Duran vs Hearns 1980

Duran was one of my all-time favorite fighters but Hearns just has too many advantages in size, strength, speed, power. Duran was the best LW ever and narrowly beat the same Barkley in a war who had knocked out (after taking a pasting) and then outlasted Hearns later on. However, a motivated and less dissipated Duran (not the one in June 1984) would give Hearns a very good fight but would still lose to him IMO.

!980 Hearns TKO 10 1980 Duran

 

I am a little miffed about some of the perspectives presented in this discussion. I have never seen Duran hurt in a fight besides the one with Hearns. Judging Duran based on his fight with Hearns is like judging Hearns by his fight with Barkley. Duran's fight with Hearns was Duran's 82nd fight. Barkely flattened Hearns with just half the fights under his belt. Hearns still does not have 70 fights and he is being beat by the likes of Barkley and Uriah Grant.

One thing for sure is certain, in my opinion, is that Hearns does not knock out Duran. He would pound Hearns on the inside and wear him down in the late rounds.

 

duran at ww and a little younger would`nt have got tagged early and once he got through the first few rounds he would have chopped hearns down ,bobbing weaving inside banging that long body.hearns had unreal power but only early and was never said to have a good jaw himself.It would have been a great fight..

 

I think Duran would have exposed Hearns chin. He wobbled everytime Leonard caught him clean in the first fight. I feel that once Duran landed and had him in trouble he would be aggressive enough to close the show. Duran was a beast at that time, but you can never rule out Hearns when he has the equalizer in the right hand.

I would say Duran by stoppage round 8 or 9.

 

Duran gets a 'he wasn't in shape and was tight at the weight' pass on any loss he has ever had, perhaps bar DeJesus. You'd think his opponent did nothing to get those wisn against him, funny coincidence every time Duran showed up 'out of shape' it was against someone who employed the strategy of sticking and moving, or was simply a terrible style match up like Hearns was

An Alternative Outlook - The Duran who fought the Leonard rematch and HEarns fight was the exact same Duran who faced Leonard first time around. Duran wasn't that good above 135, couldn't beat someone who moved and boxed, got lucky Leonard fought the wrong fight first time round and couldn't beat a lightening fast 6'1 dynamite fisted boxing master in a month of Mondays.

 

I go with Duran. The Duran that did fight Hearns was a shell of the fighter he once was.

 

I don't think there is any comparison with Barkley. Hearns and Duran were both legends from the same group and both had titles. Hearns is an all time great who hit all the legends he ever fought clean. Duran was going to be hit clean, it was up to him to take the punch. Most times he could avoid big punches, but Hearns hits everyone. That was not a fluke. Hearns was too quick for Duran and beat him on speed. Uriah Grant? Hearns was inactive for a year and was 41 not 32 like Duran was when he fought Hearns. Duran was a champion with the WBA when he fought Hearns, and beat Davey Moore the year before for the title. Totally different. Duran lost to all the legends. Benitez,Hearns,Hagler. Leonard. he is 1-5 against them. Duran was actually still fighting when Hearns fought Grant in 2000.. Duran fought in 2001.. Hearns last fight was I think 2006 against a guy named Shannon Landberg and Hearns won a 10th round knockout.

 

Duran was a shell? Did you know that when Duran retired in 2001 the Hearns fight was in the first half of his career. So Duran was a shell of himself when he fought Benitez and Leonard the second time also? He is always a shell when he losses, but when he wins it is the greatest accomplishment ever. Duran was not quick enough ever for Hearns. Hearns was a totally different story than the guys at lightweight like Buchanan and Dejesus. He was greater, and I don't think anyone will argue that Hearns was greater than anyone Duran fought at lightweight.

 

nice posts

 

Hearns hit most guys clean except Leonard ( first fight) and Benitez to be honest. But Duran was not defensive in the way Benitez and Ray were. He was good but not against the top guys in the 1980's. Duran stood straight up against Hearns in the fight in 1984, and that was not because of age, he didn't know how to deal with the speed. The same thing would have happened in 1980 and Hearns would have hit Duran clean. I think Duran would have been stopped in 4. I give him 2 more rounds in 1980, but still he loses easily. The fight in 1984 means a lot since it shows the speed difference and how easily Hearns handled Duran.