The Duran of the Hagler & Barkley fights: how good a middleweight was he?

You mean the MWs of today? or all MWs ever????? I would strongly favor quite a few MWs over Duran..... easily

PRIME
Monzon UD
SRR UD
Hopkins UD
RJJ UD maybe TKO
McClennan TKO


Maybe more

These men are all GREAT at 160 , and it is their natural weight or at least close to it.

People forget, Hagler was not a huge MW and Barkely is not on par with these guys. Duran was great, but you really think he would beat all of the great MWs? Or am I mistaken in what you are saying?

 

How old are YOU?

The fact that you think so lowly of Hopkins suggests you never even saw him in his prime. Acting like this would be a whitewash for Duran shows a serious bias on your part.

Not getting into mudslinging as you apparently would like.

**** off.
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How do the actual posters who would like to discuss the matter see a fight between Hopkins and Duran going? Surely not a one-sided affair to either man.

Edit: If it was going to be one-sided for either, it would be for Hopkins. I don't believe there is sufficient (or any) reason to pick Duran in a one-sided showing over Hopkins.

 

Would you pick Duran to beat RJJ?

 

Prime Hopkins beats Middleweight Duran convincingly. The majority of the rounds would be competitive, but I think Duran would struggle to take more than 2 rounds at best. Hopkins and Monzon are worse match-ups stylisticly for Duran than Halger IMO, who I felt clearly won 10-5.

Hopkins is at LHW now though, no Middleweight today beats the best version of Middleweight Duran IMO.

 

Benn had not yet peaked technically speaking at Middleweight IMO, the punching power would always be a danger against the much smaller Duran, he was a real aggressive fighter, and would leave himself open to counters from Duran. I'd take Duran of the Hagler fight to outpoint Middleweight Benn, although there is always that chance that Benn lands a bomb and takes Roberto out.

McClennan had straight up scary power, was good at long-range, and he was a brutal bodypuncher. He'd surely land a big shot eventually, and I can't see Duran taking that kind of power well. I don't think he'd make himself as open to counters as the Middleweight Benn would and that he would place his shots better.

Same goes for Jackson. I think Duran would be outboxing him for a while, but Jackson was a sharp, well-schooled puncher, and Jackson knocked full-fledged Middleweights and Jr.Middleweights stiff. He'd likely do the same to the smaller Duran at some point. I think Duran could certainly have beaten Jackson, I've just got Hearns-Duran on my mind when thinking of this fight.

Jones, Kalambay, and Nunn wouldn't allow Duran to work his inside game, and Jones and Nunn were serious punchers in their own right. I'd take all 3 over Duran.

The skilled movers are probably the worst kind of fighters for Duran to face at 160.

That's my take on it.

 

McClellan*

 

Ya bad typo hahaha

 

I was merely correcting you guys.

Merry Christmas!

 

I actually typed that in first but then thought I misspelled it after looking at DINAMITA's post. It's a weird name, McClennan sound cooler anyway, sounds more Irish. :bart

 

I should have known too.

It's all good, everyone got the just of what we were talking about. :good