Manny Pacquiao vs Roberto Duran...

[sigrab jr]

He doesn't handle speed well? Did you just say he doesn't handle speed well? So, handling the speed with ease of what is generally considered the fastest 147 pounder ever was 'not handling speed well'? Beating Ken Buchanan, Esteban De Jesus, Ernesto Marcel and a million others guys with crazy hand speed is not handling speed well?



People think suddenly Pac is a good boxer. People, he's been fighting Cotto and Margarito! He would have no choice at all, even slightly, but to go toe to toe with Duran. He wouldn't beat Duran on the outside because he would get countered too much.

Duran is a counter puncher.....kind of like James Toney, but a very aggressive one. He uses the aggression of another to his best advantage, slips, blocks, ducks and then counters and gets inside. Pac would struggle to land anything hard and enough to beat him by decision, and those body shots that Margarito was landing....well, times them by a fifteen round fight and double the amount landed, and then put them in every single round. Pac does not have good defense, would get hit, and a lot, can't fight inside and doesn't have the know how to outbox Duran.

It sounds people in this thread have never actually watched him....apart from the fights when he was over thirty and at 154 or above when he was into his seventh division.

The big difference is, instead of facing **** like Margarito (well, he did actually and dominated them much easier than Pac dominated Marg: See HOF long time 147 Pipino Cuevas for example or HOF long time 147 champ Carlos Palomino) he was facing top twenty ATG's at their best when he was well past his best years and his own best weight.

Go learn something people.

Or actually, think of it like this: Pac, at 135/147, is fast, not that good a boxer and likes to stand in front of his guy and trade. Now think of someone much bigger, faster, better combinations, more powerful and you have a guy Duran beat. Now think of a guy with much less defense, not as good a chin, and doesn't take body shots and would struggle to hit the other guy that well and you have a serious recipe for disaster.

But once more for slow people....if you think this fight would come down to speed, or if you think Duran was slow, you are immediately saying you don't even know who he is and certainly haven't watched him.

Manny Pacquiao is far from a good defensive boxer but it doesn't take a genius to think about how Pacquiao can take Leonard 'running' gameplan to beat Duran or have a chance at beating him. I'm a Pac hater but if you can't recognize Pacquiao has the tools to beat Duran, handspeed, footwork and he's a southpaw then you're going a bit overboard about the "golden era". Let's not act like Duran had some Whitaker-like defense combined with Valero like power. Duran was good at what he did, and that was fighting toe to toe.

[BennyST]

For gods sake! Look at the Cotto fight at 147. If Pac fights like that, after three rounds he has no legs whatsoever to move in or out. He gets beaten up and knocked out. Seriously.

The biggest misconception though is how people think Pac has some kind of amazing footwork. He moves in straight lines 90% of the time and the only reason fighters like Marg can't keep you is because they are so slow you could run around them three times and they still wouldn't have moved.

Anyway, as usual most people have no clue here. One of the things that gave these actual prime HOF, good fighters serious trouble against Duran was his speed, defensive ability and his mastery of feints. They didn't know how to handle that type of fighter with that type of skill, experience and cunning.

Pac definitely doesn't know how to. He knows how to fight and a fight it would be. Imagine a Marquez fight, with better defense, more power, and yes, more speed but most importantly, just as great countering ability, much better body shots, more stamina and greater all around skill. Pacquiao does not win this fight and even Roach knew it. It's just one of those fights he wouldn't know how to change up in and get past things. His only chance of winning would be inside because he wouldn't be able to stop Duran getting in....and he can't fight on the inside.

He doesn't have a jab to speak of, he doesn't have a height or size advantage, his speed wouldn't be much of a factor because Duran handled speed easily and the speed difference would actually not be that big at all anyway at 135/147.

One other factor people need to take into consideration. Duran had a better chin than Margarito and was never busted up in his career. He was cut in one fight in his whole 100+ career and never swelled up. He just didn't get hit. This isn't Cotto or Margarito with no defense whatsoever, poor speed, bad chin, no stamina etc.

[Left Hook Tua]

silly Robertard....everyone knows that horse was weight drained and past its prime

the horse outweighed duran by a good 1200 lbs.

[BennyST]

Manny Pacquiao is far from a good defensive boxer but it doesn't take a genius to think about how Pacquiao can take Leonard 'running' gameplan to beat Duran or have a chance at beating him. I'm a Pac hater but if you can't recognize Pacquiao has the tools to beat Duran, handspeed, footwork and he's a southpaw then you're going a bit overboard about the "golden era". Let's not act like Duran had some Whitaker-like defense combined with Valero like power. Duran was good at what he did, and that was fighting toe to toe.

No, that's just it. He doesn't. He can't move backwards and shoot out a jab because he's can't fight like that and never has in his career. His jab is pathetic in comparison to someone like Leonard. Other boxers who were a hell of a lot better than Pac could ever be at it got destroyed. Buchanan, great a HOFer and who had one of the very best jabs and boxing skills of that era, got dominated. He didn't have the height advantage, the youth advantage, but he was still ridiculously fast with a great jab. It didn't work.

It took the greatest boxer since Robinson or Ali, in his prime, at his best weight who had a four inch height and eight inch reach to beat him and he still couldn't do it the first time around. You think Pac can do it? With his boxing skills and great Leonard like footwork and jab?*This place has really lost the plot now.

This is the reason so many ****** people can't understand certain fights and styles. Pacquiao cannot 'box'. He can fight like a crazy little madman, but he can't box to save himself. If he could he would have had no trouble at all outboxing Morales, Marquez etc when they started to outbox him like other good boxers were able to easily. Marquez couldn't handle boxers that well and neither could Morales, so why didn't Pac suddenly take these greats footwork and boxing skills and use them then? Because he doesn't have any!!! Nor has he suddenly and mysteriously gained top three ATG WW boxing skills of Robinson and Leonard. **** me but some people are ****ing moronic around here ....

Pac's now suddenly as good a boxer as Leonard is..... Ahhh, forget it....you just can't talk to some people.

What's the southpaw advantage? Do you know that Duran struggles with them? Cause he had no problem at all with them. He knocked out the five he fought at LW and WW, was winning against arguably the greatest southpaw MW of all time up until he ran out of gas because he was fat and at too high a weight for his body. Yeah, the southpaw stance really troubles him.

[El Chicano]

Pretty cool clip... He ruined Davey Moore

[Left Hook Tua]

No, that's just it. He doesn't. He can't move backwards and shoot out a jab because he's can't fight like that and never has in his career. His jab is pathetic in comparison to someone like Leonard. Other boxers who were a hell of a lot better than Pac could ever e at it got destroyed. Buchanan, great a HOFer and who had one of the very best jabs and boxing skills of that era, got dominated. He didn't have the height advantage, the youth advantage, but he was still ridiculously fast with a great jab. It didn't work.

This is the reason so many ****** people can't understand certain fights and styles. Pacquiao cannot 'box'. He can fight like a crazy little madman, but he can't box to save himself. If he could he would have had no trouble at all outboxing Morales, Marquez etc when they started to outbox him like other good boxers were able to easily. Marquez couldn't handle boxers that well and neither could Morales, so why didn't Pac suddenly take these greats footwork and boxing skills and use them then? Because he doesn't have any!!! Nor has he suddenly and mysteriously gained top three ATG WW boxing skills of Robinson and Leonard. **** me but some people are ****ing moronic around here ....

Pac's now suddenly as good a boxer as Leonard is..... Ahhh, forget it....you just can't talk to some people.

What's the southpaw advantage? Do you know that Duran struggles with them? Cause he had no problem at all with them. He knocked out the five he fought at LW and WW, was winning against arguably the greatest southpaw MW of all time up until he ran out of gas because he was fat and at too high a weight for his body. Yeah, the southpaw stance really troubles him.

pacquiao has the tools to outbox people but he doesn't use it.

pacquiao has great speed and footwork but he doesn't use it to box. i'm fine with that. i like watching him fight the way he is.

i wouldn't say pacquiao has no boxing skills , he has shown a little he just doesn't commit to it.

probably the most he ever committed to it was delahoya but even then he slugged it out.

[BennyST]

Manny Pacquiao is far from a good defensive boxer but it doesn't take a genius to think about how Pacquiao can take Leonard 'running' gameplan to beat Duran or have a chance at beating him. I'm a Pac hater but if you can't recognize Pacquiao has the tools to beat Duran, handspeed, footwork and he's a southpaw then you're going a bit overboard about the "golden era". Let's not act like Duran had some Whitaker-like defense combined with Valero like power. Duran was good at what he did, and that was fighting toe to toe.

Ok. Find me one flush, hard punch that Duran gets hit with against one of the greatest boxer/punchers of his era, champion and HOF LW in their unification match? I'll wait. Oh, and Duran happened to outbox the HOF 'boxer'.

[young_robbed]

I think Duran beats him up.. Manny gives people the opportunity to fight on the inside too often. Manny does have great footspeed and movement but duran wouldve been cutting off the ring like in the buchannan fight... He would land hard bodyshots like Margarito did..
Duran may even stop manny early if he starts fast enough.. If Manny lets duran pound away at him while he's on the ropes, then I think the fight ends quickly.

[jrosales13]

Duran gets so underrated cuz people just remember him when he was past prime out of shape.

They forget his domination at LW.

[Canelo Phresh]

i really think out of the 4 horsemen of the 80's Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, and Duran Manny only has a shot against Duran. If he stuck to the in and out tactic he has lately and really kept his head he could win a decision against Duran. Hearns would knock Manny out. Leonard would beat him in an easy decision and I think Hagler wins by knockout.