Did Roberto Duran avoid...

No, he had bigger fish to fry.

 

Did he fry any bigger fish from 1974 to 1975 though?

Fight should have been made in that time period imo. And he probably should have faced Benitez in the 1976-1977 period as well.

Rather than face Benitez and Cervantes from 74-77, Duran faced Ray Lampkin, Edwin Viruet, Saoul Mamby, Leoncio Ortiz, Lou Bizarro and Vilomar Fernandez. There's some good fighters in that bunch, but no one as good or near as good as Cervantes or Benitez.

 

nah if anything maybe his mananger did, but when he moved up he went after leanord

 

Duran was a lightweight, I don't like to put fighters down for staying at one weight and proving they are the best in the world. Fighters today move up in weight more than the fighters from years gone by, most of the time it just makes it easier for them to pick the opponents...

 

So long as a fighter is fighting decent opposition, I don't hold it against them for staying in the one division. But if there are better fights to be made by going up in weight and the fighter chooses instead to fight mediocre ones in his weight class, then he should be held to account for it.

I think Duran should have fought either Cervantes or Benitez, but that he didn't isn't that big a blight on him considering that he faced a decent crop of fighters from 74-77. Certainly Benitez and Cervantes were a step up in class from that lot, but when all is said and done, it was still an ok level of comp that Duran faced.

 

Duran was fighting over the weights (around 140) all the time, a match with either could have easily been made weight wise. It's an interesting avenue that has been opened up here, i look forward to seeing much deeper discussion on the matter. At present i'm in the dark either way, it's a few years before my time with boxing.

 

You make some very good points mate, but why expect Duran to go up in weight? IMO Duran is one of the best Lightweights in history because he stayed in that division and dominated a pretty good bunch of fighters over a 6-7 year period. That really takes some doing IMHO...

 

Here is Duran in the "Lightweight to welterweight" Palomino transition fight.

He would have overpowered both Cervantes & Benetiz at Jr. Welter
(though I do concur Benetiz beat him at Jr. MW when he had slowed
down).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a93R-Gh7sIU

 

It does, no question....

Why expect Duran to go up in weight? I guess it just stems from wanting to see exceptional fighters stretched to their limits. Would it not have been great to see how Duran would have fared against the likes of Cervantes and Benitez? I certainly feel the poorer for not having seen those fights, don't you?

Sure, Duran showed us some of his capabilities by dominating a decent lightweight division for a long time, but is their any doubting that his legacy would have been enhanced if he moved up and faced (and beat) the cream of the 140 pound division?

 

Duran Benitez around the 76-77 timeframe would indeed have been fascinating, and given us all another great fight to discuss!

However, Duran featuring in a thread about avoidance seems a little discordant to me...

 

Sounds like a tough,but pointless fight.Aaron Pryor wasn't really established at 140;anyway,Duran moved up to 147 and decisioned Leonard over 15 rounds-not a bad accomplishment-and I think his first payday over 250K.

 

Nobody has even mentioned Pryor :huh

 

Duran jumped a division but you don't jump a division to duck Cervantes and Pryor but fight Palomino and Leonard. Durans career just wasn't guided as well as it could have been. He is partially to blame cos his weight was quite erratic.

Duran should have been the king at 135, 140, 147, loss again at 147 but then been a somebody at 154 and 160. His career lacked order, much like Pacmans is now adays.