Fighters who were outmatched in every department, but still won.

Good point on Rahman, somehow I forgot to mention AJ, but Wlad of course didn’t have any great advantages over him at the time they fought outside of experience.

Yeah, I agree with the couple advantages you mentioned from the others, hard to find someone who doesn’t have a single advantage that won at world level.

 

Did Morales possess any raw attribute that was superior to that of Barrera's?

 

Seriously? I think they were very close to each other in almost all of attributes and Morales held height and reach advantages

 

Lloyd Honeyghan beating Donald Curry

 

Well, yeah, exactly. Ray did not have to fight Duran's fight, he has the skill to dictate when his head was right.

 

I'd argue he had a better chin.

 

Barrera was definitely more athletic, in a fast twitch muscle fibre sense, specifically he was a more explosive puncher.

Stamina and punch resistance, I'm not so sure.

I wasn't considering height and reach as raw attributes as such, but you're obviously correct that Morales was taller.

 

I'm not sure (either way), Barrera was only stopped once, Morales three times, albeit all three past his past, twice to Pacquiao and once way above his best weight. Not much to read into either way there, imo.

That said, chin and stamina were the only raw attributes where I couldn't pick a superior, without considering less tangible attributes like timing and ring IQ.

They were dead even, both versus each other and in their wider careers. I feel Morales broadly matched Barrera's achievements with less physical gifts.

 

How much did durability play into a fight that lasted less than 2 rounds?

 

What if he had to fight inside because Duran made him fight inside?

 

Based on subsequent events that is obviously not what happened.

 

Based on subsequent events, that is exactly what happened that night. The first night, Duran came in and fought the fight of his life and he made things go his way. When they fought again, Duran had already put out the best effort of his career. It isn't at all surprising that he couldn't replicate it against a man that was very skilled, as well as being younger with less mileage on him, bigger and stronger.

 

He didn't, though. As stated, it is well known that he spit on Leonard and called his wife a puta. This made Leonard go out and fight in a more personal, reckless manner. It's been written about ad nauseam. If you don't believe it, you don't believe it. All I can say is you might want to read up on it because it is a really interesting piece of boxing lore.

 

If you believe that Leonard fought a 'stupid' fight just because Duran said mean things it is only more proof of how an outmatched guy won a fight. If you are a professional fighter and let pre fight talk get to you, then you are not all that professional, but that is a game that has been played forever.
If you have watched the fight and don't see what Duran was doing...

 

Uh, yeah, that is the subject of the thread.

I was going mention it before, but I am not sure you know what you are arguing about.