Duran's place amongst the 4... Over ranked?

[MaD RoBoT]

ok and for the record

1. hagler 2-1 unified toughest division in boxing
2. Leonard 3-1 beat the best fighters of his era in dominating fashion
3. Hearns 2-2 beat duran like a step child went to to toe vs hagler
4. benitez 1-2 beat duran in his prime lost to leonard and hearns
5. duran - 1-2 no mas vs leonard and koed vs hearns nuff said! lmao

Duran beating SRL trumps any win of the other 3

[TMTForever]

Duran beating SRL trumps any win of the other 3

lol not.. leonard making the so called hands of stone quit is great but hearns koing duran tops that.

[Suckmedry]

Duran in my opinion is second to only ray robinson as the most technically complete fighter ever. I dont mean ranked no.2 of all time, but just using my own eyes, Duran in his prime was perfection. He was the best ever at making you miss while coming forward and attacking, he slip inside and outside of punches with well placed counters to the head or body. He had a great jab. A terrific chin. He does lots of subtle things with distance and defence that people who DKSAB cant even see.

[creekrat77]

Why is it that he seems to get so much love and is even ranked higher by most when compared to the rest of the 4 horesmen? He did tremendous things at the lower weight classes and was smaller than all three of the other guy's but he lost to every single one of them... with the exception of the one win over Leonard in the first fight (you could argue Leonard won that one too)... Hearn's nearly decapitated him, Hagler beat him, No Mas' and he lost to "Radar" Benitez...

Why is he ranked so high ... not in the lower classes but the work he did in those superfights...
He was exciting, ruthless, a wild man both in and out of the ring but he lost damn near every single one of the fights that mattered most...

I'm admitting my ignorance on the subject as I'm pretty weak with my boxing history pre 1990. So take it easy on me... but It's always been something that bothered me and I've never really gotten a good answer.
When I speak to old timer's guys my father or uncles age it's alway Leonard and then Duran that come up and maybe in close 3rd it's Hagler.

Duran was already the future hall of famer when he came up to face Leonard. He beat a prime Leonard toe to toe in a close decision. In the rematch Leonard admitted to having the fight scheduled as soon as possible because he knew Duran had major weight issues. Duran struggled and barely made weight. Leonard outclassed and controlled the distance against a already somewhat defeated Duran. No one really know's exactly why he quit, either it was because he was fed up with being "outclassed" by a guy who was running or he just felt outmatched.

Hearns lost at Welterweight against Leonard by TKO although he was way ahead on the score cards. Hearns then moved up and iced Duran in 2. From there he challenged Hagler and had him hurt bad multiple times in the fight. The fight was almost stopped too because of the gash on Haglers face. Hagler feeling the urgency caught, hurt and finished Hearns.

Benitez was a master boxer and a bigger man standing around 5'10. He was a defensive wiz but wasn't able to overtake Leonard. When he fought Hearns his defensive ability gave him a chance but Thomas was too rangy and powerful making Benitez lose a UD.

Hagler was the middleweight kingpin and would fight anyone. He waited for years for Leonard and pole axed the guy (Hearns) who iced Duran in 2. He would also fight Duran who came up from 154 in which Roberto gave him a quite competitive fight. Leonard would end up sealing the legacy by beating Hagler in a very very controversial decision. Pretty much by running and stealing rounds with quick flashy combos.

Duran was bar none the best lightweight the world had ever seen. Leonard was arguably the best welterweight ever, You could make a case for Hearns being the best jr Middleweight, and many say Hagler is the best Middelweight champion ever.

[!! Shawn]

As others said, he secured his place because not only did he jump up from 135 to beat a PRIME Leonard at 147, Duran himself was past his prime, but he also went on to be very competitive at 160 with Marvin Hagler, lost a close decision to Benitez at 154... and was able to compete with the rest of the fab 4, who were all natural 160lber, as a past his prime natural 135lber.

Throw that in with an all time great run at the lower weights, and you have one of the greatest fighters ever.

[!! Shawn]

Meh, one of the most highly regarded boxer-puncher would be a better outlook. He wasn't super skilled or anything.

If you know what you are looking at, Duran was supremely skilled. He was actually very slick, very crafty, and had a very deep bag of tricks.

Angles, head movement, feints, counterpunching, and an ability to stay on you like white on rice while punching chasing you across the ring, because of great footwork.

He was a truly balanced and versatile fighter. And had the biggest set of ball ever fit through the ropes.

[Ahmed_Ismail]

U will probably get banned, for questioning Duran. Duran is like a God on NSB but I feel your sentiment. But he did win a belt @lightweight & middleweight which is a feat in itself but I understand what u mean. One thing u have to learn is according to Everyone on NSB no modern boxer could lace any of the 4 you mentioned boxing shoes.

Winning at belts at 135 and 160 is the same as winning titles at 130 and 154, and people give Duran more credit than Mayweather, even though Mayweather was lineal champion at both weight classes and all the weight classes in between (maybe except 140 cuz Kostya Tszyu didn't wanna fight, but he still was the WBC champ).
It's funny how people WORSHIPPED Duran even though he was one of the most disrespectful fighters I've ever seen, he insulted fighters and their families before and after fights and he QUIT against Leonard. Doesn't mean he wasn't a good fighter, he was a great fighter, his ability to feint and get off feints is probably the best in history, but he definitley gets more credit than he deserves. He lost to most of his big fights except the first fight against Leonard, and even though he won it, it was his 73rd fight as a pro and it was Leonard's 28th fight as a pro, Duran was 29 and Leonard was 23, so the difference in experience and knowledge of the tricks of the trade was VAST.

[!! Shawn]

Winning at belts at 135 and 160 is the same as winning titles at 130 and 154, and people give Duran more credit than Mayweather, even though Mayweather was lineal champion at both weight classes and all the weight classes in between (maybe except 140 cuz Kostya Tszyu didn't wanna fight, but he still was the WBC champ).
It's funny how people WORSHIPPED Duran even though he was one of the most disrespectful fighters I've ever seen, he insulted fighters and their families before and after fights and he QUIT against Leonard. Doesn't mean he wasn't a good fighter, he was a great fighter, his ability to feint and get off feints is probably the best in history, but he definitley gets more credit than he deserves. He lost to most of his big fights except the first fight against Leonard, and even though he won it, it was his 73rd fight as a pro and it was Leonard's 28th fight as a pro, Duran was 29 and Leonard was 23, so the difference in experience and knowledge of the tricks of the trade was VAST.

28th fight as a Pro and an olympic gold medal. And considered the best fighter in the world...

5'6 with 70+ fights at 135 vs 5'10 regarded as one of the best welterweights of all time in his absolute prime... you make it sound like leonard was green... he made between 7-10 million dollars for the fight... thats not green fighter money...

There is a reason it is regarded as one of the best wins in the history of boxing.

Duran was also 29, when 29 was very old for a fighter... 72 fights of ring age on him already.

The fight took place in 1980... Duran turned Pro in 1968... Consider that. He was not a fresh fighter.

This in an age when Benitez was shot at 26, and most fighters were well past their best by 30.

[El-blanco]

Duran in my opinion is second to only ray robinson as the most technically complete fighter ever. I dont mean ranked no.2 of all time, but just using my own eyes, Duran in his prime was perfection. He was the best ever at making you miss while coming forward and attacking, he slip inside and outside of punches with well placed counters to the head or body. He had a great jab. A terrific chin. He does lots of subtle things with distance and defence that people who DKSAB cant even see.

If you know what you are looking at, Duran was supremely skilled. He was actually very slick, very crafty, and had a very deep bag of tricks.

Angles, head movement, feints, counterpunching, and an ability to stay on you like white on rice while punching chasing you across the ring, because of great footwork.

He was a truly balanced and versatile fighter. And had the biggest set of ball ever fit through the ropes.

Good posts.

_____

[Suckmedry]

All the fab 4 were terrific fighters. Honestly theres no one around today that matches up to their all round quality. Mayweather in his prime, when he used to actually fight with intent to hurt the opponent, is the only one. And also Pac of 08-11.

They were so technically sound, they could all punch, had quick hands, and the biggest thing was they CAME TO FIGHT. Ray Corsos posts enlightened me to the fact that a great amount of top guys today, are there simply to cash out. Theres no pride, no bad intentions, no undying will to win. Thats not to say the guys aren't trying, but they just dont bring the intensity of the fab four. Pacquiao in his 08-11 run is the only dude that comes close. GG and Kovalev too actually.

Duran was a street kid from Panama, who claimed he was a better street fighter than he was a boxer! Theres honestly some heavyweights id rather square off with than Duran. You can see it in his eyes before he fought, his body language. He came to take your soul. That machismo thing wasn't a persona. It was as real as its gets.


Hagler used to do his roadwork in army boots. Look at the look in Hearns' eyes before he fights Hagler. He literally has murder in his eyes. You dont see that today!!