Roberto Duran's Top 10 Wins ?

I think I would replace Castro with the Hiroshi Kobayashi win. This was the fight that put Duran on the world map. Kobayshi had only just lost his jr. lightweight title and this kid knocking him out was a head-turner. But a great list, D.

 

No major issues here DP.

If we're talking strictly wins, not performances or taking into account the dominance of the win or Duran's age, then personally:

I could see Barkley at 2, primarily due to the size discrepancy.

I could see Palomino at 3. I think Buchanan & DeJesus were marginally better LWs than he was a WW, but that discrepancy isn't as significant as the discrepancy in size between WW & LW.

Personally I'd have the DeJesus wins above Buchanan, but there's nothing in it & if I took Duran's respective ages into account at their time of their fights, I'd rank his win over Ken higher, too.

I'd probably have Kobayashi ahead of Castro.

All arguable either way, though. Good list DP.

 

1. Leonard
2. Barkley
3. Buchanan
4. De Jesus 3
5. De Jesus 2
6. Marcel
7. Palomino
8. Castro
9. Cuevas
10. Moore

The Marcel win is very underappriciated. A year after he had lost to Duran, he would proceed to clearly defeat the man who had just beaten Vicente Saldivar, but would get robbed blind. A few years later he even beat Alexis Arguello, who while not quite at his peak, had just destroyed Jose Legra in a single round, and would beat Ruben Olivares 9 months later.

 

Pretty solid list. I think the 10th spot is debatable with maybe one of his lightweight title defences sneaking in there but all and all, I agree with the order of your top five.

 

I think it depends on whether it’s wins, performances or a combination of both.

I’d definitely rate the Palomino win higher than 7 - that’s the only one I have an issue with. Bearing in mind Palomino had only lost the welter title by close decision to Benitez that took nothing out of him physically and after a three year world title reign, that was a top notch win and has to be top 5 I think. It was also a masterful performance by Duran.

The Moore fight, as memorable as it was, doesn’t rank as high as the Palomino win in my view.

 

Agree Jel, probably Roberto's most underrated win. I haven't gone beyond a top 20 at WW, but I suspect I wouldn't have too many more names to go through before Carlos popped up, if I went further down. An ATG LW moving up to WW and not just beat, but dominate, a borderline ATG WW, is a top, top performance.

 

Ishimatsu and Mamby belong above Castro IMO. Even though Duran was ancient, Castro was just nowhere as good as those two IMO.

 

Not having a go my man but there's no way possible Cuevas is ahead of Moore. Going into that fight both Cuevas and Duran were thought to be washed up. Cuevas had lost his previous fight to Roger Stafford and not fought for over a year while Duran had lost to Laing last outing. Many just put Duran's good showing down to Pipino being done.

 

Fair, I mostly answered it on a whim. I just put Cuevas higher because he ranks higher historically, and Moore never really doing anything other than beating Kalule, I had forgotten the context.

 

At the end of the day navigating between these two wins 100% comes down to your personal criteria and leanings. There so much to take into account and so many angles.

Duran was 7-5 fave over Palomino whilst he was 5-2 underdog (not huge) i believe vs Moore. Moore did indeed turn his career around. Palomino proved he was extremely serious about his Welterweight world title aspirations and was a very dangerous guy and serious contender even at 147. He was clinical in both, allowing for a bit of age in the Moore fight.

Both were rampant performances. Palomino won about 1 round and Moore was brutalized, tho he did sneak a few good shots in there.

Moore had only had 12 fights tho he was an accomplished amateur. He was still learning on the job, via brawls. Palomino was a hardened experienced still prime campaigner of championship level if well below ATG.

I'd personally have Barkley at #2. Moore and Palomino are interchangeable for me. It just depends what you hold closer to your chest criteria wise. That redemption arc with Moore was incredibly well received at the time. It was a huge story.

Moore is a bigger part of his story.

 

Palomino is in hof and Moore is basically known for losing to Duran. I can't see Palomino behind Moore.

 

I rate Marcel as the 2nd best fighter that Duran beat. Incredibly underrated fighter with some of the best footwork ever.