Duran' masterful performance against Barkley

Your thoughts? Easily one of Duran's best performances, had no business fighting at that weight but that was an amazing fight. Would have loved to have seen Duran vs. Canelo.

 

As a Duran fan it was an epiphany for me.

 

Total masterclass performance against a very big Barkley who was at the top of his game. Duran out boxed and out brawled him. I had tickets for this fight but the AC expressway was closed due to 22 or so inches of snow

 

An exceptional performance by Duran .. In many ways it was Barkley's best fight too , there were moments when he never fought better .. it was a matter of styles and class .. Duran had just enough left to beat that level of extremely big and tough but slightly limited fighter .. what a dramatic , exciting fight it was ..

 

There is a big difference between a ATG and a "very good " and a " good" fighter. Duran of course is the ATG , Barkley was a "good" fighter but was much bigger fighting at his natural weight of middleweight against Duran who actually started at featherweight. Size Kings take notice. Or watch this fight and see the difference between an ATG and a good fighter even though the good fighter had all the physical advantages. And relate that too todays decent fighters( and some not decent at all, just well managed, and lack of serious competition) compared to some of the greats from the past. If Barkley. Fought today he'd probably be undeafeated and some of you would be crowing about how he would've beaten Hagler or Mounzon. Duran gave a master class on boxing skills to Barkley though he was over the hill going down into the valley at a weight he shouldn't have been at. Similarly to his closer to prime destruction of Davey Moore. Having true great skills will more times than not compensate for physical advantages... Size kings just watch, no actually observe this fight for the differences between great, good, and average. There's a wide gulf between the 3.

 

amazing win for Duran. Barkley was better than a good boxer. The aging and over his weight class Duran had to have more than his amazing talent, he had to be tough enough to take shots from the bigger man, and he did. Was a great fight for both guys

 

I agree Barkley may have had his best performance in this loss.
He was as Gil Clancy said at the time composed and using some finesse as best he could. I think when Duran buzzed him in the 1st round that surprised Iran enough that he tried to mix in some angles and set up his power .
In a sense it backfired because he started thinking with Duran. That was not a good idea. Roberto being able to get that respect early played a part.

 

Fantastic performance by an old former lightweight.

Often forgotten in the hubbub is that Duran actually took his share of big punches in this and golly gee did he take them well. Great fight to watch too.

 

Natural born fighter.

 

One of the best wins ever in history of boxing.

 

Their styles meshed beautifully. The far bigger man decides to mix it up in close with the highly skilled little guy. Barkley's size advatage was negated by Durans amazing ability to slip, heart and rock hard chin when he did land (and he landed a lot himself, in fact Barkley fought a great fight too).

Great fight, great action and a great call by Bernstein and Clancy from memory. A pleasure to watch.

 

Great fight and performance. People knock Duran for the fights he lost post prime. But name the fighter with two better wins than Leonard 1 and Barkley.

 

Classic. This is just one of the many classics from the 80's.

Barkley, in all fairness, was absolutely huge. Duran was absolutely blown up.

The heart Duran showed was immense. It's a fight I have revisited many times.

 

A genuine little guy vs big guy contest. Not only that, but the age gap was considerable.

That right-hand counter from Duran, staggering Barkley at the end of the first round, set the stage beautifully.

What a cracking fight it was!

 

I happen to love this thread.