Roberto Duran vs Felix Trinidad @ 147

[Heru]

If you watch the Hearns fight from start to finish you can see that Duran is not Duran. When he gets in the ring after his ring walk you can hear the announcers talking about how Duran isn't bouncing around the ring like he usually does. In the actual fight he looks sluggish he had no bounce and not nearly the same head movement, than some of his other fights during that time.

I disagree. He still had some power after moving up, but not enough to consistently KTFO ppl like he used to. check his rec after moving up to 147, I think he has only 2 tko's in between 79/89

Maybe because he was facing SRL, Benitez, Hearns, Leonard, Hagler, etc. I agree he didn't have the same devastating power that he had at 135, but it was more than enough to hurt SRL more than a couple times in their first fight, which is world class pop.

Duran takes him out in 10 after a ton of knockdowns

[slicksouthpaw16]

Then again if the Duran - Hagler fight had been 12 rounds, Duran would've won a decision on the judges' scorecards against Hagler who I would say is better in almost every way than Trinidad except maybe one punch power.

I personally feel that they would have adjusted to the standards and knew. Thats kind of like saying if Judah against Mayweather was only 6 rounds, then Zab would have won. The fighters know and they take their time and realized that they were behind. Even if the fight was 6 rounds, Mayweather would have already adjusted to Zab and spent less time figuring him out.

[Miburo]

Everyone talks about the Hearns fight! I ain't gonna call it a lucky punch. I'd much rather call it a GREAT PUCH that landed on the perfect spot. Hearns could have K.O'd anybody with that punch.

Duran was already basically out on his feet by the end of the first round. Hearns was killing him from the bell.

[The Surgeon]

Two of my favourites here, but i got Tito to win

[TheGreatA]

Barkley was a very good fighter and a very exciting middleweight, but no where near great and certainly not around the caliber of Trinidad. In fact other than Hearns what top echelon fighter did he beat? Tito had a much better left hook, was more precise with his punches and was a lot faster. He also punched harder pound for pound. I don't think you were comparing them, but i just thought i would point that out.

I have never been impressed by Trinidad that much to be honest.

Barkley fought a great fight against Duran, probably his best. He had wins over Hearns (x2), Van Horn, Olajide, Kinchen, Scypion, majority decision loss to Nunn. He wasn't a great boxer but Duran had to overcome serious size and strength disadvantages to beat him.

I personally feel that they would have adjusted to the standards and knew. Thats kind of like saying if Judah against Mayweather was only 6 rounds, then Zab would have won. The fighters know and they take their time and realized that they were behind. Even if the fight was 6 rounds, Mayweather would have already adjusted to Zab and spent less time figuring him out.

Hagler certainly didn't adjust quickly enough in the Leonard fight. I'm quite sure he would've won if the fight had been 15 rounds like the fight with Duran was.

[Don Johnson]

Interesting fantasy matchup! I agree with Silencer...the Duran that beat Leonard would have beaten nearly any welterweight on that night. That being said, Duran only fought a handfull of fights near the 147 pound weight class, and beat some decent contenders of the time but lacked the pop he had at lightweight. I think Tito would win a narrow ud.

Dude Duran ko'd a SMW fighter in Iran Barkley and Barkley had a pretty decent chin. Duran had power at 147 trust me.

[BennyST]

Duran fights too close and doesn't have the defense to slip punches for the entire fight.

You obviously haven't seen much of a well prepared Duran at WW. One of the great skills that he had was the ability to slip punches and be next to impossible to hit cleanly. If Leonard and Palomino could hardly catch him then Trinidad is certainly not going to be able to either. Trinidad was not a very skilled boxer and anyone with good skill and the ability to not get hit, such as Hopkins and Wright showed, could beat him quite handily.

Duran was just as skilled defensively, though in a different way, and Trinidad did not have the movement, speed, skills, jab or defense of Leonard to frustrate him. Leonard was the only boxer to have ever frustrated him anyway, so the whole "Duran can't handle boxers" is really a bit of a myth.
Every great boxer he faced previously had been beaten quite badly by him (Buchanan, Marcel, Fernandez, Viruet, Mamby, De Jesus) and they had much more classic boxing skill than Trinidad (ie. relied more on their boxing to win than power). Trinidad won by power, not boxing. If the power couldn't get them he would struggle to win.

[Pullcounter]

A match up pretty intersting too see.

Both guy have power but ofcourse Tito has more both from Latin America which is going to me some lation war


Tito vs Manos de Piedra

this is a tough one, considering that hearns destroyed duran.

[-Antonio-]

Duran by UD.

[klipsch speaker]

This is just a testament to Duran's greatness as a fighter. Leonard, Benitez, Hearns, Hagler, Moore, Cuevas, Palomino, Barkley among others are at least 2 divisions naturally larger than Duran... I really would rank very few fighters above Duran in terms of defense... His defense was what carried him through his exploits against the bigger boys...

Duran, much like James Toney has had issues regarding poor conditioning and diet... A properly conditioned and well trained Duran beats Trinidad at 147...