What was Roberto Duran boxing style ?

[WillieWild114]

Was he a pressure fighter or puncher ?

[crimsonfalcon07]

I think you're missing a lot about the guy trying to force him into a label. Watch his fights.

V Buchanan he's more of a pressure fighter.
Then watch some of his fights later. He starts using the jab. He starts feinting. He starts countering.

Then look at Duran v Palomino. Feints, counters, defensive skills, etc.

Think about the evolution of a fighter. As I recall, you're an aspiring fighter yourself. Take what's useful to you and keep trying to expand your skills. Your style will evolve, and be informed by what works and doesn't work for you in the ring.

Once you've thought about how Duran added skills that worked for him, you can watch the key defeats. Benítez, Leonard, Hagler, Hearns. Think about why he struggled with those guys. What did they do in those fights to neutralize his assets? How did that differ from how other fighters approached it.

Another point, as you track your own evolution as a fighter, is that what you see now will be different from what you see later. You'll catch more and more nuance. Don't go too crazy watching film. Pick a skill and work on it and master it. Set goals. Then watch more film. Pick something else to work on. Trying to force a great fighter into a basic style category means you miss a lot of what made him great, and there's very little value there. The greats were all more than just a base style.

[TyrantT316]

I think you're missing a lot about the guy trying to force him into a label. Watch his fights.

V Buchanan he's more of a pressure fighter.
Then watch some of his fights later. He starts using the jab. He starts feinting. He starts countering.

Then look at Duran v Palomino. Feints, counters, defensive skills, etc.

Think about the evolution of a fighter. As I recall, you're an aspiring fighter yourself. Take what's useful to you and keep trying to expand your skills. Your style will evolve, and be informed by what works and doesn't work for you in the ring.

Once you've thought about how Duran added skills that worked for him, you can watch the key defeats. Benítez, Leonard, Hagler, Hearns. Think about why he struggled with those guys. What did they do in those fights to neutralize his assets? How did that differ from how other fighters approached it.

Another point, as you track your own evolution as a fighter, is that what you see now will be different from what you see later. You'll catch more and more nuance. Don't go too crazy watching film. Pick a skill and work on it and master it. Set goals. Then watch more film. Pick something else to work on. Trying to force a great fighter into a basic style category means you miss a lot of what made him great, and there's very little value there. The greats were all more than just a base style.

Barrera and Morales remind me of Duran. More so because they can be good pressure and action fighters, but also possess "GOOD" skills. However, I think their "good" skills have a ceiling that doesn't go beyond fighters who master those skills. For example, Duran developed a multitude of very good skills that helped him stand above other good fighters who couldn't match that or other good fighters who maybe was good or very good in just one of those areas. But if he fought someone who did one of those things GREAT/exceptional, he may have struggled. Chavez too. Great pressure, good jab, good body work, good defense, good movement, etc. But when he fought someone with GREAT jab, great defense, great movement (Sweet Pea), he struggled because his good/very good wasn't great enough. Unfortunately, Sweet Pea was robbed with a draw, but my point still stands. Foreman, great power, good hard jab, great chin. But when he fought Ali someone with underrated power, great fast jab, very good/great chin, great toughness to tire and weaken George, great defense to render his "clean" power less effective, great speed, the goods/very goods weren't enough for the amount of "greats" that Ali had.

[satiev1]

Agressive offensive fighter with some elements of counter punching. He struggled against elite counter punchers. Lost ud to benitez

[champion4ever]

Was he a pressure fighter or puncher ?

Throughout most of his career; He was a considered a mid range boxer/puncher. The only time I ever recalled him being a pressure fighter was against Sugar Ray Leonard. He never pressured Ken Buchanan, Benitez, Hagler or Hearns. He fought them all while standing erect with no upper body movement at all..

[champion4ever]

Julio Cesar Chavez was considered a pressure fighter because he was an inside fighter who wore his opponents down with an accumulation of volume punches on the inside.

[F l i c k e r]

I would've called him a boxer puncher but perhaps he was simply an all around figher. had elements of everything at times and wasn't just a rock head Maidana type

[FinitoxDinamita]

Bruce Lee talked about being formless and Duran fit that mold. There were so many dimensions to his game that I dont want to put a label on his style.

[GhostofDempsey]

At his best he was a complete fighter, he did it all. I'd say he was best known as a boxer/puncher, but he had slick defense and at his best he was hard to hit clean. Great counter puncher too.

[HENNY]

Calculated aggression, that's good all-around. Very complicated fighter, because he was pretty complete overall