Hi, I'm here in this section of the boards because since this is regarding historical aspects of a former fighter, I guess it was most appropriate to ask them here.

I'm gonna' be writing a persuasive essay due next wednesday (May14th) and I want to do it on Roberto Durán and why he was one of the best and most exciting fighters in the sport's history. My main three arguments are going to be his extensive record (over 100 fights, many by knockout and fought in the era of 15 rounds). Second, he fought a formidable combination of tremendous fighters in the welterweight division, namely Hearns, Hagler and Ray Leonard (only man to fight Leonard three times). Last, his personality and skills (his intimidation, mind games and machismo made him an interesting character).

After setting up these arguments, there are some details I'd like to know about Durán:

-Was he liked by both men and women? In other words, was he one of those special individuals that was attractive to women and, at the same time, that men considered him a "bad-ass"?

-Was he a boxer-puncher? Or was he a power puncher who only used his boxing skills when he needed to?

-Was he favored to beat Leonard in their very first encounter?

For those of you that have lived the past decades watching boxing, I'm sure there is a lot to offer. I only ask, if anyone can, to give me slight insight on this man. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm here in this section of the boards because since this is regarding historical aspects of a former fighter, I guess it was most appropriate to ask them here.

I'm gonna' be writing a persuasive essay due next wednesday (May14th) and I want to do it on Roberto Durán and why he was one of the best and most exciting fighters in the sport's history. My main three arguments are going to be his extensive record (over 100 fights, many by knockout and fought in the era of 15 rounds). Second, he fought a formidable combination of tremendous fighters in the welterweight division, namely Hearns, Hagler and Ray Leonard (only man to fight Leonard three times). Last, his personality and skills (his intimidation, mind games and machismo made him an interesting character).

After setting up these arguments, there are some details I'd like to know about Durán:

-Was he liked by both men and women? In other words, was he one of those special individuals that was attractive to women and, at the same time, that men considered him a "bad-ass"?

-Was he a boxer-puncher? Or was he a power puncher who only used his boxing skills when he needed to?

-Was he favored to beat Leonard in their very first encounter?

For those of you that have lived the past decades watching boxing, I'm sure there is a lot to offer. I only ask, if anyone can, to give me slight insight on this man. Thanks in advance! a good topic on the essay man, ill try to help you out.

he had this whole machismo thing that he put on display in his fights, so yeah, his people, and pretty much any general fan thought he was a balsy fighter. as far as women liking him, im not sure. i dont know about his sex life, but id have to think that an accomplished Hall of Fame fighter like duran, who wasnt bad looking (no homo) wouldnt have a problem getting a date. that pretty much would go for any succesful boxer. duran was a huge party animal so that should tell you that he's been around on the scene.
he lost some popularity after he quit against leonard in their rematch, but he regained it with victories over the likes of barkley, davey moore, and the good effort he put in his loss against hagler

he was a good boxer-puncher. he wasnt one diomensional as most people make him out to be. he had a unique style of putting his head in you chest, charging his opponents, pressuring them. he was an exciting fighter. in his lightweight days he was a killer. very much feared, he basically was the mike tyson of the lightweight division. The late Jerry Quarry, a heavyweight conteder in the 70s, once said that he'd be scared to fight a guy like duran in some dark alley. This was a heavyweight talking about a lightweight!!!
as he moved up in weight he did more boxing than brawling, and secured legit decsisions for himself. very intelligent fighter, maybe not textbook, but he was very good at slipping punches. ferocious puncher at 135 pounds. had 15 or so first round knockouts.

im not sure what the odds were for the first leonard fight, but i think that duran was the favourite, i could be wrong, but i think he was. my english teacher told me he saw that fight live. the french really fell in love with duran. they loved his workouts and the intensity he brought. remember that duran moved up in weight to challenge sugar ray, and it turned out to be a damn good brawl. the kind of fight duran wanted. duran didnt do much boxing in that fight, and while his power may have been questionable at welterweight sugar ray himself said getting hit by duran was like getting hit by a brick. duran had ray stunned in that fight numerous times.

duran can be easily considered to be in the top 3 P4P rankings. Many people would rank him second after Ray Robinson. but whether Henry Armstrong or duran take the second spot is a matter of debate.

hope this helps. if you got any more questions ask.

a good topic on the essay man, ill try to help you out.

he had this whole machismo thing that he put on display in his fights, so yeah, his people, and pretty much any general fan thought he was a balsy fighter. as far as women liking him, im not sure. i dont know about his sex life, but id have to think that an accomplished Hall of Fame fighter like duran, who wasnt bad looking (no homo) wouldnt have a problem getting a date. that pretty much would go for any succesful boxer. duran was a huge party animal so that should tell you that he's been around on the scene.
he lost some popularity after he quit against leonard in their rematch, but he regained it with victories over the likes of barkley, davey moore, and the good effort he put in his loss against hagler

he was a good boxer-puncher. he wasnt one diomensional as most people make him out to be. he had a unique style of putting his head in you chest, charging his opponents, pressuring them. he was an exciting fighter. in his lightweight days he was a killer. very much feared, he basically was the mike tyson of the lightweight division. The late Jerry Quarry, a heavyweight conteder in the 70s, once said that he'd be scared to fight a guy like duran in some dark alley. This was a heavyweight talking about a lightweight!!!
as he moved up in weight he did more boxing than brawling, and secured legit decsisions for himself. very intelligent fighter, maybe not textbook, but he was very good at slipping punches. ferocious puncher at 135 pounds. had 15 or so first round knockouts.

im not sure what the odds were for the first leonard fight, but i think that duran was the favourite, i could be wrong, but i think he was. my english teacher told me he saw that fight live. the french really fell in love with duran. they loved his workouts and the intensity he brought. remember that duran moved up in weight to challenge sugar ray, and it turned out to be a damn good brawl. the kind of fight duran wanted. duran didnt do much boxing in that fight, and while his power may have been questionable at welterweight sugar ray himself said getting hit by duran was like getting hit by a brick. duran had ray stunned in that fight numerous times.

duran can be easily considered to be in the top 3 P4P rankings. Many people would rank him second after Ray Robinson. but whether Henry Armstrong or duran take the second spot is a matter of debate.

hope this helps. if you got any more questions ask.


Leonard was the favourite in the first fight. They thought he would be too big and too quick for Duran who was moving towards the end of his prime while Leonard was just coming off a stunning win over Benitez and in his early twenties still with no battles. Can't remember the exact odds but Leonard was the favourite. That's why Duran won. He couldn't stand the fact that everyone thought the all American boy would beat him, hence the reason he trained like he hadn't trained in years for it.

Ive just finished reading the book Hands of Stone by Christian Giudice it was a pretty good read. His Record was 104-16 with 70 by the way of KO. His first pro fight was against Carlos Mendoza in 1968 and he fought for 4 decades so pretty long career.

Ive just finished reading the book Hands of Stone by Christian Giudice it was a pretty good read. His Record was 104-16 with 70 by the way of KO. His first pro fight was against Carlos Mendoza in 1968 and he fought for 4 decades so pretty long career.

Duran actually fought in 5 different decades, his last fight was in 2001 against Hector Camacho at age 50.

The 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and 2000's, that is impressive.

There's been a lot of discussion about Roberto Duran in my "Fab 4" poll-thread.
Go take a look if you want http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172707
Cheers :)

leonard was the favorite....Duran won ONLY because leonard lost the mind game battle before the fight, and WILLINGLY went toe to toe with Duran and lost. Leonard and Dundee's plan was to take hard to durans body and use his size advantage and stop him by and predicted 4th round KO....

It is completley false to believe that duran only trained for this fight hard. Every time duran wins a big one,,,hmmm duran trained for thi fight like never before, but when he loses, hmmm he did train correctly. This is not only false, but a slap to all those great fighters ( I did say all those) that beat him.

Duran was not on of the top ten, if you look at his padded record (BoxRec) you will see that out of 70 wins at lilghtweight 30+ of them were vs fighters that if a Jones, Mayweather or Leonard had scheduled to fight them, this board and experts would run them out of boxing, that is how horrible half of his opponents at lightweight were. That being said he did dominate the entire lightweight division for a decade, and did move up and beat leonard. However everyone with any intelligence, knows that duran Only beat leonard because leonard chose to not box....When Leonard boxed him, duran could not even touch him, and quit.

Facts.

leonard was the favorite....Duran won ONLY because leonard lost the mind game battle before the fight, and WILLINGLY went toe to toe with Duran and lost. Leonard and Dundee's plan was to take hard to durans body and use his size advantage and stop him by and predicted 4th round KO....

That is a nice generalization of the fight but Duran also outboxed Leonard on the outside for a lot of time in the fight.

Sugar Ray lost, no excuses, just like Duran has no excuses for his performance in the second fight.

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You really show your own bias when you say something like that.

And you accuse others of being biased...

You are completely false. Duran did not out box leonard at any time from the outside. I know each and every round and have it right here. Funny how poeple who know nothing about the fight just get on here and say stuff, because it cant be checked.

You name the points in the 1st fight where they boxed, and Duran was winning. I can tell you specific rounds..5-6-7 where they boxed and Duran was getting hit from the outsde with lead left hooks to start of the rounds. Leonard did not use a lot of movement in those rounds but he did use just enough to frusterate duran adn keep it in the center of the ring.

I give duran his kudos'''in that he did what he was supposed to do, and leonard didn't You can not take that from duran, and keep in mind even though leonard was a master boxer, in most of fightes once Dundee got him in a more professional type of style vs the amateurish style, he would fight toe to toe. Benitez, he didnt dance, Kalule, Duran 1, Hearns after the 6th round...What duran showed the world that if you fight him toe to toe, you will lose no matter who you are at 147 and down. Unless that man is Tommy hearns, (the fought at 154 but hearns was simply too much of a stylistic and size mis match). Leonard can not beat Duran in a toe to toe fight, and this was at welter...If it had been lightweight it would have been worse. See I give duran his props,however it is duran fans who cant fathom that Leonard if he boxes duran, beats duran no matter when where or how....I simply point out those 3 rounds in the 1st fight to show that even in montreal when ray used his style and boxed, Duran was no match for him, but when ray fought him toe to toe, Leonard could not beat him. Their fights simply came down to what style the fight took on, and leonard had the ability to dictate this, as you can not point out a time in any fight they had where duran cut off the ring or forced leonard to fight his stye. but you can see where duran tried to fight his style (2nd fight) and leonard totally frustereated duran by making him fight leonard style.

Need I point out the specific rounds where leonard counter him effectivly, spunt off the ropes, side stepped him and countered....or can duran fans stomach seeing this again.

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You mean these rounds? Most of the time is spent on the inside with Leonard holding and flurrying away.
When they are boxing on the outside, neither are really throwing any punches.
Look at Duran counter Leonard at 2:22. Duran is hit with some lead left hooks to the body that do not really bother him too much.

Duran was one of the best at cutting off the ring and forcing his opponents to fight and the first Leonard fight was a clinic on how to do it. These two fighters were very evenly matched, no doubt.

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Here is the infamous rematch and Duran certainly does not look out of his depth against a dancing, inactive Leonard, the fight was close on the scorecards until Duran quit.

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Taking a sustained body attack like this will take your legs from under you.

Look at Duran set up a right hand with jabs at 4:35. That will make you think twice about jabbing and moving to the side.

Regardless of whether a 'boxing' leonard beats Duran or not, conjecture of this sort is silly when fighters have actually fought. Duran beat leonard is their first match fairly and squarely. If leonard can't get his tactics right that is his problem.

Regardless of whether a 'boxing' leonard beats Duran or not, conjecture of this sort is silly when fighters have actually fought. Duran beat leonard is their first match fairly and squarely. If leonard can't get his tactics right that is his problem.

Hatton would've beaten Floyd if didn't stop moving his head. Judah would've beaten Tzsyu if he stayed focus. Foreman would've beaten Ali if he were patient. Hopkins would've beaten Joe if he had a pair of balls.

You can claim moral victories for whomever you like in this manner.

Regardless of whether a 'boxing' leonard beats Duran or not, conjecture of this sort is silly when fighters have actually fought. Duran beat leonard is their first match fairly and squarely. If leonard can't get his tactics right that is his problem.

Hmmm funny and uneducated response as well as unknowledgable of their trilogy....In lamens terms and to answer you, they did fight and what yoiu left out of your partial statment is that Leonard DID, get his tactics right, so much so Duran quit, and the 3rd fight which is pretty irrelevant, he won almost every round.

Some of you read through a entire posting and pick out something, but clealry have no idea what your talking about. Who on here has said Duran is not a top fighter? I am merely have an opinion as you all do, the differnece is that I continue to support my positon with facts (example Duran quality of fights at lightweight, his record vs top tier fighters, )

Yeah sorry bout the way I worded it. I did know he boxed into the 2000's but I wanted to say at one level of competition and obviously fighting at Supermiddleweight for his last few fights lol.
Can any one tell me how respected the NBA Title is recognised??? Is it like the WBO and such crap?
Anyhow the book im reading doesnt give any stats on Duran such as height and stuff so does anyone have an idea. Im off to look for Durans supermiddleweight fights on youtube now!!!:boxing:

Hmmm funny and uneducated response as well as unknowledgable of their trilogy....In lamens terms and to answer you, they did fight and what yoiu left out of your partial statment is that Leonard DID, get his tactics right, so much so Duran quit, and the 3rd fight which is pretty irrelevant, he won almost every round.

Some of you read through a entire posting and pick out something, but clealry have no idea what your talking about. Who on here has said Duran is not a top fighter? I am merely have an opinion as you all do, the differnece is that I continue to support my positon with facts (example Duran quality of fights at lightweight, his record vs top tier fighters, )

But you qualify the greatest win of a man's career in terms of his opponents mistakes. That's where you're going wrong and being disrespectful. It's never all about one guy. In the first fight Duran unmanned Leonard.

Someone could reply that in the second fight he was in poor condition. But that would be disrespectful to Leonard, who won the fight. You understand, son?

I dont take from his win, read the entire post, son? I said Leonard fought the wrong style and thus Duran beat him fair and square at that. In fact I went on to say that Leonard fought most of his big fights in a toe to toe manner, so while it was the wrong style, Duran beat him fair and square and moved up to do so.....I never take away from that. Is wrong to merely point out that Leonard willingly fought this style and when he righted his wrong, that he beat duran. Is that wrong? Duran followers dont want to hear the truth. They say it was because duran was out of shape, which is false. I also point out that in the 1st fight in the 3 rounds that Leonard "boxed" duran he was unable to hit leonard, and Leonard won those rounds...check for yourself rounds 5-7. It was Ray' style, ego, and belief that he could be Duran man0 vs mano that led to him going back in round 8 through round 15 to the style that he got his ass handed to him by in the 1st 4 rounds....

I merely point out the facts....

But you qualify the greatest win of a man's career in terms of his opponents mistakes. That's where you're going wrong and being disrespectful. It's never all about one guy. In the first fight Duran unmanned Leonard.

Someone could reply that in the second fight he was in poor condition. But that would be disrespectful to Leonard, who won the fight. You understand, son?

Hey KayJay! I think also that Duran gave one of those outstanding performances in the first Leonard fight that people talk about decades later. It was simply the kind of performances where Duran would have been very hard to beat that night no matter which all-time great he fought. It was simply a classic effort on the part of Duran. Think of Frazier's performance in the first fight with Ali, Robinson against Graziano, Hagler against Hearns. THAT type of effort.

Poet

Holy crap! Thanks a lot, guys! I appreciate all the insight!

I've been obsessing over boxing for the last year and have read A LOT (I can't stress that enough!) of boxing.

I saw the interview (referring to the first poster to respond) in which Leonard said about Durán the following:

"Every time he hit me, and I'm not exaggerating, it felt like bricks."

I hadn't heard about Quarry commenting on being scared of fighting Durán, though. LOL Great info!

Thanks, this is all great stuff! :boxing:

Holy crap! Thanks a lot, guys! I appreciate all the insight!

I've been obsessing over boxing for the last year and have read A LOT (I can't stress that enough!) of boxing.

I saw the interview (referring to the first poster to respond) in which Leonard said about Durán the following:

"Every time he hit me, and I'm not exaggerating, it felt like bricks."

I hadn't heard about Quarry commenting on being scared of fighting Durán, though. LOL Great info!

Thanks, this is all great stuff! :boxing:

Now you should go over to the video sharing thread and start downloading fights! There are hundreds there and it gives you a chance to see the all-time greats in action :boxing:

Poet