Vintage 147 Montreal Duran vs. PBF. Who and how?

What you ALWAYS write is that Duran was close to prime and naturally at 154.Just because he won a couple of belts past his prime does not indicate that he was prime at 154.He never beat a great fighter again when he left welterweight.

 

100% correct Duranimal.I'm fifty and was around during that time.Both my and brother and I are big Duran fans and we both predicted a win for Wilfred even though we both tried to be optimistic.I don't remember who the betting favorite was for that fight,but no one that I knew predicted a Duran victory.We were all saying how Duran was looking bloated,slower and past it and were shocked that guys like Luigi Minchillo were going the distance with Roberto.

 

The only real ATG he ever beat was Leonard. He fought many but only beat Ray in a fight Ray fought his fight. Which upsets many people on here.

 

I thought Duran would win. And Minchillo was a strong european fighter and Duran won almost every round. Hearns and McCallum would later fight Minchillo. I durable fighter. Duran was only 30 and he looked good with Benitez. In shape and sharp, but everything he did Benitez had an answer for. Even when Duran came on the inside Wilfred would throw little uppercuts which kept Duran from just rushing in.

 

I respond most of the times, but I sometimes do not remember to or forget to go back to all of them. Sometimes I forget where I posted. And when you guys said I was avoiding some question about something the other day, I just hadn't seen the response.

Why do I think Duran beats Laing in Montreal? More confidence and Laing not seeing Ray beat Duran,which gave others confidence and saw something about Duran mentally. The aura had been stripped, but prior to Leonard it was not. As for why Duran lost to Laing. Motivation and Leonard showing other fighters the fragility of Duran mentally a little like I said. But against Benitez he trained well and looked good and had a title in front of him. Wilfred was quicker and better and won easily.

No Chavez was smaller than Duran. Much smaller. Duran didn't lose to Hearns because he was small, he lost because you cannot get hit with Tommy's right hand so cleanly and not go down. Duran could punch at 168. I remember watching his USA tuesday night fights in the 1990s and being amazed how strong his right hand was. Chavez never could have had that power or been as effective as Duran. Duran handling the weight was one of the main reasons he could beat Barkley. He had the perfect style for him (sort of like Benitez being able to outbox and control everything Duran did even on the inside) but Duran had to be strong to utilize the style. Although Benitez was great and speed won that.

 

and had been a pro for 15 years in a era of 15 rounders with a resume at that point which puts floyds entire career to shame. Floyd right now has been a pro as long as Duran had at that point.

 

Duran would have been lost against Monzon. He would have suffered a terrible beating.

 

Chavez was not smaller than Duran.How can you even logically say that he was?Their bodies are almost identical in height,reach,chest size etc,etc.The difference is that when Duran moved out of welter,he got FATTER.Just look at the difference in his body with your own 2 eyes.For you to claim that Chavez was smaller even though ALL OF THE FACTS INDICATE OTHERWISE demonstrates that your prejudice interferes with your logic.Also,what aura had been stripped?Duran had already lost to DeJesus in a non-title bout and had been knocked down twice by Esteban on 2 separate occasions years before Leonard,fights that Laing MUST have been aware of.How could have"the aura been stripped"when Duran had already lost that fight to DeJesus?You can't REALLY believe some of the stuff that you've written.Btw,let's put it another way because your logic just isn't working.Since you brought the Barkley fight up,2 more questions for you:does Laing beat the Barkley version of Duran?And was Laing a better fighter than Duran since he beat Roberto?Yes,not too many fighters are going to survive a Tommy Hearns laser beam right hand.I believe prime Tommy beats any version of Duran 10 out of 10.But to deny that Tommy was naturally bigger than Duran and the Tommy version of Duran was past prime and fighting higher than his natural weight is pure folly.And so what Duran had a decent punch at 168?What great fighter did he ever knock out(or even beat)at that weightatsch?

 

Well put,V.For the life of me I just can't fathom how Mag denies Duran's being past his prime 30 and above and above his natural weight while fighting at 154 and beyond.

 

Duran was clearly past prime and above his natural weight while fighting above welter.To deny it is pure folly.

 

Duran made him. :tong

 

You're the only person that I'm aware of that thought Duran would win against Benitez.The only one.Every single boxing fan that I knew around the time of that fight felt Duran was past it and was going to lose.And at 154 and 160,Duran couldn't stop Nino Gonzalez or Jimmy Batton either around the time of Duran-Laing.

 

Duran, my favorite fighter of all-time.

However, some people on here see him as superman and give an excuse for virtually ever defeat he had.

Duran started camp training camp for Benitez at 167lbs and he got down in weight easily to make the weight limit. Arcel, also said, "He's in the best shape, physically and mentally, that I've seen him since he knocked out De Jesus four years ago".

Sometimes people also forget, it's not what your favorite fighter doesn't do when he gets defeated, it's maybe what his opponent does do.

People go on about the Montreal, Duran, being able to beat Hearns. It took Ray Leonard 6 rounds to get inside on Hearns and hurt him. Leonard was on the backfoot, backing away from Hearns and being outboxed, before he could even get inside. Trust me, Duran took Leonard's punches but I'm afraid Hearns hit harder than Leonard did. He was far busier with the jab and could keep opponents on the end of his punches for long periods, while dropping the right hand. Duran just lasts a little longer at welterweight against Hearns. KO 7 or 8.

 

Exactly Robbi.

I have conflicting posts in this same thread in which you could paint me as either a Duran fanboy or hater. No. What's real is real.