Can A Case Be Made To Place Duran At #1 P4P All Time?

The guy rated #1 of all-time, perhaps the flagbearer for all of this sport should not be a guy that walks off without trying in one of the biggest fights of the decade.

 

Can't argue here. SRR, Hank, Page etc, no such blemish.

 

I don't think you can. He went 1-5 against SRL,Hagler,Hearns, and Benetiz

 

Not bad when you think he was a decade or more past his pomp for the final Leonard fight...

 

Not bad at all, but we're talking number 1 P4P ever.

 

I do not have Duran as my all-time #1, but he is in my top 5 and deserves comparison with his peers. Just playing devils advocate

 

Of course a case can be made for duran as 1, it just depends on what type of fighter you like.

I personally have him in my top 5 atg p4p aswell as no1 all time lwt.


My personal choice for 1 p4p is between ali & srr but duran is right there with these guys, no doubt.

:good

 

Duran: "In Panama, people are naturally small. I wish I'd been born in the United States, so I could kick the hell out of Ali and all the other heavyweights!"

 

"No Mas" keeps him out of the top spot forever. But considering what he did before and those many times he rose from the ashes of that debacle, he belongs in the top 5.

I happen to disagree that the Hearns stoppage is, in and of itself, enough to argue that Robinson was greater. Robinson never fought a puncher who was even close to Hearns.

Considering that Duran was a LW and Hearns was the greatest JMW and was priming at 152, we'd have to speculate how Robinson would do against say, Roy Jones at SMW or Bob Foster at LHW....

 

Funny enough, despite Duran becoming a 4-weight champ in the 1980s and achieving greater things, I think if he had retired after Montreal, you could make a decent case for #1 spot.

 

.... and that is exactly what all of the detractors forget. The wins over Moore and Barkley are sprinkles on the frosting on the cake. The cake is LW domination, the frosting is the defeat of Leonard. Hell, what LW in history could ever survive 15 rounds inside the perimeter against Hagler? I think none.

 

No, that is what gives him a shot at the #1 slot...

 

Even if you ignore the last Leonard fight (too old) and the Hagler fight (too small) he's still 1-3 pretty near his 'pomp'?

 

No, he would of just been known as execptional fighter, but a stereotype, he developed as a person in people's mines from New Orleans onwards.

It is like Ali; yes if had stayed retired after 67, he would of been what 27-0? But he would not gone down as best heavy in history, because he never had to redeem himself. The 72-1 Duran had only done that against DeJesus...