Roberto Duran vs Iran Barkley

Obviously he thought he was going to win, otherwise he probably wouldn't have taken the fight, but he was busy throughout the whole fight, was throwing bombs throughout the fight, and was going to the body throughout the fight. So he fought his heart out and they had a great strategy. Like Bernstein said, the had to be surprised after the 7-8 that Duran was still standing.

 

After the second Hearns victory, Barkley and his team were screaming in the mic for Duran, grinning from eat to ear.
At that time, Duran was on the comeback trail, and considered shot to pieces. There's no doubt in my mind they were seeing him as an easy defence.

Duran gave them all they bargained for, and then some.
This factor, and the multi-million triology rematch with Ray looming on the horizon, sealed the way the decision went.

Still an incredible match.

 

I had this fight on a VCR cassette tape back in the early 90's. I watched that fight over and over. Duran was a bad mofo !!!

 

I often thought that if someone had never watched a boxing match and wanted to know what boxing was really about, this would be the fight to show them.

 

You're making it sound like Barkley was robbed, which wasn't true. Had he not been knocked down in the 11th and still lost, I would be a little more sympathetic to your position.

Funny thing is, just like the Hagler fight, I probably wouldn't think any less of Duran had he lost that fight.

I mean what more could he have done?

What other 135lber in history could have done any better?

 

Duran truly was such a great fighter, best of both worlds when it came to brawling or boxing. His attitude really was his strength and his weakness, defeated fighters he WASN'T supposed to defeat and lost to fighters he WASN'T supposed to lose against He could of just retired after the Leonard rematch. But showed the importance of despite being the much smaller fighter and love for brawling, you still gotta know your boxing and the importance of the jab. He was outboxing the best boxer at the time, SRL, busted up and gave Hagler all he could handle for 15, and the same with Barkley, who I became a fan of.

Tbh, Barkley was boxing beautifully that night, probably the best he had in his whole career. His jab, speed, etc Barkley was at his best, even better than when he fought Hearns. And you could tell Barkley had more respect for Duran than Hearns too, in a prefight interview, not only did he want to get back at Duran for busting up his friend Davey Moore, but he was talking alot of respect for Duran, I guess Barkley saw something in Duran no one else saw, cuz like in the Moore fight, no one gave Duran a chance, much less with Barkley! After the Leonard fight in Montreal, Duran's reflexes were gone, the ferociousness he had was not there, the moment he wanted to touch gloves with Leonard before the start of the 1rst round in the rematch, you know something was wrong. A sign of respect ? After hating the pretty boy with the colgate smile gut's in the first fight? He wasn't cutting the ring off either, just looked lazy from that point on. But when he felt like it, this man was unstoppable.

 

It was a close fight, but scoring it rd by rd, one would have to give Duran absolutely every close rd to have him emerge the winner.

By comparaison, i thought Duran's fight with Simms would have been a clearer victory for him ( but it went Simms' way)

 

You could be right. I had Duran winning rounds 9,10,11 (by 2 pts) so there's 4 rounds. Round 1 was hard to score. Barkley was the busier fighter, but Duran hurt him at the end of the round. If he get's that round then it's 5 rounds.

Can't recall the rounds from 3-7, but I know Barkley won rounds 2 and 8 (close to a 2pt round but Duran didn't go down) and most of these 5 rounds.

Did Duran win 2 of those 5 rounds, I can't recall. I'd love to have seen the scorecards.

 

Most of the results depending on when he started training and whether or not he had the time to loose weight properly. His trainers use to say, a well trained Duran was pretty much unbeatable. After he reached his 30's he got a too involved with women, wine and food.

Funny thing is he almost never had a chance to fight Moore, Hagler or Barkley, because his promoter King threw him under the bridge after the Laing fight, and when he went to Arum he was basically told the loser of the fight between himself and Cuevas was getting dumped. Duran went out there and destroyed him in 4.

 

That I agree with.

 

Barkley was so much bigger than Duran. It was a Hell of a fight. Barkley knocked Hearns out. Duran went a close 15 rounds with Hagler, lost by split decision. Duran didn't always train, he only trained 2 weeks for the Hearns fight. Duran was the best lightweight in boxing history................Champion..........

 

I was young when I watched that fight live and remember feeling sorry for Barkley the way Duran would just smile and walk through his punches. It was kinda scary to put yourself in Barkley's shoes.

 

Scored it a draw the night it happened.

Scored it years later and had Barkley winning by a point.

Barkley fought the most diciplined he's ever fought in his life, had he not, Duran would have took him apart like he did Davey Moore.
Barkley fought smart, used his reach, and worked well behind his jab.
What Barkley had trouble with was landing the 2nd shot as Duran's defense prevented him from doing so.
Barkley had never faced a fighter as slippery as Duran and it showed with how unwilling he was to let his hands go.

Duran was the most skilled fighter Barkley ever faced.

Why was Duran able to compete with Barkley and not Hearns
when their height and reach were comparable.
Only a dumbnut would'nt know.
Hearns had the quickness, speed and athleticism that Barkley did not.
Barkley was at Duran's speed level, and with his skill level well above Barkley's, he was able to compete with him despite Barkley being the physically much bigger fighter.

 

Close fight, but Iran lost it much more than Duran won it.
(And i love Duran)

First rd is just nicked by stunning Iran near the end.

Then, from rd 2 to rd 8, Duran clearly is unable to impose himself from the outside or the inside; his punch wasn't strong enough, he didn't have the energy to outwork Iran, and was even being repeatedly hurt on the inside.

Iran's level drops after the eight, (he didn't know to pace himself, or never thought he would have to), and everything changes: he loses the last 4 rds because Duran still had kept something in his tank.

The only middle round one could make a case for Roberto is the fifth , where Iran took a short breather.

So,(really) best case scenario is 6 rds for Duran, plus a knockdown.
The 118-110 and 116-112 scorecards for Roberto were highly suspect, to say the least.

Close fight, but....

 

I had it a win for Duran, 3 points with the KD making it unquestionable. I think with Duran fights you have to watch them really closely, and see how many punches he blocks and slips that look as though they landed cleanly but didn't.

This is where good judging becomes a necessity where Roberto is concerned, and thankfully he got more good judges than bad ones, during his career.