he would still be head and shoulders above Chavez with his wins of Moore and Barkley still amazing victories
no hes not what did he achieve which is anythuing like the Barkley win for Duran i admit i like JCC and he has a lot of good wins like Taylor, Rosario etc... but when he stepped up to the greats Sweet pea he was beaten (i know it was a draw but he got owned). of course the 90 odd victories is impressive but give me the names which are more impressive than Durans wins
Duran's resume would still be better, definitely. I think Chavez's resume is a bit overrated when you go through it fight by fight.
the only reason most would assume chavez even touches durans resume is because they don't know much about his 1970's run as 135 pound king .. .
They would be close without those fab 4 battles, Duran is 1 of the most loved guys on ESB & gets his deserved praise... Chavez on the other hand does not for whatever reason, there aint a huge gap between Duran & Chavez IMO, despite what you read on here day in, day out.
there is a significant difference in tems of resume as Chavezs numbers are impressive but his name on it arnt as impressive as Durans
Well let's see: Duran: Marcel, DeJesus(X2), Buchanan, Palomino, Viruet, Kobayashi, Moore, Barkley, Fernandez, Thompson, Ishimatsu, Lampkin, Mamby, Ortiz, Villa, Cuevas, Castro Chavez: Taylor(X2), Lockridge, Ramirez, Camacho, Laporte, Mayweather(X2) Rosario, Randall, Martinez, Lopez, Alli, Smith, Haugen. Duran quite clearly has the better resume for me, though it is not MILES better than Chavez's.
Duran might still have the edge, I wont argue he doesnt but the battles vs SRL, Hearns & Hagler made him famous to the casual fan, the serious fan knew he was the best p4p fighter in the world (as JCC was in his own peak, late 80s, early 90s) thru the 70s, likely right up until `no mas.` Chavez has Taylor, Rosario, Camacho, aswell as others not as good but still worth having, he was old school like Duran, he fought a lot in an era were elites fought 3 times in 12 months max. Both deserve the status they currently recieve (positive praise I mean)
There is a huge gap between Duran and Chavez, and although it could and probably should be explained in great detail and at great length, it can be condensed to just this: Look what prime Duran did to prime Leonard. Look how prime Chavez coped with prime Meldrick Taylor. Yes, there are many other factors to consider, yes this is very reductive of me, but it is just one single very telling point which I have used to be as brief as possible in highlighting that there WAS a huge gap between Duran and Chavez. Chavez was superb at what he did, but when he came up against a fighter of proven quality who fought in a certain style, he struggled - big time. Duran was superb at what he did as well, but when he came up against a fighter of proven quality who fought in a certain style, he imposed his will on the fight and his opponent, rose to the occasion, and overcame his opponent's advantages. And Meldrick was no SRL.
There are some important thing to remember about the career of Chavez. Chavez was as dominant a champion to ever grace the sport. Chavez had as good an offense as anyone to ever lace them up. Chavez is also most cited for his work at 140 lbs. Let us not forget junior welter was the 3rd division he captured world titles in. A lot of people like to bring up Meldrick Taylor, but how did Meldrick do 2 divisions up from the weight he originally struck gold in as a pro? I have always felt the stoppage was controversial, but Taylor did fail to even nod his head when the ref asked if he could continue. I bet there would be a less high profile controversy had Taylor been allowed to continue. The first solidly arguable loss I've seen by Chavez was to Whitaker. We should remember that this was at a weight Chavez never won a title at, and to a fighter that he first won a title to a division lighter than. Without Duran's success at higher weights, Duran probably still edges Chavez resume wise. Still, it doesn't hurt matters that I know that Duran's edge in defense and counter punching allowed him to excel at higher weights than Chavez. I also feel Duran would win head to head. I do wonder what my opinion would be without the Leonard and Barkley wins.
