Whitaker. Duran couldn't handle Sugar Ray ****ing with him so he'll see Sweat Pea as some sort of Boxing alien that he cant touch.He'd have a better Chance at Floyd.
Very tough to call. I do think both guys have a good chance, but with their best I would take Duran very slightly. People will probably compare Whitaker Duran to Whitaker Chavez, with the big problem there being that Duran and Chavez really didn't fight much alike at all. I guess the only comparison would be the offense, but, Duran was a hell of a lot faster than Chavez was and also much harder to hit.
Whitaker did have a tendency to stand in a fair bit which would play against him here, so I would see this as a stick and move fight for Whitaker which brings up his chances. Even though many people say that the moving boxer frustrated Duran, the only one do ever actually beat him at that style was Leonard, who was a vastly different type of fighter than Whitaker. Much taller, and also had a faster, longer, more prominent jab and used his legs a hell of a lot more. Apart from Leonard though, Duran actually fought quite a lot of great boxer/movers at lightweight. Marcel (this was actually at FW. Marcel was a brilliant fighter and is a HOF nominee this year), Mamby, Buchanan, Viruet etc etc. All were beaten handily.
I don't know, there are so many factors that could play into this fight, but having watched all their respective fights at lightweight though, I would take Duran by a very thin decision. He had the perfect mix of brilliant defense when coming in and was impossible to hit cleanly on the inside and his offensive skills would be the big difference I think. They would both struggle to land well on each other up the top but Whitaker was susceptible to straight rights (he was put down quite a number of times by that exact punch) and Duran had a very sneaky, fast, hard one which could work off his body attack to slow Pea down.
They never really fought anyone that was as good as each other though. Duran came much closer I think having faced better opposition especially at lightweight. Whitaker fought guys that many would compare to this fight such as Ramirez and Chavez, but they would not compare at all really. Slower, more predictable, easier to hit and didn't have the boxing skill that Duran had.
By the time Duran started getting beaten by the faster boxers, it was because he himself had significantly slowed. At lightweight he was often faster than those boxers though which is the reason I could see this going his way. He would be getting off as quick as Whitaker would be.
Hard to call though. Would have been very exciting to see. The difference I see is that Pea would still have to get in to land enough to out-work Duran. It would on those exchanges that I would see Duran just coming off the better. Nonetheless, this is one fight that could go either way. For me though, I would take Duran.
Good read but Duran hthe height and reach that would enable Pernell to simply outbox. Pernell had to trade against fighters who were 5'10-6'0. Duran is much shorter then that but slippery. Hard fight to call. Green K btw
Tweet
Comment