A thread dedicated to one of my personal hero's,Roberto Duran

[sunny31]

Great fighter. His showing against Hagler was an underrated and extremely impressive performance.

He nearly got decapitated by Hearns though, that is one of my favourite KO's of all time. Brutal.

[The plunger man]

Truly an ATG. I often wonder what would have become of the rematch with Leonard had he NOT blow up in between fights and stayed consistent as he had beforehand.

I think Leonard pushed Duran as far he would go the first fight and the 2nd fight had nothing to do with training or putting on weight..he always let his weight balloon ....on the night 2nd fight I think it was just the style....I'm also a firm believer that duran had a mr Hyde side that he could just lose control and do something erratic .....I think duran was Duran and he would not have been Duran if he was disciplined and was a gym rat and never drank or binged.....Tyson was the same...the animal side once you tame it becomes controllable......there's a fine line between genius and insanity and Duran was both......Roberto Duran was a great great fighter

[SouthPawHitman]

Great fighter. His showing against Hagler was an underrated and extremely impressive performance.

He nearly got decapitated by Hearns though, that is one of my favourite KO's of all time. Brutal.

Please take this somewhere else.

[SouthPawHitman]

My all time favorite. I never got to watch him fight live but I did get to dance salsa at his bar with him singing. He isn't as great of a salsa singer as he was a boxer but he is pretty good.

Duran's (actually owned by his son) is a great place to go if you are ever in Panama. My group of about 15 people were just talking and talking. They thought I was not social because all I was doing was watching his fights in the TVs they have there showing his fights on a loop.

I actually am in the process of planning a trip to Panama.

[imperial1]

I actually am in the process of planning a trip to Panama.

Enjoy it man stay in Panama City tons of stuff to do there mad woman out there

You looking forward to Durans Bio pic ?

[soul_survivor]

Duran is indeed one of boxing's most intriguing characters, right besides Ali and Tyson as someone I love reading about. That Leonard rematch haunted him and I think it spurred him onto more greatness, he now had to prove to people he had balls, that quitting was an anomaly, not the norm. He moved higher and higher in weight, looking for redemption.

I don't think he ever reached truly great heights post Montreal but he went from being a beast to a quitter to a lovable underdog to a man who wanted one last shot at greatness. His wins over the likes of Moore and Barkley spoke not just of great skill, which he still had but more of tenacity and the will to leave behind one more impressive memory. His 15 rounds against Hagler spoke of Duran's desire to show his people, the Panamanian people, that he wasn't a quitter.

For every great night, there were several bad ones, Hearns, Panzienza and uknowns like Laing. The consistency and greatness he had from lightweight to Montreal was gone but he could still provide more drama than just about anyone in the sport. If he had never walked away from Leonard, would we ever have seen Duran the middleweight? Or Duran the great risk taker? Or Duran the middle aged pugilist?

If Duran had beaten Leonard again or gone out on shield, would he have retired or said "no mas" to boxing's highest level and grown fat and contented on the knowledge of beating his generations greatest exponent of the sweet science? Maybe we should thanks Duran for quitting because it's that nightmare which haunted him to ever great heights.

[SouthPawHitman]

Enjoy it man stay in Panama City tons of stuff to do there mad woman out there

You looking forward to Durans Bio pic ?

Man I can't wait. Edgar Ramirez is a great actor. De Niro is playing Arcel. The guy is a legend.

I'll probably go to Panama City. I'm going to stay drunk for an entire week.

[PrBoxing88]

This man(Duran) got schooled by a Puerto Rican, in Benitez!!! 2 of the greatest boxer of all time... i wonder why he never asked for a rematch...

[ea22]

Man I can't wait. Edgar Ramirez is a great actor. De Niro is playing Arcel. The guy is a legend.

I'll probably go to Panama City. I'm going to stay drunk for an entire week.

Me too, based on the cast the movie at least has potential, and I am watching it no matter what. I usually don't have this mentality towards boxing related works(didn't see southpaw)but it's Duran so I will make an exception.

[SouthPawHitman]

Me too, based on the cast the movie at least has potential, and I am watching it no matter what. I usually don't have this mentality towards boxing related works(didn't see southpaw)but it's Duran so I will make an exception.

Green K sent.