First: Duran beat Leonard. Leonard is better than every one of Pac's opponents combined and was the best fighter Duran fought. So, he beat the best out of both and he also beat the best fighter he ever fought. When you also consider that, unlike most of Pac's bigger opponents these days, it was Duran who was considered past it at that stage, not his opponent, and Leonard that was as big as Margarito compared to Duran who started at 118 and was the same size as Pac.
Most experts and historians consider that fight to be arguably the greatest single fight in history because arguably it was two top ten ATG fighters in their prime, in the classic style battle, both fighting each other at their best. Duran, the older, smaller, underdog won. When was the last time Pac won a fight he wasn't meant to win?
Angelo Dundee, and I'm pretty sure we can say that he's a better trainer than Steward, called Duran "a cute, slippery, slick fighter that does a lot of things people don't see".
Gil Clancy called Duran one of the great defensive fighters ever and much smarter than most think and one of the best fighters in the history of the sport.
Cox, a great boxing journalist had this to say about him "He was at the peak of his powers in becoming one of the greatest fighters of all time in combining toughness and polished boxing skill. The one time street fighter was an artist." on his win over De Jesus (a HOFer).
Another Dundee comment during an interview 'Angelo Dundee said of Duran (SI Jan 30, ’78) “One gets the impression of Duran is that he’s a tough, rough brawler who just wades in and ducks nothing. But all you have to do is look at his face to see that is nonsense. He’s not marked up. He does a lot of cute things in there.”
Palomino, the great HOF welterweight champion said this of Duran “He’s good inside, very good, strong physically. The one thing that surprised me the most was his quickness. And his defensive ability. He moves his head a lot, feints a lot. He’s not an easy man to hit.”
Ray Arcel, probably the greatest trainer ever said “Duran knew how to fight. He knew what to do. If he looked at the corner the only thing I ever had to do was pretend to jab, once he was using his jab I knew he’d have no trouble. Even more important he knew how to think. When you talk about great fighters, always remember there was a guy named Roberto Duran. He was never given the opportunity to really display his wares because at his peak, he was overshadowed by Muhammad Ali.”
Another quote from Gil Clancy and Al Bernstein on the Barkley fight "Duran used boxing skill, slick defense, and clever inside fighting to offset Barkley’s greater size and power. Gil Clancy commenting at ringside said, “Duran just slipped 6 punches in a row” to which Al Bernstein, replied, “Duran has always been the master of defense, that is one of his trademarks.”
I could go on and on and on.....
If Pac was green and inexperienced when he drew with Marquez and lost to Morales (even though he had just beaten the greatest fighter of his career in the best fight of his career, was in his prime mid-late twenties and was a three/four time champion with about 40 fights) then Duran was green in his first fight against De Jesus and shot in his rematch against Leonard. Runs both ways kid.
All fighters when they start their careers are in their prime. Yes, they are inexperienced and green but they are still in their prime. They are in their prime and then hit their peak, which is their best years, then they start to go downhill (past it) and are then shot. Pac isn't the exception to every other fighter in history by only being in his prime after his last loss. He was in his prime when he got knocked out twice and he was in his prime when he lost to Morales and drew with Marquez, just as Duran was in his prime when he lost to De Jesus and Leonard the second time. Pac was green when he was knocked out the first time, but Duran wasn't at his best against Leonard the second time. See, it's all relative?
:notworthy
Beautiful.