to break the hand. I think I know the punch which did it. It is the same punch which made Marvin wobble and back off, and then Hearns tried to swing again, but Marvin regrouped. The cut to Marvin's forehead I think was made when Tommy being tired, would sometimes breathe out of his mouth and his mouthpiece was coming out of his mouth, and Marvin at I think the 1:21 mark rubbed his head against it and it cut his forehead. You can actually see the moment it happens.

 

I think that fight was all about Tommy and Marvin not liking each other at the time. At the time I was a little upset with Hearns when he was brawling, but later I figured it went down as a great fight so it was ok. I saw that fight in scrambled mode all messed up on what was called Select TV-but I did not have the PPV so I watched it on UHF scrambled up, and I watched the TV and then would listen to KFWB between rounds and they would say "big fight in vegas lets go to rory markus at ringside" And I still remember on the scrambled mode I could see Hearns throwing right hand after right hand and Hagler walking forward. Rory Markus said something like "With this kind of action in round one this fight isn't going very long".

 

yeah I remember Z channel. I saw ON TV with a pirate box also and that is how I saw Leonard/Hearns in 1981. But by 1985 I didn't have that. So I had to watch a scrambled picture on UHF and listen to between ring reports. I did that for a few fights at the time. Hagler/Duran, Hagler/Hearns, Hagler/Mugabi and Hearns/Shuler and Leonard/Hagler. It became a routine after awhile. I even saw Hearns/Roldan the same way in 1987, and even later Hearns/Barkley and Duran/Barkley. So I think the last time I saw the scrambled mode was actually 1989 for Mancini/Camacho or Duran/Barkley. I know where Fountain Valley is. I am from Southern California, and I lived in that area at that time. By the way, ON TV was the channel which showed the Leonard/Duran fights in 1980.. They had all the hype and biographies on both guys. I was actually watching the scrambled mode as Duran turned his back on Ray and Ray jumped up on the ropes. At that time we had regular ON TV but not the pirate box. We got the pirate box right before Hearns/Leonard 1 and then had that just a few years if not shorter.

 

How does that change the fact that he beat Duran convincingly?

 

Duran moved up in weight because he did not have the discipline to stay under 147. Having said that, he remains, forever, the ONLY fighter who beat Sugar Ray Leonard in Leonard's prime. Like Joe Frazier in the first Ali-Frazier fight, Duran in Montreal simply would not be denied. And like Ali, Leonard had no answer for the double left hook--left hook to the body, left hook to the head--combination, the same combination that nearly floored Ali in Madison Square Garden, and the the same combination that Duran was so effective with in Montreal, against Leonard. Had Leonard chosen to stick and move, and dance, in Montreal, he would have faced the same problem that Ali faced against Frazier in NYC--a brawler (but in Duran's case, a brawler with KO power in both hands) willing to stay within 15 inches the entire fight, moving, slipping punches, and throwing bombs all night long. Duran achieved the seemingly-impossible in Montreal, moving up 12 pounds to defeat Leonard in his prime. Leonard, to his credit, went back to the blackboard, hammered down on his training, and was 100 per cent ready to win back the title in New Orleans. We have a saying in the Marine infantry: All discipline is inherently self-discipline. Had Duran possessed that kind of discipline, which wins fire fights and wars, he could have stayed at 147 and he never would have bloated up to 203 by the first week of September 1980. A fit, lean, motivated and inspired Duran was a terror in the ring.

 

Bill where have u been? It's not that benitez was so good that night (he was ordinary), it's that Duran was so bad. This version of Duran was roughly equal to the Duran of the Laing and Jimmy Batten fights

 

:good

 

It is an excuse for Roberto Duran which no other fighter could ever use or would be excepted. He somehow looked great and came in shape for Luigi Minchillo and Davey Moore, but was out of shape for legends Benitez and Hearns. And many of Duran fans say that Roberto was not big enough to beat great fighters at 154, then why would he need an excuse when he lost to them? He would have lost anyway.

 

No, Duran was not a better Junior Middleweight than Benitez. Wilfred fought some of his better fights at 154 than anywhere else.

 

I just saw that this thread is from 2010. I might have commented in it a couple of years ago. I will have to check.