Nigel Benn vs. Roberto Duran at MW

And was reeling...BIG TIME...at the end of the opening round from a Duran counter right hand over the top. It was beautiful.

In response to your earlier post, Nacho was smoking some serious **** that night in 89 as far as I'm concerned. He's great usually, but a hell of a lot of good work on the part of Duran was being ignored by him and his co commentator, Clancy. They were often crediting Barkley for shots that weren't even landing, and they weren't landing because of Duran's movement. I had Duran winning something like 116-112, might have even been wider...and I'm not known for being a Duran supporter, to put it mildly.

You say Barkley had a lot of flaws, well so did Benn. Benn was great for a few opening rounds where he'd impose his will on the other fella, throw absolute bombs, and then he's slow down. The whole time he's fighting one way, and moving one way. Duran has seen it all before, he'd be far to slick for Benn on that night against Barkley, who was missing more often than not.

 

Look, I give a ****........ I am a Duran nut-hugger........... But I knew Duran needed that big 11th round to totally sway the judges and get the nod over Barkley..... Had Barkley not gone down, I think Barkley would've kept the title....... I had the fight too close for my comfort........ Cheers.....

MR.BILL

 

It's subjective...but I was much more impressed by Duran's ability to make Barkley miss than anything else. Duran won the fight outright if you ask me, and it stands as one of the best wins of the last 50 years. Awe-inspiring stuff.

 

I admit, my coctus erectus was stiff and hard for about six months straight after Duran won the WBC 160 lb. title from Barkley in 1989......... But then it went fully limp on me when Duran & Leonard stunk out the joint in Vegas at the end of '89 on PPV......
:adminatsch

MR.BILL

 

Oh well, Duran vs Barkley is more than ample for a good tug. It's as good as this game gets. Top 5 fight for me.

 

My two favourite fighters, Benn a tad before prime in the super-middleweight division and Duran a long way out of prime. I see a very close fight, Duran could get results against decent middleweights at that time but fights like Barkley and Sims were won and lost by very close margins. The win over Barkley was Duran's last great performance but Barkley was notoriously inconsistent and with him in Hearns beating mode he annihalates Duran. I think Benn beats Duran by decision over ten, a small ageing Duran cant do enough to stop Benn, no way, people underrate Benn's chin, I feel he learnt alot from the Watson fight, you tend to learn more losing than winning and he rarely punched himself out after this. Even losing against Eubank who although a wasted talent was far better than Duran ever was at middleweight, Benn wasnt knocked down although arguably he could have been had the fight gone on, although he was just as likely to score a knockdown himself with one big, swinging, wild hook. Anyway, long story short Benn is a step to far for an ageing Duran. Pound for pound in their primes though they are in different stratospheres.

 

I thought a 45 year old Duran hammering a 34 year old Camacho at middleweight was Duran's last great performance... I care LESS what the judges scored in 1996; Duran was screwed blue in the end.........

The 1997 rematch win over Jorge Castro was good but not great, yet it was kool and satisfying for me....... The rest is history.......
hat

MR.BILL

 

I missed alot of his fights he had in the nineties, I always find it difficult watching an ageing legend try to hang on to what little talent they have left. If you think its worth me watching though I'll give it a go.

 

Exactly.

Dictionary definition of a technical knock out..It was stopped on a technicality...You could even see the ref didnt want to actually call it but had no choice.

Cant take anything away from Nigel...He put Barkely down 3 times and took some huge shots in doing so..Thems the rules, so thats that really.

It must be said though would have been great to see it go on...Barkely was a proven warrior who could come back from such thinks and that stage Benn really wasnt proven in this regard.

As for Benn-Duran.....Roberto from the Hagler fight outboxes Nigel to take a clear but hard fought 8-4 kind of decision.
Duran from the Barkley fight.....Id actually pick Benn to reverse the SD that went against Iran and edge it out. See his firepower catching the judges attention in enough rounds to just get by.

Either way Duran came in good shape in those fights and I dont see him getting stopped or convincingly beaten by a guy like Nigel. He just had to much skilled combined with amazing toughness.

 

Benn was wobbly though and they were harder KDs than those other fights, Benn was also a great finnisher, would 60seconds have been enough because Benn would be right back on him at the beggining of the second round. And we all know Benn would be landing first again with his greater speed/technique on Barkley who had a wide open defense.

Yes benn hit Barkley when he was down, lots of fighters foul though, thats often part of the game

 

Barkley was shot at 160 by 1990................ After Barkley and Nunn struggled against each other in the summer of 1989 on HBO, "The Barker" should've gone to 168-175 for good..... Barkley was a limp dick at 160 for Benn in '90...........

MR.BILL:deal

 

Duran would put on a wonderful display; much like he did against Barkley, much like he did sparring with Benn.

Barkley and Duran was close in scoring. I think Benn is slightly better than Barkley in most aspects.

Benn by close decision.

 

I think Benn would stop Duran probably in the sixth his power and speed would be too much for Roberto to handle. Duran would have his moments and make Benn look silly at times but eventually the power would takes it tool and Nigel would come our on top.

 

Yeah pretty much.

 

I think Duran by decision and I voted for Duran by decision, but I would not rule out a late stoppage. Duran is a great and underrated defensive fighter and boxing genius, and could hurt you at any weight, even the middleweight. I know he is not a natural middleweight, but it did not stop him from nearly taking the undisputed middlweight title from Hagler in a classic fight and beating Barkley in another classic.