One of Duran's hardest H2H fights at this weight...Often gruelling and brutal. Just think Roberto would have to much skill overall and would try to use this as much as possible rather then try to outmuscle a guy like Ike..though he will be forced to stand his ground and get into an arm wrestle at times by Williams. Duran 9-6...or maybe closer, could be some drawn rounds here and there. Roberto would know he was in a fight thats for sure.
Basically 50/50. Aside from maybe the man in my avatar, this is Duran's most difficult matchup at LW.
Toss up ,Duran is p4p one of the greats ,but I think his opposition at Lightweight was a little weaker that Ike's.Duran had better head movement and was probably faster getting into range,Ike may have had more power and strength.Ike threw jabs on his way in sometimes tripling up with it ,he liked to throw short right uppercuts to the heart and quick hooks to body and head.Duran wrote the book on inside work,he knew where to hit you and when ,and his marvellous head movement took the a steam of punches as he came in,both had serious power with Ike being the more methodical finisher.Duran seemed to take it as a personal affront if you entered the ring with him ,but fast boxers could nullify his offense,guys like Fernandez and the Viruet Brothers gave him pause for thought ,and a game Bizarro took a lot of punishment before folding. Ike was built solid from the waist up ,with quite slender legs ,Duran was stockier and quick.I have a slight bias towards Ike ,but they would split a series imo.Duran ranks higher in boxing history because of his acheivements at higher weights ,but apart from Leonard and Gans ,there are not many lightweights I would bet on to beat Ike ,including Armstrong.I just watched Ike against Bolanos,courtesy of Raging Bull,good fight!
Ike would give Duran problems like no other LW, as he has a nastiness and punching ability to match Cholo's. This would arguably be the best LW bout of all-time. One of them, anyway. Ike has a slight edge in power, both can slug it out, but the defensive edge would go to Duran. Mix all of this and the result, IMO, is Roberto by SD.
I've always thought Williams had a great style to foil Duran. Duran tended to leave his body wide open as he came in swinging, but no other lightweights he fought had the power or tools to really take advantage of it. IMO Williams could well be the guy to get in under his punches and bang him in the body. It would be interesting to see how Duran handles a fellow lightweight who could possibly match him on the inside. I don't think Duran could get away with boxing and countering him from the oustide the way he did in the third fight with DeJesus either.
I did pick Duran to win by narrow SD....however, the more information I get, it seems to me Williams just might be the guy at LW who edges Duran.
As great as Williams was, i always felt that the factor that swings this ever so slightly in Duran's favour is that Williams wasnt the most mobile of guys. Dont get me wrong the man could box, he was more looking for the range with his jab and then exploding on you though. And he could possibly beat any lightweight by figting his own A-game. But i feel if pressed to pick then as that distance is closed, which it will be, and both men work, Roberto can do what we've all seen him do and win this one. What a high-paced fight by the way, would be amazing, Duran beter beware of them hard hitting flurries that can act as counters on the inside, but he was so fluid that i feel he comes out on top.
This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected I This content is protected Highly skilled boxers could deal with Ike Williams. Willie This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected Some of the posts on this site make it close because they overlook not only Duran's defense (which was great) but his uncanny ability to combine offense and defense simultaneously while coming forward (which was a rare ability). Ike could not match that. Ike threw blistering combinations, but he was also accepting shots in return because he was concentrating on landing and less so on defending. At his best, Duran was capable of both. Duran could match or almost match Ike in all those places where Ike was exceptional -blistering offense, punching power, body punching, infighting, stamina, etc... only Duran had more dimensions. He had a better defense, a better chin, and when you factor in that Duran was banging around in there against giants at an age beyond Ike's retirement at 33, you cannot say that Ike was stronger. Duran was stronger. Period. I'm partial to fighters from the 40s. They were better then. But there are exceptions in modern days and Duran is one of them. Remember that swirling around between Duran's ears was a century of knowledge that he got from Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown -two reasons why the golden era was golden. I like Duran, inside the distance for the reasons stated. This content is protected This content is protected