Roberto Duran

I will repeat in simple form for the benefit of the reading impaired Duran spent his prime dominating a division THEN he fought bigger, younger, less worn opponents, some of which happened to be all time greats (Leonard and Hagler). He started doing this at age 29, after 70+ fights. ask yourself this simple question what other not in their prime lightweights can you imagine beating one of the greatest welters ever and giving one of the greatest mw ever his closest fight?

i dont go by stats i go by performance So do i. Duran is one of my favourite fighters based on Lampkin, De Jesus, Ishimitsu, Bucahnan, Leonard 1, Cuevas, Moore, Hagler, Barkley. Those fights showcase how good he was. His style changed as he got older. For me he was both great subtle defensive fighter, and brilliant pot shot aggressor who had incredible timing and knew wen to throw specific shots. His pressure fighting was constant and relentless, but he was also very smart. He would break down his opponents with pin point shots to the body and head. He had patience but could also put imense pressure on an opponent and throw shots at range on inside equally as well. Im not saying he was perfect, but he was the most naturally gifted FIGHTER that ive ever seen.

as for leanord 2 the truth out of the horses mouth PLAYBOY: Why was your rematch with him so easy for you? LEONARD: Well, to start with, Duran had a few years on me. He was 29, and our first fight was a very physical 15 rounds--and you just don't heal that easy unless you're young. I hit him with some severe blows to the body and I heard reports afterward that he was urinating blood, so apparently I did some damage. Once I decided I wanted a rematch, my guys thought I should fight him as soon as possible, because he might not have had a chance to heal completely. On top of that, Duran had been soaking up all the fame and glory he got for beating Sugar Ray Leonard. Everyone should party and celebrate, but there's a limit, especially if you're a fighter. After Duran defeated me, Panama held a national holiday in his honor, and Duran kept partying and got fat. All of a sudden, we were ready to fight again, and he had to jump back and try to get in shape real quick. Too late: I'd been training for a couple of months by then.

Duran was 71-1-0 (55 ko) as a Lightweight. He jumps 2 weights to face Sugar Ray Leonard at Welterweight and beats him. 3 years later he wins the Junior Middleweight title. He loses a very close 15 round fight with one of the best Middleweights of all time in Marvin Hagler. 6 years later he wins the Middleweight title. At the age of 45 he is still KOing people at Super Middleweight. Retiring with a record of 100 wins (70 KO's). Who can match that? Not overrated. He was an amazing fighter. i dont go by stats i go by performance

for the little i have seen of duran. (just stating my opinion on what ive seen) he does look overrated and not that impressive you must of not seen much then he is one of the best fighters to watch, most nasty on film ever duran bucanan, dejesus 2 and 3, leanord, palimino, moore, cuevas, barklley, hector thompson, thats a very good place to start, dejejeus 3 and palimino are fights you should see at his peak, plus leanord,m where you realize he is every bit as good as leanord

Duran was 71-1-0 (55 ko) as a Lightweight. He jumps 2 weights to face Sugar Ray Leonard at Welterweight and beats him. 3 years later he wins the Junior Middleweight title. He loses a very close 15 round fight with one of the best Middleweights of all time in Marvin Hagler. 6 years later he wins the Middleweight title. At the age of 45 he is still KOing people at Super Middleweight. Retiring with a record of 100 wins (70 KO's). Who can match that? Not overrated. He was an amazing fighter.

for the little i have seen of duran. (just stating my opinion on what ive seen) he does look overrated and not that impressive

fighting becase yorbroke desn'y makeyou great..:ugh: reading boxrec doesnt mean you know,

Sometimes I really despair. You get so-called fans disparaging a man who rose up through a huge amount of ranks to fight at way above his natural weight BECAUSE HE CLEANED OUT OTHER DIVISIONS, who then fights at an advanced age against some of the best fighters in boxing history, truly a golden age. They then leap to the defense of men who pick and choose favorable fights on a whim and hurl obscenity if you disagree. Duran is truly a standout boxer, incomparible to just about anyone for his accomplishments, undeniably one of the most eager boxers (retired just 5 years ago) and easily stands in anyone's top ten of all time, if not top three. We will never see another Duran. If you guys don't appreciate him then it's your loss. You might try watching some of his fights. You'll learn something.

C'mon buddy I too am familiar with Duran mostly from his later (anytime after about '80-'81) fights but he had I think over 70 fights before 1980. I want to watch more of his lightweight fights (a few have been on Classic but not too many I don't think) and I'll wait until I do before I decide whether he is under-, over- or appropriately rated. Please do the same. By the way people consider him an ATG at 135, not 160 or even 147 (even though he diud beat Leonard). On a side note, I like to think Frazier-Ali I counts more than the others, does anyone think it would be reasonable to say the same of Leonard-Duran?

just one fighter hagler does he get praised, trust me if you guys seen duran fight in his prime you would understnad why so many people rate him so highly it that simple boxrec doesnt tell you nothing really you have to watch to understand a fighters carreer

Duran gets all this praise for simply fighting lots of named fighters and doing good against them even though he lost. If you want to think he is way great because of that, then Oscar De La Hoya should be at his level in greatness.

I've no beef whatsoever with Duran, just can't help thinking he was vastly overrated, and I can't stand people telling me he was so good. Same goes for Tommy Hearns, decent boxer who got tagged as soon as he scrapped someone half-decent. Glass-jawed skinny guy. If Hearns had had anything about him, he'd have finished Marvin Hagler before Marvin kicked his ass. That says it all. If u say Duran and Hearns are overrated than ur saying Hagler and Leonard are also overrated, as well as Benitez. Do u know who Harry Greb fought? Or Joe Gans? I suppose they are both overrated.

Duran beat pipino cuevas by ko, and he beat davey moore by ko...these were his comeback fights and in both he was an underdog the aging champ and he went toe to toe with marvin hagler and lost a close decision! not bad for a guy who started fighting at 116 pounds. when he fought tommy hearns he was outta shape...that was his only downfall was his conditioning..he had his conditioning on point on his comeback fighters after losing to laing, benitez and leonard....because he had something to prove.

Ian I agree with you duran lost to all the ATG of his area..but the fanboys will try and rank him ahead of leonard hearns, and hagler, benitez even though he lost to all of them:boxing: DURAN = Overrated so basically age means nothing and you are punished for longevity, look at all the guys records you mention after 30 and you realize they where nothing after 30 duran never faced anybody he didnt beat till 30

Ian I agree with you duran lost to all the ATG of his area..but the fanboys will try and rank him ahead of leonard hearns, and hagler, benitez even though he lost to all of them:boxing: DURAN = Overrated so you rate maxim over robinson, i guess wake up duran started fighting those guys after ruling a division and moving up in weight. how many titles did hagler won above 160. how did leonard look at 168 and above? did hearns ever win a real lineal belt over 154? and as much as i love benitez he was pretty much shot by the age of 25

So who the fuck did Duran scrap and beat who was credible? Fucking no-one redneck. I wonder if anyone else sees the irony in this post... Anyhow, Duran's early career had numerous wins against world class opponents (i.e. former or future world title holders). The fact that you don't know who they are actually says a lot more about your ignorance than his career/legacy. DeJesus, Buchanan, Ray Lampkin, Saoul Mamby, Kobayashi and Ishimatsu, Marcel, Thompson, Palomino, Monroe Brooks, Villa - all of them fought for or held world titles at one time. And Duran beat all of them - and this was way before his second career at welter with SRL (not to mention his third career at middleweight). Duran is an all-time great, period. Get back to your trailer park, Wiggers.

Duran ruled the lightweights and took on all comers, all top people in the division, for nearly a decade. He didnt reach mass appeal widespread visibilty until the move up to middle, which was a more popular wieght class. His results there were mostly, all things considered, fairly respectable (discounting his sticking around too long, past '85 or so) but nowhere near as dominant. Call me naive if you will... You are naive. Your opinon is obvioulsy informed only by a small section of Duran's career when he was older, fighting out of his peak weight class, against the popular middles of the 80's. He was already considered one of the greats by boxing pundits before that stretch of his career.

So who the fuck did Duran scrap and beat who was credible? Fucking no-one redneck. Apart from a dodgy Ray Leonard decision...

** Nah, more like plain ol' stuuupid. Folks need to swap out the ol' bulb for ya. So who the fuck did Duran scrap and beat who was credible? Fucking no-one redneck.