Duran won titles at 4 different weight classes. If His goal was to collect as many titles as possible how many could he have won. I think most would agree he would have won a title at junior welterweight had he fought there before moving to welterweight but early on in his career he fought at featherweight beating Ernesto Marcello. Could he have won titles at featherweight and super featherweight when he was younger before he fought for the light weight championship? What about super bantamweight, he was 119 for his pro debut. Who were the champions at those weight classes and could he have beaten them? Finally, after he beat Barkley instead of fighting Leonard for the money were there any super middleweight champions he could have defeated if he got himself in Barkley type shape one more time? Would 9 titles have been possible if he was being managed to collect as many as possible
In truth Roberto Duran having defeated Ernesto Marcel early in his lengthy career could have won more titles. The only problem that I see was that Duran gained too much weight too fast for his frame, also lost power. His frame if you really think about it was good for maybe the 147 lb limit. He looked Gordito as he climbed to middleweight, because he did not like to train, did not have the discipline as when Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown were around. He did have skill in his later career and experience but he lost his punch as well as hunger in the ring.
I think he could have held belts from Featherweight to Super Middleweight, with modern weight cutting techniques and 4 belts per division. Shame he basically destroyed his body due to laziness and lack of discipline.
Hi Richard, Manny has titles at 8 different weight classes could Duran have gotten 9. Looking for people who knew the divisions and title holders around the time he beat Marcel, assuming he could have gotten a title shot could he have won titles at super Bantam ,Featherweight and super Featherweight, Same with super middle around the time of the 3rd Leonard fight
I totally agree my friend. Roberto Duran's boxing skills were underrated by many. Take a look at his fights at lightweight, Duran vs Lampkin, and Duran vs Esteban De Jesus III, from January 1978. I also agree that Duran could have won as many titles as Manny. Both are great fighters, a Fantasy match between these two in their primes would have been great to watch, I would pay to see those two fight.
It stands to reason he could have won more, especially because of the 24-hour weigh-in rule change. I think he could have qualified as a junior lightweight for a title fight weigh-in, and rehydrated back up to his usual weight in time for the fight. So that's at least one more title. Then there's junior welter... another title. As a welter, he could have beaten Leonard as he did, then dropped back down to junior welter (because of the 24-hour weigh-in thing) and won the title again. Then step back up to welter again and won that title again, too. If merely collecting belts was his bag, he could have potentially won a lot more titles than he did.
It would have been interesting to see Roberto Duran fight Samuel Serrano or Ben Villaflor at 130 lbs.
More interested in titles at different weight classes as opposed to individual titles , Manny won titles at eight different weight classes, could Duran have gotten 9 under the rule set he competed under. We was fighting at super bantam featherweight and super featherweight before he fought for the lightweight title. Was he developed/good enough to beat the champions at those weights at that time .
To be honest, the only weight class he really missed out on was junior welter. He could have fought Cervantes more or less any time between 1975 and 1979 but his manager, Carlos Eleta, didn't want Duran fighting Cervantes in that earlier time period (no reflection on Duran, just cautious management on the part of Eleta). In truth, I feel Cervantes might have edged Duran in 1975 but then he got beaten by Benitez and so that probably out paid to the potential matchup. Duran could have fought Cervantes in 78 after he unified the lightweight title and the Arguello fight fell through but Duran was on his way up to welter where there were bigger fish to fry and I think he was just happy not to have to make weight anymore at 135.
True, because while preparing for the title unification in Jan 1978 against Esteban De Jesus, Duran stated to the press that he was having a lot of difficulty trimming down to 135 lbs.
have to disagree, he beat Ernesto Marcell by tko at featherweight a year before Marcel fought fought to a draw for the featherweight championship. I think it is realistic that Duran was good enough and light enough to have won a title at featherweight and super feather weight at this time, perhaps super bantamweight as well. Again the premise is that his goal and his managements was to collect titles in as many divisions as possible
Roberto Duran and Wilfred Benitez were supposed to fight each other at Madison Square Garden on November 18, 1977 (before Duran's title unification with DeJesus). But Duran pulled out with the flu. So, we may have seen how Duran did at 140 against the recent 140-pound champ. Benitez may have derailed him right there (as he did later). But, the fight didn't come off.
He should have fought at Junior Welterweight.. Some great fights there, yet the guys he fought were so great what more could he ask for. Had he fought at 140 he might not have fought and been in involved as much in the fab 4 era.
