"Montreal" Roberto Duran vs. a prime Mike McCallum

McCallum by beat down

 

The Body snatcher .Too strong an all round mechanic,and Duran did not do his work on the abs religiously ,he might regret it in this fight,a bigger man with a great chin beats him here, no disgrace.

 

Which variant of McCallum?

 

:good

 

I agree. McCallum is bigger, stronger a very good technician and terrific bodypuncher. He could fight Duran's fight and win. Would be an awesome fight.

 

So many Duran threads latley!

Even though I'd like to think he'd do ok in this, I really can't see him beating McCallum. He's just too big, strong and durable.

 

The Fabulous Four of the 80's should have really been The Fantastic Five. McCallum would have fit in with them AND left his mark, winning and losing amongst them. He and I discussed it at length three years ago. He was adamant he knew how to beat Duran and had gotten the better of Hearns over time in his Kronk sparring sessions.

 

McCallum didn't really beat down Braxton, Minchillo(despite the one sided nature of scoring and eventual facial damage, Minchillo walked through most of punches), Mannion, or Welter McCrory.Even the Skouma fight was reasonably competitive for a while.

Nothing in his more dominant or emphatic showings at 154 suggest he's just going to smash Duran weighing 147-150 either.At least not that version.I expect he would win a comfy decision against the typical early eighties Duran.

I'd favour McCallum, but tend to think Duran's talent would be more than good enough to make up for the size disarity as far as making it a tough fight goes.

 

This is a fair and reasonable assessment. I expect that it would be a terrific battle with McCallum looking all the better with those that would dismiss him, even by just staying in a closely contested battle.

 

Of course, though i think it's a fine line with the talk of him and the "fab 4".

In many ways his reputation has benefited just as much over the years from not fighting any of them and stilll carving out a strong career.I tend to think Duran would have been the least important fight for him...Hagler and Hearns were the legacy making ones.

 

I don't like this match-up.... "Montreal" Duran was a solid 145 pounds, while a peak Mike McCallum was a lean and spry 154 pounds in 1984-1987...

Duran's best chance at ever beating McCallum was in late 1983 when Duran was a motivated fighter fighting at 154 pounds, and McCallum was still considered green........ But team Duran gave a **** about McCallum and went after Marvin Hagler at 160 for big bucks in late '83....... Come 1984, team Duran once again passed on McCallum for a 2.5 million dollar payday to fight Hearns in Vegas......

MR.BILL:hat

 

Duran fights to survive in this one.

 

Duran wouldn't have a chance.