Prime Gavilan v Montreal Duran?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by mcvey, Mar 17, 2017.



  1. Blaxx

    Blaxx Member Full Member

    475
    544
    Feb 8, 2018
    They were not walks in the park, but it seems each year the amount of trouble he had with Jake gets magnified.
    SRR got dropped by Graziano too, but it wasn't really a hard fought win. The reports from the 3rd fight or 4th (their supposed closest one) have Ray building a sizeable lead, then coasting. Just like their other 4 fights aside from fight 2.
    Duran - SRR wouldn't be easy like SRR against an old Armstrong where he won all rounds, but I just feel Sugar Ray would never truly be troubled. Almost like Gavilan 2.
     
  2. JohnThomas1

    JohnThomas1 VIP Member Full Member

    47,903
    34,359
    Apr 27, 2005
    Sorry Flash i meant to get back to this ages ago.

    LaMotta wasn't a cake walk for sure but nor should he have been given he was a great middleweight and also held massive weight advantages he had across their series as i pointed out.

    Duran was more skilled for sure even given LaMotta's skill is often glazed over, just as he liked it. Duran however wouldn't be a great middleweight fighting a great welterweight. Robinson would hold the natural size advantage even if Duran did carry 147 very very well.

    The chances of SRR being off against a machine like Duran would be slim and none imo and dream matches are assumed to be best vs best. Could an "on" Duran beat an off Robinson hypothetically? Probably. I certainly wouldn't get into a lengthy debate either way over it.


    They all have a struggle here and there for sure. I do think tho that we have to remember how often guys like Robinson fought. I mean he had 10 fights the year after he won the welterweight title. The year after in 49 he had 13 fights, more than one a month. This is going to lead to some sub par performances even against filler. Gavilan was sandwiched into these years twice. So yes he's going to have some close fights on that insane sort of schedule even if he is The GOAT or thereabouts.

    Speaking of Gavilan - Robinson won the first fight clearly on all scorecards i have seen including the official ones. The rematch was close for 7 rounds before Robinson dominated from that point on to win authoritatively. Gavilan never came close to beating him in reality even if he did put forth spirited displays. These are huge wins for Roboinson over a fellow great welter.

    Sorry man but i don't think it's unfair to strongly favor Robinson over the Duran's, the Leonard's and co. You can speculate on an off night for Robinson but given his sheer number and frequency of bouts i think that would be an unfair way to look at it.

    For sure a Leonard or Duran could give him a good fight but i strongly feel Robinson would take the chocolates non controversially. I actually think Hearns would have the best chance of a shock upset tbh but he's a decent sized underdog as well.

    Hopefully i've been fair and explained myself clearly.
     
  3. Titan1

    Titan1 Boxing Junkie Full Member

    11,888
    2,012
    Oct 18, 2004
    And Thomas Hearns.
     
  4. ETM

    ETM I thought I did enough to win. Full Member

    12,608
    10,370
    Mar 19, 2012
    No, no. You can't compare the Graziano fight to any of the fight Ray had with LaMotta. Rocky didn't last 3 rounds. He scored one solid punch and got stretched moments later.
    LaMotta mauled Robinson in every fight they had. He put serious hurt on him. They were long, grueling, close fights thats why they fought 5 times in the 1940s. Revisionist history won't change that.
     
  5. Blaxx

    Blaxx Member Full Member

    475
    544
    Feb 8, 2018
    I'm not revising, I'm literally reading the post fight reports. Fight 2 and 4 were tough for Robinson. Fight 1,3 and 5 are Robinson boxing cleverly off the jab and "greeting Lamotta with uppercuts" whenever he tried mauling. Fight 6 is called The St. Valentine's Day Massacre for a reason.

    If you tally up and aggregate their points across the 6 fights you'll realise there's nothing grueling about them - not to the extent we hear nowadays. If you have contradictory reports of the fights, I'd love to read them.
     
    Seamus likes this.