Roberto Duran's career spanned 31 years as a professional across 119 fights in eight different weight divisions. He fought until the age of 50, retiring in 2001 with a record of 103 wins (70 KOs) and 16 losses.
The four-division champion and Hall of Fame fighter is boxing royalty, and he was one of the many stars who sat ringside to watch the trilogy bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin for the undisputed super middleweight title.
Alvarez was dominant in a unanimous decision victory, easily handling his archrival for most of the first seven rounds.
Triple G made the fight close toward the end, but it was too little too late for the 40-year-old, who finished with an 0-2-1 record against Alvarez.
Alvarez outlanded Golovkin 130 to 120. The output included an 85 to 46 edge in power punches, per CompuBox. Golovkin had a 74 to 45 advantage with his jab.
When Duran was asked to assess Golovkin’s performance, the 71-year-old legend’s review was not a glowing one.
“I thought Canelo was going to apply more pressure to knock him out,” Duran told Fight Hub TV. “[Golovkin] didn’t apply a lot of pressure. Retire now. He lost against Canelo. Golovin is not the same as before. I saw him lazy. I saw him washed. His mind didn’t help him. He didn’t think well. In boxing, you have to think a lot.”
Golovkin certainly did not look like he was the middleweight monster of yesteryear. He was fighting for the first time at 168 pounds in his 16-year career.
Immediately after the fight, Golovkin alluded that he still has some fight left in him.
Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) still holds the WBA, IBF, and IBO titles at 160 pounds.
He’s also no longer tied to DAZN, which increases the likelihood of landing another big-time opponent and payday on any given network.
Golovkin likely won’t fight till he’s a quinquagenarian like Duran, but it appears the boxing public has not seen the last of him in the ring.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
