In terms of ability. Advantage in : Defense: Accuracy: Footwoork: Upper Body Movement: Jabs: Hooks: Uppercuts: Combination Punching: Body-Punches: Counter-Punches: Feints: Ring generalship:
Defense: Hopkins Accuracy: Hopkins Footwoork: Hopkins Upper Body Movement: Duran Jabs: Hopkins Hooks: Duran Uppercuts: Duran Combination Punching: Duran Body-Punches: Duran Counter-Punches: Duran Feints: Duran Ring generalship: Hopkins
This is true...I'd say you've found a attribute you could definitely argue cleanly for Hopkns, and that's economy. I guess it's been lumped in with generalship though, which is maybe the pick i'm most uncomfortable with as it happens. I'm confident that Duran could thread punches with the best of them, he may have had more go awry on offence, but he was more aggressive and ambitious against a higher standard of fighter.
Defense: Duran, slightly. Accuracy: Arguably Hopkins, but a lot of it is down to the fact that he's much more of a minimalist than Duran. Given similar approaches I'd say they're about even. Footwoork: Hopkins on the backfoot, Duran on the front foot. Upper Body Movement: Duran. Jabs: Hopkins doesn't have much of a jab to speak of, whereas Duran had a good range-finder/controller and a good tool to set up other shots. Hooks: Duran. Uppercuts: Duran. Combination Punching: Duran. Body-Punches: Duran. Counter-Punches: Slight edge to Duran, although Hopkins is certainly no slouch in this regard. Feints: Duran, one of the best ever in this regard, although again Hopkins is nothing to scoff at. Ring generalship: Both have their strengths in this regard. Hopkins being more of the backfoot mobile type, while Duran was capable of imposing himself on anyone with his constant use of feints and angles to close the distance. Even.
Hopkins has a great defense yes, and I think in terms of transition from offence to defence and vice-versa, he's perhaps the best ever...but in terms of pure defence, no I don't think so. In fact Hopkins, when he was fighting in the Duran style, coming forwards, was nothing like as hard to hit as Duran himself. He may be more difficult to hit overall, but this is a matter of style, not skill.
Feinting is the only area where I can see an edge for Hopkins (albeit a slight one). Even his laser-guided straight right hand is something out of the Duran textbook.
Defense: Hopkins Accuracy: Duran Footwoork: Hopkins Upper Body Movement: Duran Jabs: Hopkins Hooks: Duran Uppercuts: Duran Combination Punching: Duran Body-Punches: Duran Counter-Punches: Duran Feints: Duran Ring generalship: Hopkins