was Roberto Duran really that great?

[wpink1]

Sorry but Prime Duran kills whitacker. Not enough offense from whitacker....You think 147 pound Ray could not hurt him..whitacker would not be able to scratch him.

[Nostromo]

Just press...

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[BennyST]

Sorry but Prime Duran kills whitacker. Not enough offense from whitacker....You think 147 pound Ray could not hurt him..whitacker would not be able to scratch him.

I've often wondered about this fight. It would be a difficult one for both. Very difficult. The main factor is that while Whittaker was a defensive genius he didn't have the offense to hurt Duran. I think Duran at that weight was fast enough to deal with a lot of the defense of Whittaker while being hard enough to hit himself as to give Whittaker his own offensive difficulties.

While some may look at the Chavez Whittaker fight as a similar matchup, I really can't see much similarity between Chavez and Duran. Duran was faster and smarter and better able to get inside or fight from the outside than Chavez was. Viruet was a similar fighter to Whittaker, although not as good, in that he was very defense oriented and had that same quick, slick boxer mindset. He was also the first person to really mock Duran and taunt him in the same way Whittaker would have. But, unlike at 147 against Ray, he was quick enough himself to deal with a speed fighter and gave Viruet two UD losses.

You never know though, it would have been a good fight either way.

[moy22487]

Sorry but Prime Duran kills whitacker. Not enough offense from whitacker....You think 147 pound Ray could not hurt him..whitacker would not be able to scratch him.

in the second fight sugars taunting and makeing duran miss had lots to do with the "NO MAS". i think pernell could furstrate duran, would love to see that fight tho

[Ja Dee]

Duran vs Whitaker = you can't hit what you can't see. Great analogy re: Duran-Leonard...and Pernell was an even better defensive fighter than Leonard. His lack of power, in comparison to Sugar Ray, would make it more difficult BUT at 135 he had enough sting to keep Duran at bay...let's not forget that Duran was always troubled by slicksters (Leonard, Benitez and DeJesus...who all beat him)...Sweet Pea was arguably sicker than them all.

[Azteca]

DeJesus sure as hell wasn't a slickster.

[eazy_mas]

at 135 I think he was that great as people want to make it look like because he lowblowed the champion enough to make a KO which is kinda of weird.

His greatness is winning SRL 1st time as well as winning Super WW when people lost hope of him and standing 15 round against Hagler.

[Panamaniac]

...Sweet Pea was arguably sicker than them all.

I couldn't agree more...

[wpink1]

slicker but not better. Nowhere near the power, the speed with hands, and the offensiver repitoir..... Whitacker could frusterate Duran but I highly doubt if he could exchange with Duran like Leoanrd did, for a 15 round period and not end up in asleep.

[ferocity]

I recall Whitiker had trouble with this spaniard fighter(saw the fight on youtube) the spaniard was wild didn't have the power or speed to beat whitiker. Now Duran is lightning and has power and speed. If a prime Whitiker had trouble with a wild fighter, Whitiker can't avoid the lightning in Duran.