What are some of the most impressive title reigns of all time?

Love reading your comments. Stay active.

 

Thanks pal, I appreciate that!

 

Yeah, but Duran was an unproven kid who most fans knew little about. Ken was a former world champion and still the top contender and to be offered that pittance? I don't know, but I would love to know what the Garden was offering the two combatants for the rematch.

 

Way way overrated fanboys!!!! Old Holmes reign castoffs and fatass era porkers. Fatboys and Dopers. Pathetic!!! But thats yr hero!!!!

 

Doesn’t matter. If Ken wanted the shot he was offered it and turned it down. Duran could have fought anybody in Panama and drawn the same gate I’m sure. It’s not down to them to meet some number Buchanan may have been worth in a vacuum.

Ken said he decided to manage himself and did a poor job of it. He merely waited for his phone to ring and said yes or no to offers. Duran’s side couldn’t be expected to handle managing his opponent to make sure he got the best offer. That’s down to Ken.

 

Retired at the top...all 3 decision defeats long since avenged...not only a nearly 7 year reign, but on a 13 year winning streak, ended his reign with back to back decisions over a younger, talented, aggressive, i shot ko puncher to unify and cement his claim as undefeated, undisputed middleweight champion...Carlos Monzon.

 

Me too scar.... likewise with Eusebio Pedroza.

 

Perhaps. But when you start tallying up Buchanan turns down a fight in Panama, Gonzalez turns down a fight in Panama, Tury Pineda and Esteban DeJesus turns down Duran in Panama and all for the same reason. No money. (BTW, the last one I recently uncovered from a 7/16/73 article where Gregorio Benitez, DeJesus' manager said, "Duran's people offered to defend against Esteban in Panama, but it was for very little money. And to defeat Duran in his homeland you'd have to knock him out.") Conversely, I counted at least 4 separate attempts by Madison Square Garden to arrange the rematch, but Duran nixes it each time (to be fair, Duran himself never nixed anything, it was always his camp). I really think after the first DeJesus fight, the Duran camp was nervous about letting their tiger go. They had no problem with him fighting non-titles anywhere in the world, but the title had to be protected. It wasn't until they really saw they had something special that they would start taking chances. To give you an idea of what he was making. In his 6th defense, the Ray lampkin fight, Duran made $75,000 and Lampkin made $15,000. That was not a lot of money in '75 for proven world champs. And certainly not for a fight picked up by CBS. Duran was making nothing. 3 years earlier Panama paid Rafael Herrera $100,000 to come to Panama. In '69 they offered Mando Ramos the unheard of fee of $150K to come down (that bout fell apart). So to the letter of the law of this thread, it wasn't an impressive reign when you renege on a contract and basically freeze your title in the homeland. I love Duran and believe he is the #1 at 135, but this wasn't his best work at this time.

 

Tito had a good run at 147. He was blasting through guys.

 

What contract did he renege on?

 

The MSG rematch clause with Buchanan. The Garden made attempt after attempt to get Duran to honor his contract, including suspending his license in NY and finally threatening to strip him of his world title in NY and match Buchanan with DeJesus for NY version of the world title. To tell you how long this went on, the NYSAC threatened to cancel a non-title bout Duran had scheduled in NY with Miguel Baretto on August 19, '74 if assurances weren't made by Duran and Carlos Eleta to honor the 2 year old contract to defend against Buchanan and that suspension would be reinstated if he didn't sign to defend against him within 90 days. And they did. It was really a dumb decision from the Duran camp to renege. Buchanan wasn't getting any younger and Duran stood to make a bucket load of money, not to mention the amount of money on non-titles he lost out on in NY due to the suspension.

 

Arguello, Sanchez, Prior, Duran, Ali, Holmes, Louis, Armstrong at welterweight...

 

Bottom line is those are business decisions whether you agree with them or not.

Buchanon was offered a rematch and turned it down. That’s a reflection on Ken rather than Duran’s reign.

 

Pat, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I think there were valid points brought up on both sides, and I agree, Ken could have agreed to be paid in Home Depot Gift Cards for his shot at the title, but whether he made that business decision or not, the Panamanian offer had nothing to do with the MSG rematch clause that Duran reneged on. That was a valid contract which was far more lucrative than anything Panama was going to come up with. Which brings me to another point. Where was the WBA in all of this? Shouldn't they be overseeing purse bids? Why didn't they enforce the rematch clause? The WBC was quick to strip Ken of their recognition when he was told he has to defend against Pedro Carrasco. When Carrasco's people said he could no longer make 135 and would be fighting at 140 from now on, Ken signed a rematch with Laguna. After the contract was signed, Carrasco said he could make 135 afterall and the WBC backed Carrasco even though there was a valid contract in place to fight Laguna in the Garden. Maybe these alphabets just don't like MSG contracts.

 

Maybe they weren’t valid or enforceable. Else why didn’t MSG enforce them?