Who beats Roberto Duran ...

[DeepSleep]

well, duran and Castillo did not fight alike. Its a common misconception that Duran was that type of pressure fighter...he wasnt.

Duran was a passive-aggressive counter puncher...by that I mean he would constantly stalk you and put on pressure with feints without throwing many real punches, and actually force his opponent to lead and then counter them. he complemted this by using a sort of smart mauling attack at close range, and it was incredibly efficient.

If you watch Duran against Viruet or Bizzaro, you can tell hes incedibly pissed off at runners. make no mistake...he easily won and dominated those fights. but he wasnt a destroyer against guys that ran from him. He wasnt really a Castillo or Chavez type of pressure fighter that quickly cut the distance, he was very(almost too much) patient.

I see Duran winning, but this would be an ugly fight for him. Not too many punches landed on either side imo, and it would not be exciting.

At 135 Floyd did a lot more boxing and a lot less running all over the ring like he does at WW. I don't think Duran would have too much trouble finding Floyd. Also I think some people underestimate Duran's defense when he works his way inside, he does some excellent work inside at rolling and taking the steam off of punches.

Duran would most likely find a way to win just based on willpower and being the stronger fighter on the inside but it would be a hell of a struggle. Duran would not be pleased watching so many of his punches hitting elbows, shoulder and air. Mayweather would land the cleaner more effective blows with that right hand but Duran would outwork him by a wide enough margin to take the razor thin decision.

[McGoorty]

This. I would actually LOVE to see Whitaker-Duran because sweat pea was fast as **** and so hard to hit it'd be interesting to see how Duran would deal with that, but the man was straight relentless. He'd find away to make the judges wanna kill themselves when scoring that fight.

I dont rate Whittaker as high as some people, but we are talking head to head matchups here, where I believe that a guy like Benny Leonard has the quality and style to thrash Pea under typical 20's conditions at least, but I see a guy like Pea as exactly the one type of fighter Duran didnt like to fight, Pea has the tools here to make an awesome fight, I would hope Duran catches him but I am not sure.... I think there have been quite a few LW's through time that dont really suit Duran........... I say that there has NEVER been an unbeatable lightweight, and some names wont be obvious at all... if anyone seriously believes Duran wins 995 fights out of a thousand against all the top lightweights among the top 200....... NO-ONE can do that, I say its impossible,,, styles always make fights... otherwise none of the greats would have ever lost to a lesser fighter,, but they do, dont they...... there were guys like Lew Jenkins,,, if that guy landed just one of his bombs flush on any fighters chin,, they went to sleep.......... these guys you can consider intangibles, or dark horses if you like,

[McGoorty]

So what? Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Eder Jofre, Wille Pep, Sam Langford, Tony Canzoneri, SRR, Kid Gavilan......should I go on?.......all had every skill you could want and were 15 round fighters or better. What's your point?

I think the point is basically that Trojans has a secret desire for Floyd's children.

[Miburo]

Whitaker would be a very dangerous fight for him that I see him losing by a slight margin. Benitez did it at a higher weight and was not much naturally bigger.

[McGoorty]

mayweather would hate duran on the inside (duran is the better inside fighter and the stronger one) IF he doesnt move... fine, the 1st castillo fight, PBF chose to mix it up more on the inside against the mexican... (shoulder injury perhaps?) but for the return match, PBF offered more movement and displayed a more nuanced ring generalship wherein he engaged in the pocket less and became more economical with his punches, picking spots and "found his bicycle" to bring castillo out of his comfort zone so to speak...

for the record despite these things, i would still favor the panamanian to win this fantasy fight because i feel duran can deal with anything PBF has to offer, but not completely sure if its the same the other way around...

Lets face it, for the most part Floyd has never fought fighters as good as in the old days, and he has NEVER fought someone as good as a Duran or any top 20 lightweight in my opinion, Duran beats Floyd an nearly every department, Floyd may not have run from any of his LW opponents but he would be on his bike against Duran and would make the Gene Tunney who ran so fast from Dempsey in the Long Count round look like Tunney was moving forward. Duran KO's Mayweather... in both fights if they ever made a second.

[Capaedia]

Floyd may not have run from any of his LW opponents but he would be on his bike against Duran and would make the Gene Tunney who ran so fast from Dempsey in the Long Count round look like Tunney was moving forward. Duran KO's Mayweather... in both fights if they ever made a second.

I don't think Floyd would win, but what are you basing this off of?

You're saying a fighter who honestly is one of the smartest and best defensive fighters ever, who has only ever been down once (unofficially, his glove touched the canvas because he was off balance) is going to get knocked out.

You don't like Mayweather, I remember this well, but you could at least give him credit. He'd have to move up more than a few divisions before someone is likely to stop him.

[McGoorty]

I don't think Floyd would win, but what are you basing this off of?

You're saying a fighter who honestly is one of the smartest and best defensive fighters ever, who has only ever been down once (unofficially, his glove touched the canvas because he was off balance) is going to get knocked out.

You don't like Mayweather, I remember this well, but you could at least give him credit. He'd have to move up more than a few divisions before someone is likely to stop him.

I'm saying Duran is a monster Floyd has never met and will not meet, not now. Duran was equally good at defence, I think he rolled with punches better than anyone else in his era and I think he would test Floyds defence more than any Floyd opponent could have, I am talking prime Duran.... I am not a fan of Floyd, you are right about that, but I still rate him as the #2 fighter of his era... because I have eyes and am no fool. BUT I do believe that styles make fights and boxing is far harder to predict head to head than most posters here seem to realise so I acknowledge that I will be wrong sometimes and that may sometimes coincide with you being right, but I do think a KO victory is possible as I dont think Floyd has had the greatest opposition. I reckon #2 in this era akin to being top 20 in many other eras, I am talking pound for pound, not divisions.

[Capaedia]

I'm saying Duran is a monster Floyd has never met and will not meet, not now. Duran was equally good at defence, I think he rolled with punches better than anyone else in his era and I think he would test Floyds defence more than any Floyd opponent could have, I am talking prime Duran....

I am not dis*****g that Duran was an amazing fighter, but at his best, so was and is Floyd.

This is another ATG we are talking about. One who in his prime was very much a complete fighter with a fighters mindset to go with it. He had everything you could want, much like Duran with a different style.

I am not a fan of Floyd, you are right about that, but I still rate him as the #2 fighter of his era... because I have eyes and am no fool. BUT I do believe that styles make fights and boxing is far harder to predict head to head than most posters here seem to realise so I acknowledge that I will be wrong sometimes and that may sometimes coincide with you being right, but I do think a KO victory is possible as I dont think Floyd has had the greatest opposition. I reckon #2 in this era akin to being top 20 in many other eras, I am talking pound for pound, not divisions.

A KO victory is always possible in boxing. That goes both ways, in this fight too. If Duran got too confident against Floyd, he could well find himself on the seat of his pants. I don't think that would happen, but it's a possibility.

I think if Floyd did get hurt, that's a fairly big if in my opinion, he would ugly it up until he clears his head (which the Mosley and Corley fight showed us, can be very quickly).

I agree that #2 in this particular era could mean only a top 20 slot in some other eras (I'm going to leave aside that I think Floyd is #1). But if you put Floyd in that era, he's got better competition to prove himself against, and I think he would be up to that challenge.

[McGoorty]

I am not dis*****g that Duran was an amazing fighter, but at his best, so was and is Floyd.

This is another ATG we are talking about. One who in his prime was very much a complete fighter with a fighters mindset to go with it. He had everything you could want, much like Duran with a different style.



A KO victory is always possible in boxing. That goes both ways, in this fight too. If Duran got too confident against Floyd, he could well find himself on the seat of his pants. I don't think that would happen, but it's a possibility.

I think if Floyd did get hurt, that's a fairly big if in my opinion, he would ugly it up until he clears his head (which the Mosley and Corley fight showed us, can be very quickly).

I agree that #2 in this particular era could mean only a top 20 slot in some other eras (I'm going to leave aside that I think Floyd is #1). But if you put Floyd in that era, he's got better competition to prove himself against, and I think he would be up to that challenge.

I am no ******* but I do believe he is the greater fighter and has met the best out there as he was rising, and I dont care what anyone says to diss Manny's 8 division titles from Flyweight up as simply incredible, more than incredible and he fights more like an old timer. I really would have liked to see another guy Floyds size who was a true ATG and to have given us an amazing 3 fight series, I never saw how much was left in Floyds tank as he has never been tested... at least I have never even seen him in a real contest, just walkover after walkover.

[McGoorty]

I am no ******* but I do believe he is the greater fighter and has met the best out there as he was rising, and I dont care what anyone says to diss Manny's 8 division titles from Flyweight up as simply incredible, more than incredible and he fights more like an old timer. I really would have liked to see another guy Floyds size who was a true ATG and to have given us an amazing 3 fight series, I never saw how much was left in Floyds tank as he has never been tested... at least I have never even seen him in a real contest, just walkover after walkover.

I simply have no idea how on earth ******* came up there, I never swore so not sure what happened there.