Roberto Duran VS Julio Caesar Chavez

[KingOfTheRng]

on the post duran-chavez both in their prime didnt a prime duran quit against sugar ray leanord a prime duran turn his back and said "NO MAS" sugar ray was not a devastating puncher.so i would say a duran chavez would of come to who has the most heart the most balls at i'd say chavez wins we are talking about both of them in their primes chavez was tremendous puncher with great skills and a great chin complete fighter

Dude the only reason Duran quit in the second fight against Leonard was because Leonard was running during the fight and wouldnt fight the way Duran wanted to which was a punching match. So hell no he wouldnt quit in a match with Chavez because they would fight. Duran by TKO!!!!!

[KingOfTheRng]

And the reason I say TKO is because Chavez is not going down.

[JAB5239]

Dude the only reason Duran quit in the second fight against Leonard was because Leonard was running during the fight and wouldnt fight the way Duran wanted to which was a punching match. So hell no he wouldnt quit in a match with Chavez because they would fight. Duran by TKO!!!!!

Duran quit because he was out of shape and frustrated. Leonard didn't run, he fought a smart fight.

[BennyST]

the infighting displayed in this fight would have been pure beauty. Off the top of my head I cant think of a more solid, technically perfect infighting matchup than this.

Duran, while not always a destroyer on the inside, was very methodical and efficient, landing his punches and then tying up to stop his opponents momentum. and because of Duran's excellent defense and superior ability to fight on the outside, he would be able to beat Chavez.

Expect a fight somewhat along the lines of Duran-Palomino, except Chavez being much more effective than Palomino on the inside and the fight in general being more competitive.
Likely one of those fights where Duran wins a pretty fair majority of the rounds, yet the two way action in the fight would be much closer than the scorecards suggested.

Yeah, I agree with this. Would be a great fight. One of those that you could watch over and over and always find some brilliant new thing happening or subtle skill that you missed earlier.

Duran was also much faster at lightweight than many people think, and at welterweight too, and I think this would factor into this fight as much as his defense and overall ability on the inside and outside. He would start and finish the exchanges quicker.

But Chavez also tended to lead quite a bit off counter punches like Duran, though the majority of Duran's offense started off counter shots, so I think we would see a fair bit of this fight fought on the outside with Duran countering, then smothering Chavez inside with Chavez trying to get off his shots inside. Every now and then they would both go at it on the inside.

[RubenSonny]

the infighting displayed in this fight would have been pure beauty. Off the top of my head I cant think of a more solid, technically perfect infighting matchup than this.

Duran, while not always a destroyer on the inside, was very methodical and efficient, landing his punches and then tying up to stop his opponents momentum. and because of Duran's excellent defense and superior ability to fight on the outside, he would be able to beat Chavez.

Expect a fight somewhat along the lines of Duran-Palomino, except Chavez being much more effective than Palomino on the inside and the fight in general being more competitive.
Likely one of those fights where Duran wins a pretty fair majority of the rounds, yet the two way action in the fight would be much closer than the scorecards suggested.

I saw pea get the better of the infighting in their fight by mixing it up - closing in throwing fast combos getting out and throwing a couple of jabs maybe mixing up with a combo and then closing the distance again, this is something Duran was great at. I don't think it would be as close as people think.

[BennyST]

I saw pea get the better of the infighting in their fight by mixing it up - closing in throwing fast combos getting out and throwing a couple of jabs maybe mixing up with a combo and then closing the distance again, this is something Duran was great at. I don't think it would be as close as people think.

Admittedly, by that stage Chavez was not his old self and certainly not the same as he was at lightweight. He was much too patient and took too long to reset and start over and simply get off.

However, I agree with the general sentiment.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

Duran wins a spectacular fight. He was just plain the better man, did most things better than Chavez. Why it would be close & competitive is because Duran would fight Chavez's fight, & no one is doing that against the LW Chavez without working extremely hard for the win.

Duran via competitive, yet clear, decision. 8-6-1 sounds fair. Chavez would give it everything, & would not be disgraced, but he gives a lot of ground over to Duran in talent.

[joseph5620]

Admittedly, by that stage Chavez was not his old self and certainly not the same as he was at lightweight. He was much too patient and took too long to reset and start over and simply get off. However, I agree with the general sentiment.

While that's true, the same can be said for Whitaker who was never as good at 147 as he was at 135.

[BennyST]

While that's true, the same can be said for Whitaker who was never as good at 147 as he was at 135.

Whitaker may have not have been as good at 147, but he was in his peak years and fighting as good as ever really. Chavez was all but done as far as his prime was concerned. It's not taking away from Whitaker, it's just an observation. He would go on to lose to Randall a few short months after etc. It was basically the end of his championship years and signified the end of his prime.

I think it would have ended a similar way at lightweight in my opinion but it would have been a much closer fight. It might have actually been semi close to the robbery draw their fight ended up as.

89 fights and about 15 years as a pro. He really was not what he was, but he was still a brilliant fighter, just not what made him a legend.

Whitaker had just come off his great lightweight reign and was basically just starting out his 147 reign. Not as good as a lightweight, but it's more like the difference between a 135 pound Chavez and 140 pound Chavez. Still a prime fighter.

[Steak]

I saw pea get the better of the infighting in their fight by mixing it up - closing in throwing fast combos getting out and throwing a couple of jabs maybe mixing up with a combo and then closing the distance again, this is something Duran was great at. I don't think it would be as close as people think.

well, theres a few things to consider.

1. Chavez was starting to fade by that point in his career.(You would HAVE to say that Whitaker was closer to his prime than Chavez was, at least)
2. Chavez was moving up to Welterweight
3. Whitaker didnt necessarily 'beat' Chavez on the inside: Whitaker was smart. He would grab and shoeshine Chavez a little, limiting Chavez's offensive attack, because Chavez would be more concerned to keep the fight in that area than doing damage, since Whitaker was extremely hard to beat on the outside because of his jab.
and despite the fact that Whitaker clearly deserved the win, its not like Whitaker dominated Chavez that bad. In reality the fight was around 116-112 or so.

and Duran was a different mindset than Whitaker. He had no problem whatsoever fighting on the inside, and enjoyed it. Also he rarely actually 'kept people off', if anything he invited them in a lot because his style was based off of counter punching...and he also was an excellent infighter.

and I dont think it would be necessarily 'close' scorecard wise, I dont see Chavez winning more than 3 rounds actually(12 round fight). But the action between the two would not reflect any domination at all: it would be a two way fight where Duran just happened to have the upper hand in most the rounds, where every round would be competitive.