Did Hector Camacho really outbox Roberto Duran in 1996?

I think that you make alot of excuses for Duran's loss of interest in training hard. It is understandable for a guy who'd doing it for over 20 years, but you are confusing being in fighting shape with not always having to be in fighting shape to whip journeyman.

"Being in shape" is not the same as being in fighting shape.

And they'd have been stupid if they felt like that. Duran at 158 would have been in shape to fight hard instead of in spurts, throwing one shot at a time most of the time, and on leaden legs.

... and there effectively was no "Team Duran". No one was telling Duran how to train or what to do --not since Freddie Brown anyway, and even he had problems.

 

Duran was in far, far better shape for Sims than he was for Pazienza. He lost a close split in an important fight that he cared about.

 

Duran could have tied one hand behind his back and still beat Biglen.

 

Stonehands. How did you score Duran-Simms? I only have the highlights of the fight. It looked 'touch and go' on if the decision was correct. Close fight on the official cards.

 

I saw the fight some years ago now and remember how close it was. I couldn't tell you my scorecard but if I remember right, I thought it could have gone either way. Duran cared, but he was not "on fire" as he was three years later or three years before -against more formidable MWs. Duran was one of the those guys who fought "to" the skills of his opponents as he aged. He trained just enough to win... and was often off in his estimation. To say the least.

 

I had Duran winning the Pazienza I fight by about 2 points, back in 1994. What pissed me off is that in Round 5 he scored a legitimate knockdown, that is a 10-8 round, and it got scored 10-10????? WTF. (Giampa, Roth and Moretti, the Three Blind Mice) He also scored a flash KD in 2 or 3 and it was incorrectly ruled a slip, although Duran's fist made contact with Paz's body, and even "The Champ" Sean O Grady saw that. The Judges were totally fixed that night. Duran won that fight, and beat the **** out of Camacho the 1st time as well. It's as if someone in power was angry at his Legendary Status and was punishing him. :fire

 

Duran-Camacho I is a thorn in the butt of my life.

Pazienza I ...? Well, Duran wasn't exactly fit and ready for that one and his sluggish performance demonstrated that. Your take is interesting but I didn't have much of a problem with the decision, irregardless of the knockdown(s).