what if the Duran that beat Moore showed up against Hagler

He gets beat worse. The Duran vs Hagler was better.

He showed that by challenging arguable the greatest middleweight champ in the history of the sport, keeping it competitive, finishing the fifteen rounds relatively unscathed.

Not bad for a come-forward fighter, and a natural lightweight at that.

 

I think THAT version of Duran would have beaten THAT version of Hagler, but that really wasn't Hagler at his best.

This is Ray Arcel's take on both fights.

Moore

Ray Arcel: “He was an artist. That performance could be compared to that of any great fighter who ever lived. It was masterful.”

Hagler

Ray Arcel: “He was a good boxer—he proved that with Marvin Hagler, going 15 rounds with him. If Hagler were a great fighter, Duran wouldn’t have come out for the 8th round, because after the 6th round Roberto was pretty well washed up. He was tired and went 9 rounds with his brain. That’s the way he could fight.”

 

Although Moore was a champ when he fought Duran, he was not in his league yet. He was rushed and ruined. It should be noted that the ref let Duran get away with fouling: thumbing, lacing, etc. Duran blinded him early in the fight with a thumb. At the time Duran had forgotten more about boxing than Moore knew about boxing. It was an experienced veteran against a novice, relatively speaking. It was a gross mismatch that was allowed to continue way too long. It had less to do with Duran's greatness, and more to do with a fight that was all wrong for a young man who still had a lot of learning to do as a fighter.

 

True, but that said, virtually all of the experts picked Moore to win, and Moore did go on and beat Benitez.

 

A perfect Duran could beat Hagler like he beat Leonard problem with Duran was he could not maintain condition to get into condition

 

The exact same thing, I feel Duran when he fought Hagler was every bit as good as when he fought Davey Moore just Hagler and Moore are two different animals. I thought Duran fought a good fight against Hagler he gave one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time one helluva a 15 round battle.

 

Duran the enigma

Weighing 190 weeks before bouts

How many times did he even really try

Arguably he was shot before he even faced Leonard

He just happened to show up and beat a prime Leonard

A truly prime Duran vs a prime Hagler never happens because there's a huge weight difference

Duran is better than Hagler though

 

I think Hagler would have knocked him out. Charging out, making Marvin fight, probably wouldn't have ended well for the smaller man.

 

I roll with this.

Hagler is a much different opponent than Davey Moore. If Hagler or Hearns had fought Davey Moore he would not have seen the bell with them either.

Duran looked like and artist because Moore keep coming forward throwing wide punches and could take a beating well. Duran was merciless and sharp. Duran was sharper in the Hagler fight but was forced to higher work rate than he would have liked. Hagler beat Duran because Hagler was better conditioned and at the end he went for broke and Duran had o answer for the speed and workrate...but most of the fight Duran was countering well against a the all-time great southy.

 

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Because he was against Moore, a relatively inexperienced titleholder. Hagler was a different animal.

 

And I believe this is the bottom line

 

Some people here thinks a younger, better conditioned Duran beats Hagler. Others think that Hagler, being more experienced than Moore would never fall into the same traps Moore did, or would chew up a rampaging Duran. I think the truth is somewhere inbetween. Hagler was never going to chew up spit out Duran because he respected him too much to take the chances against him that would have brought this about. He admitted this so that shouldnt come as a big surprise. Duran on the other hand is a lot smarter than hes given credit for (as he showed against Hagler). He wasnt just a come forward slugger and he was a lot trickier and more defensively adept than some give him credit for being. I think a younger, more conditioned version of Duran might eke out a decision in a fight with Hagler or lose a razor thin one. I think that fight would always play out like it did because both guys had a lot of respect for each other. I think the only difference that could be a determining factor would be that Duran wouldnt fade as early as he did allowing Hagler to pull ahead. The question is whether or not the difference in Duran's better condition would be enough to win a 2 or 3 more rounds.