duran leanord 2 was over b4 the bell rang duran was so undertrained from partiing to hard and having to cut fifty pounds, if you dont beleive watch the ray leanord highlight on youtube its even obvious duran has nothing to offer there, even leanord says it, you beat a guy while playing with him in the 15th, then you cant go out the 8th round with out quitting a little fishy
he never fought benitez at 140 either, he fought him at 154. you are full of shit.
I am not full of shit, but you are correct it was 154. You should have said I was wrong fuckface. Duran jumped straight from Lightweight to welter. The best of us make mistakes.
he barely fought at 140 from what i remember. he is more known from his 147/154 accomplishments. i believe he won a abc belt at 140 and then moved up.
No he lost to Benitez in his only stop at the weight.
Too young? I've seen that fight atleast 10 times, Leonard stood toe to toe with him, not many knew who Duran was and expected him to lose, little did they know he would be a future all-time great.
You seen what happened in the second and third fights.
Everyone knew who Duran was. My father said he was known in Germany in the seventies. You don't realize how big Duran was. Leonard was just the Golden Boy and marketed heavily from the Olympics. Duran had already made about 12 defenses and fought on primetime tv regularly. He was very well known.
now that's just ignorance. you are clearly to young to understand the brilliance of duran that night.
let me put it this way:
no tuneups, nothing, duran moved from 135 to 147 (which was the first time EVER) and took on the best fighter in the planet at the time and a future ATG and whipped him around from pillar to post.
well, he didn't whip him. but you know what i mean.
I thought Duran had fought Benitez before at 140, or was that afterwards.
The usual suspects (i.e. - Pep, Whitaker, Johnson, Leonard) have already been named. I'd say Miguel Canto belongs in that group.
Good call and Nicollino Loche was a master defensively also.
More so because of the way Leonard fought, not Duran.
Duran made him fight his fight, Tyson wishes he was near the level of Duran. The Duran Mystique was huge in the seventies only second to Ali. This was a lightweight who was one of the most know fighters to non fight fans.
I know you guys are gonna think I am crazy. But Lamotta had a sneaky defense. He was a master at riding out the shots he took. In fights I have seen you would think he was getting hit alot. I have read fighters like Fritzie Zivic say you could punch between your legs and hit him. But he took the effect off shots like Toney does.
1. Willie Pep
2. Jack Johnson
3. Gene Tunney
4. Benny Leonard
5. Pernell Whitaker
I generally don't rank active fighters on "all-time" lists.
Great list, but I would give Wilfred Benitez and what I hear Gypsy Joe Harris honorable mention.
I dont mean any disrespect here guys im just givin my opinion
I dont think ali belongs in this list. I mean yea he could avoid a punch like no man on this earth but he got cought alot in the body. (I know those punches didnt bother him but they still scored.) Also he kinda had 2 types of defense. He would slip punches but his other kind was basickly to just let his opponent punch him untill they could no longer throw punches. He took far too many to be on my list.
Just my opinion
1- Mayweather
2- Pep
3- Duran (Whitaker could only avoid punches on the backfoot, Duran avoided punches on the frontfoot which requires twice as much skill)
4- Gans
5- Leonard (Benny, ofcourse)
In terms of sheer 'reflexes', Herol Graham, Whitaker, Jones Jr come to mind.
1 Pernell Whitaker ( in his prime of course )
2 Willie Pep
3 Mayweather
After, it's more difficult... I would say
4 Ali
5 Arturo Thunder Gatti ( this one is just a joke ... )
I forgot Willie Pep, he had great defense aswell, he'd be third on my list.
Jack Johnsons defense didn't appeal to me, mainly because it was frustrating to watch.
LOL!!!! From what I understand, it was pretty damn frustrating to go up against as well. ;)