Who had the greatest victory over Roberto Duran?

Yeah if you're going by the odds then it weren't exactly an upset win but every one that picked Hearns in the thread is picking picking is over the Dejesus win because of the brutal way that Hearns won it. What were the odds of Hearns KOing Duran like that?

 

I see the argument ,it was a spectacular ko,I can differ on this without any rancour whatsoever.

 

That's my opinion, though expressed more articulately then I managed,

 

Hearns is leading the poll, yet imo I would consider that win by Hearns less meaningful than the wins from all the other fighters on the poll, as those fights came earlier.

Duran loses to just about any great fighter above the 147 lbs weight class.

Duran took the Hearns fight almost exactly how he took the Leonard rematch.
6 months after being in a "Superfight."

What happened after Duran beat Leonard in Montreal? He's out partying, drinking, eating, and getting fat. Then he spends the entire training camp in a desperate attempt to lose the weight he's gained.
Duran fought Leonard 6 months after Montreal, and he fought Hearns 7 months after he fought Hagler.
Though he lost to Hagler, he was out celebrating it as the public considered it as an achievement to go the distance and have Duran fight him as competitive as he did.
Duran was tipping the scales close to 200 pounds when he started training camp for Hearns.
So knowing those facts, in a fight against a freak like Hearns where Duran needs every bit of his speed and reflexes to dart in and out against such a reach, I dont consider that victory by Hearns as a greater achievement than the other fights on the list in this thread.

 

Hearns's win is only the best if one considered the manner of it. I think every that voted know that that wasn't the best version of Duran.

And excuses for New Orleans...? There's excuses for every Duran loss, no fighter quite have them like he does, so that kind of evens itself out.

 

Let me guess - you don't think Duran was in any shape for the DeJesus, Leonard or Benitez loss either? Certainly not for the Laing loss, I'll wager. So we can even those out, whether we believe the excuses or not.

 

Yes and if the thread was entitled ,"The Most Devasting /Emphatic Victory ,"I would pick the Hearns defeat too .
Perhaps its a matter of interpretation?

 

The DeJesus and Benitez fights he trained for and lost with Benitez I don't think he had mentally come back from the second Leonard fight. Might want to ask before you guess.

 

The Dejesus fight is actually the one he hadn't trained much for if anything. But good of you to hedge with an excuse for Benitez in any case.

 

Someone had to say it. Duran was on a little keep busy tour.

After winning the title he had 3 non title bouts in less than 5 months and actually stepped into the ring 3 weeks before he fought De Jesus albeit briefly against an easy beat. Duran had never seen Esteban fight and there's always been a lot of talk about that car accident and sinus issues just like most of his losses.

As good as he was when he beat Buchanan it's fair to say Duran was quite raw and unrefined comparative to the all round monster he would become. His overall ability inside just got better and better.

It's still a great win but not one i can rate over Hearns.

 

For me without hindsight it is Leonard; Duran was an awesome seemingly peak specimen going into the second Leonard fight.


Hindsight has shown that not to be the case, and with up to over fifty years of hindsight the answer thus is probably DeJesus.

 

The problem with Duran discussion is that if he lost easily that is always said to be because he was not at his best, not that he lost easily to fast fighters, which is the case with Leonard and Hearns. The were extremely fast fighters who used that speed. That is what is always overlooked.

 

Yes, and Hearns had speed, accuracy and tremendous power. That performance is just something else. Just look at the confidence with which he commands the centre of the ring. It was the Cuevas night coming back to him.

 

Hearns confidence was one of his greatest attributes and his greatest weakness when he was caught. I remember when he fought Medal, he had Medal out easily, and he was a little kamikaze in there swining and medal got close. Even Hutchings got close when Tommy trying to finish, but most guys had a hard time lining him up for that punch Barkley did line him up for.

 

Ricky Hatton?