Roberto Duran: Slightly overrated defensively?

[IronDanHamza]

Duran and Hagler are known to alot of guys as face first brawlers!

Duran was cute with his defence but to say he was unhittable is incorrect he got tagged plenty but his defence was first rate and his chin solid too

Yeah. Hagler is another one that a worrying amount of people say was an all out brawler.

[The Surgeon]

Yeah. Hagler is another one that a worrying amount of people say was an all out brawler.

He looks like a mean mother ****er and is most famous for goin wild on Hearns, obviously thats all the masses know of Hagler i guess. Shame he is really under sold by that

[GJC]

A lot of people will only take a shallow look at his style, see he's coming forward throwing punches and stereotype () him as the coming forward no nonsense LaMotta type, at times it could be difficult to see his slight head movement, he could be very economical with it when he wanted and casual fans might not notice.

He had head movement down to milimetres if you watch the 1st Leonard fight a lot of Leonard's punches missed by a fraction which made people think that Leonard had scored with a lot more punches than he had.
It's an interesting fight to watch with the sound off so as not to get distracted by the comentators and crowd noise and actually watch how many of Leonard's punches didn't actually land.
As to the thread I guess it is the old depends where you sit on Duran, he certainly wasn't a brawler nor was he Willie Pep but for a "fighter" his defence was top notch.

[Barn]

He had a very good defense, his head movement was superb. His defense is not noticable a lot as he uses quick subtle movements while going in on the attack. You are so distracted by his stunning offense you forget to look at the little tricks and defense manouvers he is pulling off while doing so.

[New England]

nobody is impossible to hit


very rarely was duran hit with flush punches, especially before his reflexes started to slow down
when he did get hit he knew how to roll with shots and fire back


considering the manner in which he fought that's remarkable.



i've said he was "Impossible to hit" in one of these threads. hell, maybe it's me you're talking about who is "overrating" him defensively
i'll stand by it. he was a brilliant boxer.
he was one of the more adept fighters defensively of his era
and he never ran while doing it

[Scott9945]

Duran's defense was excellent for an aggressive fighter. But that shouldn't be confused with Willie Pep or Pernell Whitaker. Duran's defense was underrated for a long time. Now it is overrated similar to the way Mike Tyson's is.

[BigStereotype]

Duran's defense was excellent for an aggressive fighter. But that shouldn't be confused with Willie Pep or Pernell Whitaker. Duran's defense was underrated for a long time. Now it is overrated similar to the way Mike Tyson's is.

That's really how I see it.

[BennyST]

Yeah, it's a funny one. It can be overrated, yet is underrated in general. I think it's underrated, because for an offensive based fighter of his caliber, it is literally impossible not to get hit. When you think of classic defensive guys and watch those rare fights where they feel like brawling or standing in, they get hit a hell of a lot more than usual and often as much as the next guy. When you put it into that context, it kind of makes sense how good his defense was.

When he deliberately tried not to be hit in classic defensive mode, he was very, very difficult to hit at all. See later part of Leonard fight for example when he was mocking Leonard with it. It's just rare that he ever did do it. He certainly wasn't a Pep though, and fought far, far too differently to ever be like that. It was just one of the great skills which made the way he did fight all the better.

Carlos: You don't consider a prime Leonard to be one of the greatest combination punchers of all time?

[CarlosG815]

Yeah, it's a funny one. It can be overrated, yet is underrated in general. I think it's underrated, because for an offensive based fighter of his caliber, it is literally impossible not to get hit. When you think of classic defensive guys and watch those rare fights where they feel like brawling or standing in, they get hit a hell of a lot more than usual and often as much as the next guy. When you put it into that context, it kind of makes sense how good his defense was.

When he deliberately tried not to be hit in classic defensive mode, he was very, very difficult to hit at all. See later part of Leonard fight for example when he was mocking Leonard with it. It's just rare that he ever did do it. He certainly wasn't a Pep though, and fought far, far too differently to ever be like that. It was just one of the great skills which made the way he did fight all the better.

Carlos: You don't consider a prime Leonard to be one of the greatest combination punchers of all time?

I think Leonard was an awesome combination puncher with a ton of speed but I was referring to Duran at lightweight. He still struggled with Leonard and it was a very close fight, and we all know what happened when they fought a second time.

[Steak]

In his 50 years of fighting, I cant remember his face looking very swollen...especially not in his prime. Cant think of a time he was cut in a fight, although he had a lot of fights, mightve missed it