Why do people highly rate Duran's win over Leonard?

Nope, I dont use Boxrec, I have books in fact the one that Im looking at know is the 1997 boxing alamanic. Plus I remember.

 

Books, Boxrec ?

The point remains.

Duran began his pro boxing career at 118.

Leonard, at 141.

OK, Duran was a bit young then.....


So...

When he was 22 (the age by which Ali, Patterson and Tyson won their world titles), he fought at 134 (LW).

Leonard was at 147 (WW)


Leonard was the naturally bigger man.

You mention that Duran had eight fighs at WW (by the time he was 29)

But he also had 39 fights between 118 and 135, the weight where he had established himself as elite.


How many fighs did Leonard have at LW or lower ?

My point was, Leonard was the naturally bigger man.



(BTW, I wish I had a $ for every time I've defended Sugar Ray's great record against a brilliant poster in the classic forum, name of RedRooster!)

 

Though Duran was my second favourite alltime fighter, I would not place him in the top ten (nor would many others), based solely on his lightweight career.

His greatness came of such victories as Leonard, Moore and Barkley.

Even his loss to Hagler (Much bigger, and younger when they met) adds to his greatness.

I'm not sure why you're arguing against Duran's record here since you just mentioned you rank him 7 or 8 alltime, but...


Wins are not 'offset' by subsequent losses.

The calculations are a bit more subtle than that.

There is no doubt that Duran's losses detract from his record, but winning the first fight against Leonard added MORE to Duran's legacy than losing the second one detracted from it.


And beating Hearns' daddy, Barkley, added more to his record than losing to Hearns diminished it.

 

No your point was that Duran moved up in weight to fight Ray, and that isnt the truth. He moved up in weight for the same reason that most fighters move up for, he could make the lower weight anymore.

Duran was 16 when he turned pro. When I was 16 I weight 138 pounds. at 18 I was 185 pounds whats your point. At 20 Duran was fighting at around 140 at 20 Ray was fighting around 140 pounds.

 

I already made allowances for that fact in my post. That's why I compared them at the same ages.






And you seem to be having difficulty with the facts, here.....

By his 20th birthday, Duran had NEVER fought above 133.

Subsequently, he fought seven more times at lightweight and it was another two and a half years before he fought at 140.

 

and change your stupid avatar
tired of looking at it

 

Excellent Poem, agree with the sentiment too.

 

A man after my own heart. Seconded.

 

You think that the first fight means nothing....its one of the best fights of that time if not ever.

 

So what have you seen of Ross, Williams, McLarnin, etc at Welterweight that makes you believe they beat the Duran of the Leonard I and Palomino fights?

We're talking head to head here, not accomplishments.

 

I framed this poem