Why is Roberto Duran so hated?

Yeah there's the odd one. Not as many as 5 years ago i reckon?

 

Hated?

 

He is not hated at all

 

I don't think his resume is a legit argument at 154. You could argue he passes the eye test but I think to be the best at a weight you should have to beat a lot of good fighters who are naturally of that weight at that weight.

 

Agreed

 

Duran grew up literally sleeping in the streets, and had to steal and fight for food to survive as a child and engaged in fist fights with sailors when he was 13 years old. This was a recipe for a brutal man as he grew up, he trusted no one. Then threw the years he changed, Al Bernstein who didn't like Duran that much for his tactics commented after a talk with an older Duran about what a kind and lovely man he was, not something you heard in 1977.

 

Yes. With Duran, he stuck around twice as long (20 years) as he was great.

With Jones, his career could've been cut in half. Should've called it after the first Tarver fight. Certainly after the second.

Some people don't cut Michael Spinks slack for losing his one and only fight to Tyson and retiring. Had Spinks fought for another dozen years and had gotten bounced all over the ring by nobodies, like Jones, how bad would it have been? What if he'd fought for another 20 years, like Duran. And Spinks was quitting after getting punched in the armpit by journeyman, like Roberto?

It's all the same career. Better to get out while the getting is good.

 

Duran beating 12-0 Davey Moore and winning a controversial decision over Iran Barkley (who'd already lost nearly a half dozen times) hardly makes up for 20 years of bad performances.

Duran diehards "white knuckle" the Moore and Barkley one-off fights like it washes away 20 years of bad fights.

Duran went 31-15 over the last two decades of his career. It was bad. Beating Davey Moore (or Barkley for that matter) wasn't a high bar.

Don't kid yourself.

Roy Jones "beat" Felix Trinidad and Jeff Lacy. Doesn't exactly make up for getting skunked by Enzo or Danny Green or Lebedev.

 

Probably not.

 

Pound-for-Pound.

How does moving up and looking bad "only add" to his pound-for-pound status?

That makes no sense.

Wouldn't technically, looking great the higher you go improve your pound-for-pound standing?

How does looking worse as you move up improve your standing?

That just shows that pound-for-pound is pure fantasy.

The guys at the top of pound-for-pound lists should be guys who ACTUALLY dominated as they continued to move up, not populated by guys who ACTUALLY looked worse as they moved up.

Fighters who looked worse as they fought in heavier divisions PROVED they weren't great pound-for-pounders compared to guys who looked great and dominated even as they moved up, right?

Or does that make too much sense?

Maybe I'm too much of a realist.

 

Top 5 at MW is crazy, but he was more dominant at 154 and it's a division with much less depth historically than MW.

 

No, moving up and winning world titles in at least two divisions above his natural weight class adds to his legacy. The weight of the defeats is completely up to you how harshly you judge it or not but achievements aren’t valueless because he lost other fights.

 

I think Moore and Barkley are the two most overrated wins in Classic history, just considering that they’re brought up on practically a weekly basis.

 

Moving up and dominating divisions should lift you in the pound-for-pound ratings, right?

Not losing to mediocre fighters and picking up two paper belts against fighters people beat all the time.

Two fights doesn't erase 20 years of terrible performances.

I know pound-for-pound fans like "wish away" lossses and bad performances because it's all about "make-believe" to them.

But when you watch a guy look terrible for basically two decades, it's not make believe.

Some boxers actually moved up from one division to the next, didn't lose and they dominated. They didn't look worse as they moved up. They didn't start losing to nobodies as they moved up.

When you do that and dominate, I can totally see how it improves your standing pound-for-pound.

Roberto Duran DID NOT.

Duran was often embarrassing. He lost to really bad fighters. Winning a couple paper belts was a nice break in literally two decades of bad performances.

The bad performances -- especially when you were bad longer than you were good - chip away.

 

Murdering your wife isn't irrelevent ... in fact, it tends to be revelent ... regardless of the sport.

Athletes don't tend to become more popular after killing their wives.