Roberto Duran vs Pernell Whitaker (Lightweight)

Give me a draw. :smoke

 

Leonard stood and fought with Duran. And don't even try to tell me that Leonard was constantly trying to move and Duran cut the ring off and made him fight his fight. Watch the first round of the fight. Leonard is flat-footed and within range. Even the commentators mentioned it during the opening round that Leonard was in there to fight more than box.

Whitaker is good enough offensively to outscore Duran, especially when combining his defensive arsenal.

Duran simply ain't getting off against Whitaker with his punch volume they he did against other fighters. Just not happening. Whitaker was one of the best backfoot boxers ever. He could score effectively on the retreat.

Duran would have his moments, but they'd be brief.

At long range, Whitaker is far quicker and busier with his boxing ability. Duran's jab, for the most part, was used as a range finder, rather than a scoring jab. I'd also take Whitaker left hand out of his southpaw stance to be landing more regularly than Duran's right.

Smart fighters like Duran are concerned about being hit in there, trust me. Even though Whitaker doesn't have serious power, he's got enough accuracy and quickness to be hitting Duran often and have him thinking.

:good

 

It would be a very close fight but i tend to think it would be Pea having to measure his output more than Duran, due to the gap in power and Duran being the less jab-first fighter of the two.

Whitaker is the one at the greater risk of being hurt and taken out of his gameplan if both are punching at the same time.Duran can afford to be punching with a bit more impunity for what's coming back.

Pea is excellent on the backfoot-one of the great "slow retreat" ring-generals, but not so much at disengaging laterally and re-setting to give himself space.I tend to see the extent to which he was forced back against someone like Nelson(despite being a great performance on its own merits)to be a worry for a Duran fight.Whereas it would be a great effort to point to against someone more methodical like Ike Williams or Ortiz.

You can't edge backwards and pump a jab against someone with the footspeed and countering ability of Duran without taking shots\having to slip a large amount and being forced to fight inside when it might not suit you imo.And in the long run inside would suit Duran because of his more hurtful punches and freakish ability to get under\roll with punches in there.

imo a slightly lower punch-output and more lateral movement\cautious range control would work better for a lighter-hitting fighter going in against Duran, than a busy slow retreat on the backfoot approach.Think Armstrong vs Ross though that's not a perfect comparison and this would be a much closer fight.

 

I'll use Hagler-Leonard as an example. Hagler went in against Leonard and never fought like a man who was concerned about the power coming his way. He was up against a fighter who never had Hearns' reach, height, jab or power. Leonard was having his first fight at middleweight and had one fight in 5 years. Hagler never had any concerns whatsoever about Leonard's power. Not once did he look discouraged by Leonard's power at anytime during the fight. However, Hagler held back a little and never stormed forward like he did against Hearns. Why? because he was in with a smart fighter with ring generalship, speed and accuracy. Even the rounds where Hagler did step up and go for it, he was hardly chasing Leonard all over the ring not caring a dam about being tagged with punches. The strategy of Leonard gave him problems.

Your opinion above looks great on paper, but it doesn't quite work that way. Duran is not Ricardo Mayorga. He's smart enough not be simply throwing punches in the direction of his opponent for the sake of it.

:good

 

I agree that Leonard did fight flat footed & I do agree that Whitaker would be sticking strictly to back foot boxing, he`s a smart fighter... I just don`t think it would be enough to outpoint the more aggressive & powerful Duran over a 12 or 15 round distance, a flash knock down or two in Duran`s favour is definitely not out of the question either.

 

Whitaker doesn't need to be strictly on the retreat all the time. He'd stop, throw, then move away again. Same goes for Duran on the inside. He'd have his moments at long range as well. Infact, if Duran tried to walk Whitaker down, trying to get inside, without throwing long range weaponry first, he'd be looking at a whupping.

Whitaker was a durable fighter. Lets not forget, he went the full 12 rounds with Trinidad when his legs were gone. He had no option but to stand and fight. I honestly think that a prime Whitaker, in physically better condition, would take less punches against a prime Duran at lightweight. And I also think he'd handle Duran's power better than Trinidad's. He'd get hit less and the power wouldn't be as discouraging when it landed on him. Ok, Whitaker was well past his prime and was pretty much a punch bag in there full of coke. I'm just using this as a measure for Whitaker's durability. And, this is when he's well past his prime.

 

Leonard has always had very respectable power, Hagler has one of the best chins of all time but he was still stopped in his tracks once or twice, either way I think a prime Duran is better than a past prime Hagler... its also true that a prime Pea is better than that particular version of Leonard BUT he`s not better than a prime Leonard & Duran dealt with Leonard over 15 rounds.

I fully nderstand that Pea would not fight Duran in the same manner that Leonard did because he doesn`t have the attributes to pull it off, Pea will do what Pea does best, he`ll box you... Duran is a master boxer as well tho, the boxing match that will inevitably take place in in certain phases of the fight won`t be completely dominated by Pea, Duran as you said is not Ricardo Maytorga, he`s one of the most natural & complete fighters of all time.

Duran is also a smart ******* in that ring, he`d cut the ring off on Whitaker & make him gut it out far more often than he`d like, Duran beats him by decision via throwing & landing the higher volume AND higher quality shots... he`d obviously lose rounds tho, Whitaker is an elite level ATG just like Duran.

:good

 

True, Whitaker`s durability is arguably his most underrated quality... I`d be suprised if Duran stopped him tbh... I just feel that the speed in which Duran can close the distance from outside to inside would be a nightmare for Pea, his right hand lead is a really quick & dangerous punch too, I see this as a constant problem for Whitaker, I just think the style & attributes of Duran are wrong for Whitaker.

:good

 

Jung-Koo "Early Duran" Chang vs Hilario "Fragile Whitaker" Zapata

 

This is exactly what would happen with Pea fans claiming he was robbed and Duran fans claiming he didn't train and dropped 10 pounds the week before.

 

That's a hard one. Though I fully expected the overreaction people have to the love for Duran and once again characterizing him as a limited brawler who couldn't "deal with speed."

 

I don't know why you mentioned that, honest. It was just a fight where I was giving you an example on how a fighter can negate his opponents power with other attributes that he possesses. And, it was also showing you how the fighter with the power can hold back and be hesitant simply because he's getting hit with punches.

Yeah, Hagler had one of the best chins of all-time. Just another reason why he should have taken more risks and tried to get an ex welterweight out of there with more punches and having no concern whatsoever about the blows bouncing off his head in the process.

 

Peas power really should be a non issue in the fight. Getting punched in the face hurts no matter who's doing it, and I have no doubt that Whitaker his hard enough to keep anyone from charging in like the second coming of Luis Firpo.

Besides which whatever power Whitaker lacks is more than made up for with the accuracy of his punches and his high workrate.

 

I mentioned a prime Duran being better than a past prime Hagler for the reasons you just gave... you used Leonard outboxing Hagler as an example of why Pea might be able to do likewise to Duran... I was simply stating that a prime Duran was outright better & would have more answers to avoid that happening, thats all.

:good

 

if leonard could not beat him in montreal ..... neither would sweet pea. duran 12 ud