Best Fighter That Roberto Duran Could Possibly Defeat, At Middle?

Kalambay - No
La Motta - Yes

 

Most of the middleweights champs that depended on physical
toughness , power , endurance, opposed to world class skills
and speed.
So fighter like Walker, Greb, Graziano, Zale, Lomatta,
Tiger, Anterfermo, Triple G, Minter, etc he beats in my
opinion if he's well trained and focused.
He'd have serious issues with fighters like Robinson,
Turpin, Monzon, of course Hagler, Jones.Jr.
possibly Hopkins, (Though he's very overrated
in my opinion)

 

Any chance against Canelo at 160?

 

I think so yes Cotto was able to hang and be competitive with Canelo at Middleweight.

 

I’m not sure why, but I think Duran would take Hopkins.

 

Canelo is just as overrated as Hopkins in my opinion.... If not more.
So yes I can see a focused and in shape Duran beating him.

 

Hagler was late stepping on the gas vs. Leonard so there’s no guarantee Hagler would have done it against Duran.

I agree Hagler is a better middleweight than Duran. I also saw their fight and have watched it several times since.

Duran absolutely could beat Hagler, He came close enough as it was. Very competitive fight. Would he beat him 6 times out of 10? I don’t think so. But in a one-off it could happen.

So I think we have video evidence that Hagler is the best middleweight Duran could beat, given there’s no more than two or three better middleweights who ever lived (if that … heck, he could be the best ever).

 

I agree, Duran had all the tools to frustrate GGG. If he can get past that superb jab, the fight is his.

 

Interesting theory but one i can't climb on board with unless we are talking the aforementioned past prime notably less sharp Hagler that fought SRL.

For me on the night they actually met the stars actually aligned perfectly for Duran and he still couldn't quite get the job done. He had lenient judges (the solid majority agree the cards were to close), a Hagler who seemed a bit overawed by the occasion of his very own Superfight and he also had a cut Hagler (full credit to Duran) who many believe was overcautious for sometime thereafter. Hagler was still able to turn it on and take the last two stanzas comfortably to make sure there was no leeway for a robbery.

Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing performance by Duran. His usual inside dominance was found to be wanting early against the naturally much bigger man and he was forced to sit back and pick his moments which always for me had Hagler in the box seat. That Duran went the distance in a reasonably competitive bout when Hagler had been stopping fully fledged middles left, right and center is to be commended. If Duran was born a natural middleweight I'd take him all day everyday in this one TBF. As things were however i don't think Duran could ever on any night defeat prime Hagler. He had the chance to do just that but the obstacles were just too much to overcome.

 

I would not pick him and to have a shot he'd have to be no older than when he fought Hagler and in better shape but it is conceivable Duran outpoints him ... not off the chart ..

 

Robbie Sims.

Roberto "almost" beat him. Not quite, though.

Roberto Duran's official record at middleweight is 2 wins, 3 losses. The two wins were decisions over Jimmy Batten and Iran Barkley (I thought Barkley won).

The three losses were to Sims, Hagler and Leonard (while the fight was also for Leonard's super middleweight title, both guys weighed the middleweight limit).

If you want to throw the Leonard fight out (a fight where Duran lost the first 10 rounds), he was 2-2 at the weight.

Roberto didn't even have a winning record at middleweight.

 

Great post, John. No surprise there.