Is Duran an overrated lightweight?

Leonard, Whitaker, Gans, Williams and De La Hoya should be ratted over him at lightweight. They each would beat him as well. Mayweather, Mosley, Armstrong and Ross would also beat Duran @135.
Overrated? Yes a big Yes.

 

De La Hoya wouldn't beat Duran. And to suggest he has greater credentials as a lightweight is just lunacy.

 

Kobayashi was good win for Duran during his pre title days. He was a champion at 130 and had just recently lost his belt.

I dont think Whitaker`s resume at Lightweight is better than Duran`s. Ike Williams probably. That was a vicious era.

 

Sheeeeeeeiiiiit did someone just say hoya was a greater lightweight then duran?

 

Probably, a joke.

 

You can argue records (resume to you lot) all day but of all the fighters that there is quality footage of, the 2 best lightweights are clearly Duran & Whitaker... of the 2 I go with Duran slightly so to ME that means Roberto Duran is the best 135 lber ever. Pernell runs him close tho, 2 outstanding ATG fighters.

 

Your out of your ****ing mind.... I won`t comment on Gans or Leonard due to lack of quality footage but personally I think Duran beats all of those guys you mentioned, Whitaker & Armstrong having the best shot to beat him.

Mayweather ? Mosely ? Delahoya ? GTFO... a prime Duran would **** every one of those guys.

 

If Duran had retired from boxing after he beat De Jesus for the 2nd time, perhaps it wouldn't be so certain that he was the greatest Lightweight of all time, but when you see what Duran did against Leonard at Welterweight and Hagler at Middleweight, I just don't see how these other 135 pound greats could have hoped to beat a prime Duran.

The only way they win against him, is if Duran doesn't train properly for the bout.

 

An over-looked Lightweight performance

Saturday - December 2, 1975

Roberto Clemente Stadium - San Juan, Puerto Rico

CBS-TV Sports Spectacular

WBA Lightweight Championship

WBA ** Roberto Duran 53-1-0 (46 KO's)
vs.
#1 WBA - Leonico Ortiz 43-5-1 (26 KO's)

Leonico Ortiz, a steady and smart 'southpaw', was an excellent Lightweight.
The 26 year-old was the Mexican Lightweight Champion, at a time when there
were about '10' very good 135 lb. fighters in Mexico.

He had a good sharp right jab, and a good 'whipping' left hook underneath.

Leonico had defeated a 'variety' of Top 10 contenders leading up to this bout
with Roberto Duran.
* Bernardo Prada
* Monroe Brooks
* Jose Peterson
* Jesus Padilla
* Jesus 'Chucho' Alonso
* Fred Roland Pastor
* Octavio Amparon

In the 2 1/2 years leading up this fight, Leonico had gone 15-1-0 (8 KO's), with
his only loss, a 'close' 10-Round Decision to 'talented' Columbian - Emiliano Villa.

Note: CBS-Sports 'incorrectly' reported Leonico Ortiz as having a record of 59-2-0 (26 KO's).

 

This is someone more knowledgeable on the subject than I talking about it.

"The Jack Fiske article/poll that he references in Chapter 12 as it pertains to Duran. That whole piece really mystified me as I have the original article that Fiske wrote from Ring Magazine and there are so many inconsistancies between what WAS written and what Silver relates I was down right dumbfounded.And his comment of the "faux experts" going over board in their overrating of Duran as a Lightweight......7 mos earlier in the Ring (from when Fiske's article was written), there was a Blue Ribbon panel of experts who voted on who was the greatest fighter in the history of Boxing. This was Late 1979 (Feb 1980 issue of the Ring) and the top 20 came out as such:
1-Sugar Ray Robinson
2-Joe Louis
3-Henry Armstrong
4-Muhammad Ali
5-Benny Leonard
6-Willie Pep
7-Rocky Marciano
8-Jack Dempsey
9-Roberto Duran
10-Jack Johnson
11-Carlos Monzon
12-Joe Gans
13-Stanley Ketchal
14-Mickey Walker
15-Harry Greb
16-Sam Langford
17-Sandy Saddler
18-Archie Moore
19-Gene Tunney
20-Tony Canzoneri
Duran finished behind ONE Lightweight, Benny Leonard.It's obvious to me that Silver had have taken exception with such a poll. And Fiske's poll taken 7 mos later I assume was done to counter this. However in the RIng, Fiske mentions only SIX respondents to his Poll In his words: "The Respondents included a manager, a matchmaker, a trainer, two writers and a radio tv announcer". This translates to D'Amato, Brenner, Arcel, Bromberg, Heinz and Dunphy.Silver states there were 17 "boxing experts" in the Poll and he doesn't even quote, Heinz, Bromberg who were quoted in the piece he references. Yet Chris Dundee, Lou Gross and Fiske himself are quoted and none of these are quoted in the Ring article. There was an odd disconnect here that STILL has me puzzled.But Back to the Best fighter poll done 7 mos earlier.Among those Pollees that ultimately had Duran the 9th greatest fighter ever (this was prior to the Leonard fight btw) and 2nd only to Benny Leonard as far as Lightweights were concerned, were the following:Freddie BrownGil ClancyCus D'Amato Don Dunphy Harry Gibbs Mike Katz Randy Gordon Billy Graham Jerry Izenberg Jim Jacobs Nat Loubet Barney Nagler Pat Putnam Art Rust Jr. Ed Schuyler Bert Sugar Herb Goldman Bob Waters.Now are THESE guys "faux experts"? Were THESE the guys Silver was criticizing even though some of them (Arcel, Dunphy, D'Amato) were quoted in Fiske's article in the RIng?"

 

I couldn't have put it better myself, people tend to downplay many of Duran's wins at LW as if it was some kind of absymally weak era like the current HW era minus the K-bros. Duran both as champion and contender on the way up, beat a lot of good fighters.

 

I would have agreed with you about their rattings, intell I looked at their resumes at 135.

 

Had De Jesus started to slide before their rubber match? I've often wondered about how much less competitive that one was compared to their previous two. Was there anything to suggest beforehand that Esteban wasn't quite what he once had been? Or was it just Duran who had improved?

 

Well Dejesus wasn't the most dedicated.I think he had lost a notch of speed by the Duran rematch, especially his legs.

He was still a great fighter though.It was after that fight he really went downhill quickly.

 

After the rematch or the rubber?