Donald Curry vs. Roberto Duran at 154

The thread title made me immediately think welterweight and therefore made me quite nervous as a Curry fan...

At light middle this is a comfortable Curry points win. Even the Duran that swarmed Cuevas barely lays a hand on the Curry that was outboxing McCallum.

 

nono Im a big Curry fan too but he slipped a notch when he moved up to JM, Duran did too but bottom line Duran is the greater fighter.

What about the Duran that beat Moore and almost beat Hagler at even a heavier weight.:huh

Curry would take an early lead but by the5th Duran would start doing very well hed start punishing Curry and finish him off around the 9th.

 

I think Roberto would win. He'd have to be in the same mindset and shape he was for the Moore and Cuevas fights. Then he'd stop Curry,who was never the same post Honeyghan.

 

I'd give Curry a better chance at Welterweight, though I'd still favor Duran. Curry's durabillity seemed to falter significantly as he moved up. He wanted to lean in and infight too much also. But idea against Duran. I'd take a fit Duran (vs Moore, Cuevas) by late stoppage.

 

Duran beats him at either weight, either the Montreal or Moore versions would beat the best 147 Curry, or, as is being mooted in this fight, the Curry that fought McCallum.

Duran would catch up to him, though I doubt it'd be as stupendous as what McCallum laid him out with.

 

I don't like Duran against a fast boxer mover type as a whole above 135. He beat Leonard after angering Leonard into fighting the wrong fight in a flat footed brawl instead of doing what he does best. When Leonard used the right strategy he won, insert Duran excuse.When he faced other fast boxer movers in Laing and Benitez he got clearly outboxed, insert excuse. Curry had all of Leonards speed and movement but wasnt as durable, he just wouldnt need to be as long as he uses his movement and speed. Curry clearly wasnt the same fighter at 154, but he still had those tools against a Duran who was slower. you could argue Curry doesnt like being forced to fight and Duran would make him, but Laing didnt like to be forced to fight either, the question is if Duran could force Curry to fight, I dont think he could

Curry UD

 

source

 

Leonard choose to fight the wrong fight and go toe-toe from the start, there's no myth there, the commentators picked up on that and if you can't see that your blind. Whether Dundee/leonard thought beforehand that it was a reat strategy is irrelevant because it was the wrong game plan. Duran is a great fighter, with great skills, but Leonard fought Durans fight, no doubt, when he boxed clever he won with ease

Leonards strategy was completely different in the rematch, focusing on lateral movement and Duran couldnt land and was completely ineffective. Oh but ofcourse Duran metamorphasised into a lump of lard just like everytime a quality boxer outboxed him.

 

And you totally ignore that Duran was far from his best in the rematch. Even Leonard himself admits that they made the rematch as soon as possible because they knew Duran wouldn´t have enough time to get in shape for the rematch. I think it´s in Duran´s beyond the glory.

The second Duran-Leonard fight is not an indication how Duran would do against a mover above 135.

 

The easiest pick of all. Duran by ko. Curry did NOTHING in the division worth noting and was really pretty much used up and adrift in boxing because by that time he was leaving or had left his trainer Gorman. He went w/ Muhammad and his career rightfully shot down the toilet. No loyalty and also no victory over the GREAT DURAN:viking

 

THATS THE REAL MYTH. Duran was confident beforehand he'd win by KO second time around. He might not have been in the same tip top shape, and got out of shape in between fights, but he always did that and was in shape by fight night.

I dont buy the same brand of bull**** that states Duran was out of shape everytime he fought a fast handed mover like Leonard 2/3/Benitez/Laing/Hearns. And everytime he fought a stationary object leonard 1/barkley/moore/hagler/cuevas he was in shape. Duran couldnt handle movement and fast hands above 135 and all he has are excuses against such foes

Leonards lateral movement, angles, feinting was the real difference between the 2 fights. Benitez/Laing used similar strategies and Duran couldnt beat them 2, but ofcourse he was out of shape then too right?

 

Curry has a very good style here imo, abiut as good as you could hope for for an in shape Duran. The only thing is that what looks good on paper isn't always good, the big question in my mind is can Duran break Curry's will, he does that and he wins imo. Very possible the way i see it.

 

I'm not comparing Curry to Leonard in my styles match up analysis by the way. I reckon Curry has a good style because he was good technically and would be able to box (not moving excessively side to side) and throw combos and jabs on Duran coming in, somewhat similar to Dejesus in that sole regard. He's not going to start running round the ring pulling silly faces and trying to amuse the crowd, so there's no quitting in this one. Like i said, Duran might just be able to impose himself due to him being one of the very most effective at doing so in history, because of his assets. Like i said also, what's on paper doesn't mean deal.

 

I love both guys is the first thing I must confess. I don't think either was at their best at 155 though they won the world title with some notable victories particularly Duran against Davey Moore(a clear example of a guy winning the world title far to early and ruined).

Duran in my opinion is the 3rd greatest fighter in the history of this sport pound for pound. Don Curry the Lone Star Cobra was a perfect complete fighting machine at Welterweight and a truly great fighter unfortunately for a painfully short time. Technically these guys had everything. Curry had the tools tio beat Duran but whether he would be able to execute it is another matter. Curry could basically outbox and outfight anyone at his peak a beautiful boxer to watch. However get into a battle on the inside with Duran then you lose even Hagler had to box to win. Even pressed will go for Duran as Curry's vulnerabilities were on show at 155 pounds. Many yaers ago when Curry was asked what went wrong he said that while people said he was pound for pound the greatest he just nevber saw himself in that light and maybe therein lay the problems.