Duran of the Moore fight vs Leonard of the Kalule fight which was the better performance?

Public perception (the majority of it) on Duran was woefully incorrect. The perception was that he was washed up. Kalule was also somewhat unknown and a bit underrated whilst Leonard was commonly considered the top dog in boxing.

It was a great effort by Duran for sure.

 

It was a great performance but definitely not one where he didn't make a single wrong step. He swallowed some big uppercuts along the way but Duran being Duran he simply shrugged them off. Similar punches from Moore had been doing plenty of damage to others in previous fights. He also took some rippers against Barkley while barely blinking. Duran had a great chin.

 

Duran at his age was never going to go through that fight without taking punches.
That's why I feel like it was a perfect performance, because you can't really say "he should have done....."

 

Well nobody thought Davey Moore was going to hold onto that title for long anyway----there was literally a ton of highly pedigreed up and comers he was going to have to deal with. That and nobody ever had a hard time landing their punches on him. He'd just out tough a lot of guys.

That Moore corner sure didn't do a masterful job either. I don't know what their tactics/strategy/pre-fight plans were but it looked like a case of throw 2 punches and duck. And Duran did what all the great fighters seem to do===go back in time and put up an A+ performance at a time when it looked like his B game was all that was left. That B game of Roberto's would not have beat Moore at that time. And the former lightweight did eat some nice shots from a hitter like Moore. How many other 135 pounders are eating that stuff? Especially against a guy like Moore--if an opponent was hurt or showed effects of a shot, nobody had to tell Davey Moore to apply pressure and step on the gas. He went in for the kill with that aggression of his.

And that's what pre-fight, lots of folks thought the result would be; a Moore stoppage. And pretty much ruining the career of Duran and sending him way way down the ladder. What a risky fight and a lot of obstacles and landmines for Duran to overcome. And Duran did it. And by the 2nd round the fight was academic. The corner of Moore should have stopped the bout between rounds to save their guy, I thought anyway. Roberto beat a tough guy at 154 by stepping back in time and how often do we get to see those kinds of results?

 

Good stuff mate. Duran still had quite a bit to offer (against public perception) as seen by his follow up vs Hagler and well later vs Barkley. From memory Bob Arum was the guy that gave him another go as he knew he hadn't taken all that much punishment. He certainly brought the best of what he had left to the Moore fight.

 

Just thinking about that----Roberto had what 85 or 90 fights before taking on youthful guys like Moore/Barkley/Hearns/Benetiz/Leonard/Hagler? And it's Roberto moving up in weight & not the other way around. Quite a few miles on the odometer to be taking on those kinds of challenges.

But sooner or later father time is going to take hold---and I sure did not like that Joppy fight. There was a guy I didn't think much of and Roberto had nothing against him. At least he didn't go a ton of rounds like Ali did against Holmes when he had nothing.

But a great fighter. And to me, we really have not had too many great fighters since.

 

Duran, like Holmes, seems to have no ill effects from boxing. Incredible really.

 

It's not a matter of opinion that Moore was better than Kalule.

Moore and Kalule got in the ring and fought.

Moore knocked him out.

Moore was better. Moore proved it in the ring against Kalule.

It doesn't get more conclusive than that.

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