How good was Duran - P4P GOAT?

good interesting post with a balanced argument,.A great fighter but not "the greatest"[even at Lightweight].imo.

 

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Tell us how old Robinson was when he "was a lightweight".

The lightweight division is also probably the deepest division in recent history. The fact that Duran is the man to beat is yet another factor that is disregarded out here by some.

 

Precisely. Buchanan and De Jesus weren't afforded the chance to be 'true greats' because of one man. And there may be a few others out there too.

 

What?! I can't believe I overlooked this post earlier.

It is "arguable" that Robinson had better wins at LW than Duran? Ray was 19 years old and had 9 fights at or under 135! Do your homework!

"100s of former lightweights could have whipped Barkley." That takes it as single most moronic comment on this thread.

 

You have Langford and Armstrong over Duran because of deeper resumes. You have Armstrong over Duran because of greater accomplishments. I usually rank Armstrong over Duran but it is not because of the level of competition. Duran has 2 major, unprecedented accomplishments that neither Armstrong, Robinson, or Whitaker can touch.

You say that Armstrong was anything but inconsistent in his prime. And what? Duran was?

For the record, I have no problem with people ranking Duran anywhere in the top 10 -but the arguments have to have merit. Yours don't. Power punchers' have less merit than yours.

Let me put it succinctly: Your arguments against Duran being a top 5 are backed up with a stacked deck.

 

Agreed. If Duran wasn't around during the 1970's, it would have been either Buchanan or De Jesus who dominated the division for longer patches throughout the 70's than they did. They both more than likely would have met at some stage no doubt, possibly in a unification fight during the mid-70's. However, not sure both had enough "greatness" in them to dominate for over 7 years like Duran.

 

Duran was not the greatest and any assertion promoting that fails for two big reasons --but PowerPuncher and Sweet Pea instead latch on to arguments that are actually imbalanced.

McVey, take another look at that post you commented on, but now consider these points:

--performances against larger men. To wit: Name a lightweight who would have defeated Ray Leonard. Name a lightweight who, at 32, could have gone 15 rounds with a 29 year old Hagler. Name a lightweight who could have taken the MW title against a peak, 28 year old, 6'1, 160 lb power punching champion 21 years into his career. Duran was 37, and 5'7 in shoes. That is unprecedented stuff.

--Longevity. Duran was active from 1968-2001 with 2 years off.

--Head-to-head in prime. Extremely difficult to defeat for anyone in
history. Duran rose up in weight after fighting in his natural division
over 60 times and dominating it. Robinson was never a true lightweight -he was a 19 year old kid with about 6 fights before he grew out of the division. Duran was a LW through and through. He challenged giants when long past his prime.

-- level of skill.

.............those are perspective injections. Any argument demoting Duran below #5 must consider them, and they have the burden of overcoming them. They haven't. They ignore and/or minimize these points.

 

God, my posts must suck :yikes

 

Not a good example, Benn was a big MW, Duran a LW...

 

You can´t compare them pysically, watch Benn against McClellan, even there Nigel looked just ****ing big at SMW...

 

I would put Leonard ,Gans and Williams above him,at Light weight,just my opinion,but his accomplishments at higher weights put him up there.