I watched that fight. Why would I be commenting on a fight I didn't watch? LOL! Maybe what you mean is that I should watch it more carefully. Now that sounds more rational than to say I didn't watch it.
For argument's sake, if we acknowledge the win over Buchanan was clear enough and ignore any controversy, that's Duran's best win at lightweight. Right ? Or maybe Dejesus? But what else does he have at lightweight? Some of his challengers seem pretty poor on paper and Duran gets a lot of credit for beating these guys up. Being dominant counts for something, yes, but look at the resumes of some of the great lightweights. Ike Williams, Benny Leonard , Joe Gans etc They have loads of hall of fame types.
He had longevity and his form was very high. But, yes his overall quality of opposition was not great. But, he did what he had to do - he beat the best available competition. It's not his fault there were few truly outstanding fighters at 135 lbs during his reign. He didn't avoid anyone. Buchanan and De Jesus were his two best victims. He avenged the non-title loss to De Jesus emphatically and he would have won the Buchanan fight even without the low blow ending. Imagine if Duran was born in 1961 and started his reign in 1982 instead of 1972. Great matchups like Duran-Jose Luis Ramirez, Duran-Edwin Rosario, Duran-Alexis Arguello. Duran-Hector Camacho, Duran-Julio Cesar Chavez, etc. Even Duran-Ray Mancini.
Watch the video, I've posted it before and shut down the argument. Ken was hitting Duran after the bell, Duran goes to respond, and right before Duran throws the punch, the ref jumps on Duran's punching shoulder in a downward motion. We all know this could've affected the trajectory of the punch. To say nothing of the fact, that in the heat of battle sometimes punches can be misplaced simply by a fighter moving closer to you. When you thought is a uppercut to the chest or stomach area with the space provided, can turn into a lower blow if the opposing fighter moves closes to you, preventing the full arc of the punch that you intended. Point is, the ref jumping on Duran's shoulder totally makes those waters murky. Further, that fight "couldn't have gone either way" as you claim. Duran was DECISIVELY winning that fight, on my card, most cards, and the judges cards. There wasn't much close about it. It was more competitive than close. Just go to the 5:42 mark of the video, the ref certainly could've altered the trajectory of that punch some. who knows, but it makes it unclear This content is protected
need glasses? Duran was getting the slightly worse of it LMAO. Never heard that one before. Duran was laying a beating on him, only Ken's solid chin was keeping him in there. He wasn't getting the better of it, that's just silly
7 months after the Buchanan win, Duran (who had beaten two nobodies and lost to DeJesus in non-title fights n the meantime) made his first defence of the championship against Jimmy Robertson, a complete nobody as far as I can gather. Anyone have any info on Robertson ? It seems he'd lost 3 of his last 4 fights, hardly a worthy challenge. Next challenger was Hector Thompson ? Was he any good ?
Well, considering the incorrect comments you made about the fight, it appeared that you didn't watch it.
Duran beat the following below 147: Buchanan DeJesus twice Lampkin Kobayashi Mamby Bizarro The Viruet Brothers Vilomar Fernandez who beat Alexis Arguello Ernesto Marcel who beat Alexis. All in all i'd say he had a pretty terrific resume below 147
Ray Arcel ranked Duran only below Benny Leonard, B.Leonard at the time (1970's) was regarded by many as the greatest Lightweight of them all.
So you think that I am just saying that in order to bother Duran fans? Many people on the Internet seem do that kind of thing. I am not one of them. As I said, if indeed the Judges are right as well as you folks who agree with them, then I need to reevaluate that fight by watching it again. Obviously I must have missed quite a bit if so many people saw it differently.
Jimmy Robertson certainly deserved a title fight at one time, but not by the time Duran opted to defend against him. Like you said, he had lost 3 out of his last 4 and taken thumpings from Rodolfo Gonzalez, Chango Carmona and Ben Villaflor in the process. It was at this time that Don Chargin from the Olympic Boxing Club, through his friendship with Carlos Eleta, Duran's manager, wished to match Duran with WBC champ Rodolfo Gonzalez in a unification match on the west coast for a purse of $100,000 apiece. The wheels were set in motion to familarize Duran with the west coast audience and Chargin matched Duran in L.A. non-title fights with Juan Medina and on the undercard of Gonzalez' defense against Ruben Navarro against Javier Ayala. On that night Duran struggled and Gonzalez shone. So this was really heating up at this time. But Duran began taking orders from General Omar Torrijos, the Panamanian junta leader and after the Dejesus non-title debacle, Torrijos wasn't about to let his prize lamb to slaughter unless it was going to be in Panama. So Panama offered Gonzalez $40,000 to come to Panama to fight the unification. Sort of a no-brainer seeing as how Gonzalez made 43K against Navarro and had already a 63K offer for Antonio Puddu. With all that going down, Eleta had to tell Jackie McCoy, Gonzalez' manager, "You keep your title and we'll keep ours." Duran next fought the other fighter you asked about. Hector Thompson. Thompson was a really good fighter, but not when Duran fought him. Unlike Robertson who was past his prime, Thompson was a good year away from coming into his own. At this time Thompson's best win was over Joe Tetteh for the Commonwealth title, but still gave Duran a spirited challenge. Even though he really had done nothing to deserve the shot. This is a long winded explanation on the Duran reign. Suffice to say his best wins at 135 were the Buchanan, Dejesus and Lampkin fights and he really could have done his lightweight legacy a world of good by giving Buchanan his deserved rematch (not only winning it under suspect circumstances but Buchanan had a rematch clause in the original contract that Duran's people would not honor), and agreeing to that title unification match with Rodolfo Gonzalez. Although I believe Duran was the greatest at 135, those two fights would have been his toughest. Also, I am not saying Duran avoided these two. I believe Duran would have agreed to anyone in front of him. But this is what happens when management is involved.
