Duran vs. De Jesus I, what happened?

[Fox McCloud]

Duran fans, tell me the tale.

I know he ****ed De Jesus up in their next two fights, but I am curious as to how Duran lost to this guy the first time. Was it merely lack of experience?

[TheGreatA]

Basically De Jesus was a hell of a fighter and Duran didn't take him seriously enough, it was a non-title fight. De Jesus had only fought in Puerto Rico before that fight, he was brought in to lose and make Duran look good.

De Jesus knocked him down in the first round and won a decision. De Jesus went on to win the NABF title and Duran and DeJesus had their rematch.

In their rematch De Jesus knocked Duran down again in the first round but Duran knocked him out in the 11th round.

De Jesus bounced back from that KO loss and won the WBC version of the lightweight title and called Duran out for a unification fight.

Duran put on a clinic in the rubber match and stopped De Jesus in the 12th round.


Duran vs De Jesus I 1972


Duran vs De Jesus II 1974


Duran vs De Jesus III 1978

[Silencers]

I'm not sure if Duran was unprepared or whatever, but De Jesus basically controlled Duran in their first fight and showed that he was a very good fighter. He managed to hurt Duran in the first round with a left hook that sent Duran down and I think he exposed a slight weakness in Duran's arsenal at the time because he managed to slip inside Duran's jab and land left hooks pretty often, no one after De Jesus managed to do that.