Lineage is such a misused word in boxing Post WWII Middleweight Champions of the World, 1983 160lbs Duran could of had a fair chance of beating are IMO: Graziano, Turpin, Olson, Basilio, 58/59 Robinson, Corro, Antuofermo and Minter.
The only ones from that list i would take Duran over are Corro and Antuofermo. A lot of the fights would be very close.
Smart boxing, in and out, lots of jabs, righthands and hooks to the body, fighting on the inside and using his speed and movement to keep Tiger off balance for the UD
Problem with that is Duran's hands were pretty slow at middleweight. certainly slower than Tiger's. His feet weren't any quicker either.
I think your fight plan is perfect. I don't think that Duran could pull it off. Not taking into account the type of man that Roberto is and the type of man Dick is.
I'm not sure if he qualifies,but here's one:Jorge Castro.He and (old)Duran split a series of fights.Castro may have the record for "modern" wins-last I looked-130.And his defense against John David Jackson was Ring Magazine Fight of the Year for 1994.Duran's my favorite fighter,since I started following boxing-and I have a tendency to make excuses for his bad performances;I was at his fight against Kirkland Laing in Detroit.After LeonardI,he was obviously still capable of great fight occasionally s,as he proved in his last great one against Iran Barkley.
As great a fighter that Duran was, I don't think he was quite as capable as Emile Griffith was in being able to beat Dick Tiger. Duran did well in going 15 with Hagler, and he probably would have gone 15 with Tiger as well, but not beat him. I think Tiger would have been too strong for Roberto and would have won a comfortable 15 round decision over Duran. I think Duran would have had success against Bobo Olson, Rocky Graziano, Vito Antuofermo, and it would have been real close against Carmine Basilio. I don't think Roberto would have had much luck against Hugo Corro, who would have made no bones about boxing defensively against Duran, and would have thus frustrated him over 15. Griffith would have been too much for him, again, a 15 round decision loss for Duran. Limited guys who depend on aggression, like, obviously Iran Barkley, suited Duran's craftiness well, but Nino Benvenuti would have stayed outside and outboxed him, and maybe would have even decked him en route to a decision victory. Carlos Monzon would have beat him like rag doll like he did Jose Naploes, by the way.
