Durans Win Over Barkley

There's no way Barkley won that fight on my card.

 

Agreed, with the provision Ayala would have been quite a bit more difficult given his extra natural size, power at the weight and peak quotient. Still like a Duran clinic tho in this one, just a rougher clinic than Cuevas.

 

Agreed. Duran took him to school.

 

The closest thing that I can remember is Larry Holmes troubling Holyfield and beating Mercer. Duran's win against Barkley was remarkable, and had to be extra satisfying to Duran considering that Barkley had just beaten Thomas Hearns for the title. Many people believe that the decision could have gone either way, but it seems like every time I watch it, I see more things that Duran did well. Duran seemed to out-land Barkley in nearly every round with excellent counter shots, and the knockdown was an excellent example of how to patiently set a trap and counter your opponent with shots that they aren't ready to defend against.

 

Yeah, I do remember some were favoring Davey Moore's natural size, power and youth over Duran, citing the speed with which Moore had sent Duran conquerer Benitez to the deck. (Today, people recall Moore's outcome with Duran, but not the anticipation before the fact.) Like he did with Moore, Duran would have subjected Ayala to the streetfighting experiences of Roberto's youth, as I see it. El Torito was a prodigy, not a master, and if somebody like Mario Maldonado (who was no kind of leverage puncher) could put Ayala on the deck, then Duran could certainly do something with him.

 

Erm, Moore fought Benitez a full year after Duran had upset him (Moore) for the title. The actual anticipation was that Duran had looked great against Cuevas but he was likely very washed up, and it was speculated it was simply two washed up fighters with one looking better than the other. Most thought Duran had nothing left. Memory tells me the main odds were 8-5 with Moore fave.

Totally agree. I won't put too much certainly in the Mario scenario as many fighters have these moments as did Duran. You are right in that Duran was a master and Ayala a prodigy. Duran's superb chin, defensive anticipation and skill and experience would have enabled him to ride out any rough spots and wear El Torito down. Still a mouth watering proposition tho mate.

 

Ayala would have been another Cuevas to Duran.

Duran would've been another Cuevas to Ayala. Only this time it would've meant something.

 

Duran vs Barkley is really a classic. Here you have the somewhat chubby latino man, who looks like he is too old to be fighting against this young, huge, muscular, mean ass looking black man and they are fighting like hell, with chubby little latino getting the best of the big black guy.

 

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Well, at least you know I'm not using boxwreck.com for crib notes. (I've been relying on distant memory too much, mucking up my chronologies. Duh!atsch)

I vaguely remember Moore/Rooney (because I thought Rooney might have had a chance if he hadn't gotten cut). I viewed his title winning effort against Tadashi Mihara (a crushing loss to the Japanese fans who thought Mihara might have a long title reign). Oddly, I never viewed Duran/Moore in it's entirety, just clips and the graphic Sports Illustrated cover showing Moore's closed eye.

The most vivid recollection of Moore I have is the Benitez match. It was obvious that Wilfredo had a busted leg when Moore dropped him, yet he got up, and while standing on just his remaining good leg in the corner, managed to make Moore miss his furious follow up barrage. I don't remember the commentators making any mention of Wilfredo's obvious injury, and when they interviewed his shithead father, the stupid arse blamed Wilfred's loss on his failure to train properly! That ******* completely ignored the fact that his son's leg was broken, and the spineless commentators asked Gregorio the jerk NOTHING about that ankle.:twisted:

Whenever I think of Moore, it gets my blood boiling, not because of Duran, but because of what a piece of garbage Gregorio Benitez was when it came to his son. Then I think of Hiram Dempsey predicting a win for Willard over his son. Then I think of Philip Coetzee always belittling his son's chances in whatever match Gerrie had coming up. Then I think of how Tony Ayala Sr. was no kind of parent to his kids, just a stage dad pushing his kids into something no kid should enter unless they make the choice without coercion.:nono

Sorry JT, I need a moment to cool off!:fire

 

Interesting points. Now i likely know why Coetzee suffered from the severe lack of confidence i mentioned in his thread. What a fantastic dad eh. Old Benitez always blamed lack of training, he was like a broken record. Didn't see much of it in the big wins tho.