Why do people like Roberto Duran

[Brockton Lip]

Hell yeah. banned finally. He blocks me out of his threads and is a moron.

[butterfly1964]

Hell yeah. banned finally. He blocks me out of his threads and is a moron.

Yeah, he blocked me too because I said that Jack Dempsey wasn't a coward.

[butterfly1964]

Yeah, he blocked me too because I said that Jack Dempsey wasn't a coward.

Either that, or it was because I said that Sonny Liston would beat George Foreman.

[sleazyfellow]

he blocked me cause of his ****** marciano vs god thread, i think hes quite funny actually, but his threads used to b just plain black vs. white, and this one he jumps all over spanish speaking dudes, well it was good while it lasted mr. tommy hearns, oh and ur a disgrace to the real motor city hitman, if u should come back just call urself arayanblacksupremcist, not after any boxers

[hellfire508]

Please tell me this thread is some kind of ****** joke? Roberto Duran in terms of greatness has to be ranked over Sugar Ray leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler etc... He was beaten by these men because he was a natural lightweight and dominated this division for a decade. Watch Duran vs Leonard I, Duran was amazing. He wasn't just the rough and tumble slugger he is percieved to be by the younger generations, he could really box... Duran was very skilled and old school. We can't discredit him for getting knocked out by Hearns, Hearns was a freak at 6'1 - 140 pounds with devestating punching power. Even Duran with his supurb defense could not overcome such an obstacle.

I hope this thread is a joke. Either that, or the only fights the author has seen of Duran are the those post 82ish (he was still great after then too, just too high up in weight). Duran was a BEAST in the 70s, an unbelievable fighter.

I love his fights with Dejesus and Palomino in particular.

Despite being at welter, Montreal will always be his signature victory.

[Yogi]

Duran's fight with Palomino was probably my favourite fight of his, as well, Hellfire, and I don't think anybody could find too many more impressive performances against top flight opposition than that one put forth by Roberto...

Fairly cautious first round by both fighters, but after that...a completely one-sided ****kicking was handed out in that fight, as Duran completely beat Palomino up from the outside with the left hooks and especially the right hands, before quickly coming inside to do the same with the hooks & uppercuts.

Domination at it's best.

[SABBATH]

Domination at it's best.

Duran schooled alot of bigger guys that tried to fight the inside game. Palomino, Leonard, Cuevas, Moore, Barkley all were outfought against Duran at close quarters.

At a distance however Duran could be beaten. His jab while effective against shorter guys as a lightweight was usually just a rangfinder against taller opponents and wasn't a real effective weapon for him once he moved up in weight. Lateral mobility also troubled Duran who liked to get his feet set before attacking.

Now, in addition to the second Leonard fight, Duran was truly taken to school against Wilfred Benitez both on the outside and inside. A masterful performance by Benitez an underrated and overlooked great fighter.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vSGaEawyL...oberto%20duran

Here's a pretty good first round KO by a prime Duran. He mixes his attack well to both body and head, makes his opponent Rojas miss, is very aggressive, busy and applies effective punching pressure.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Emy4Ktup7...oberto%20duran

[Yogi]

At a distance however Duran could be beaten. His jab while effective against shorter guys as a lightweight was usually just a rangfinder against taller opponents and wasn't a real effective weapon for him once he moved up in weight. Lateral mobility also troubled Duran who liked to get his feet set before attacking.

That's all true, and even at lightweight he showed that he wasn't as unbeatable at that weight as some think he was...Everybody has a stylistic weakness that others could take advantage of, and with Duran he was shown to have trouble at times with tricky & fairly quick outboxers (who relied on their jabs), who used mobility on their feet to avoid the inside exchanges with Duran...

You've given a couple of examples with Leonard & Benitez, but we also saw that when he fought the talented, but underachieving Kirkland Laing, who pulled off the big upset by using his quick mobility, long range jabbing, and quick hands against him. And we also saw some hints of that in his lightweight tenure, as well, against the likes of Ray Lampkin (who had some sucess with side-to-side movement, and the use of his jab) or Edwin Viruet...Haven't seen the Viruet fight, but from what I read/hear from a couple of different sources, Viruet might have been unlikely to got get the decision the first time he faced Duran in their non-title fight, and it was said that Viruet also used some quick mobility and smart outside boxing behind the jab with great success against Duran.

[SABBATH]

That's all true, and even at lightweight he showed that he wasn't as unbeatable at that weight as some think he was...Everybody has a stylistic weakness that others could take advantage of, and with Duran he was shown to have trouble at times with tricky & fairly quick outboxers (who relied on their jabs), who used mobility on their feet to avoid the inside exchanges with Duran...

You've given a couple of examples with Leonard & Benitez, but we also saw that when he fought the talented, but underachieving Kirkland Laing, who pulled off the big upset by using his quick mobility, long range jabbing, and quick hands against him. And we also saw some hints of that in his lightweight tenure, as well, against the likes of Ray Lampkin (who had some sucess with side-to-side movement, and the use of his jab) or Edwin Viruet...Haven't seen the Viruet fight, but from what I read/hear from a couple of different sources, Viruet might have been unlikely to got get the decision the first time he faced Duran in their non-title fight, and it was said that Viruet also used some quick mobility and smart outside boxing behind the jab with great success against Duran.

Don't forget the tricky Vilomar Fernandez who gave Duran some trouble went 13 rounds and also beat Alexis Arguello...

[The Noose]

The Duran - Pipino Cuevas fight is one of my favourites. There is a moment in which he slips 2 hooks, and each time delivers a body hook perfectly.
IMO Duran was one of the most natural fighters. His instincts were second to none.
His skills are so often vastly underrated. He was not just a walk forward fighter, but a great aggresive boxer, who had incredible timing and reflexes.

We all know he didnt have much of a jab, but everything else, speed, endurance, balance, body shots, counter rights, left hooks to the body, combinations, a great chin (Hearns right hand wasnt human!), Duran was one of the best ever fighters.