Roberto Duran greatness thread

[SouthPawHitman]

Please keep all "No Mas" talk out of this thread.





Lets discuss Duran's greatness.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Best of all time. No fighter displayed such defensive prowess while being aggressive at the same time. A true master of in-fighting who won titles in four weight classes, including lightweight and middleweight which few others have ever accomplished. At lightweight, simply unbeatable.

[The Old LefHook]

Please keep all "No Mas" talk out of this thread.





Lets discuss Duran's greatness.

He quit against Leonard, but his AT legacy somehow does not suffer. Too bad about the quit job, because he had plenty of room left to catch up in that fight. Instead, he threw a tantrum.

He had a full bag of boxing tricks well beyond most of his opponents. Only Benitez was up to his level, and Benitez was a little beyond everyone in his time as a pure boxer. He did not need to run to beat Duran. Running all over the ring was not Wilfred's style anyway. A normal runner could not beat Duran. Like Whitaker, Wilfred was fond of planting his feet in cement and still avoiding everything thrown. Track shoes were tried by the Viruets, who could run as well as any non-puncher. Respectable firepower was a must, otherwise Duran walked right through you.

Even the reputation of Duran will subside and settle lower eventually. Future generations may not display our own forgiveness. Those generations will not see why their own slick idols would not do the same to him as Leonard did. A quitter is a quitter, they will say. Already, the current generation of casual fan would pick Floyd by runaway over hands of stone. Read the posts of the masses.

Eventually people will say Who was Barkely anyway? He knocked Hearns out, right, the one with the glass chin who easily KO'd Roberto?

His final resting place may even be out of the top 10 ATG's! We do not make the lists of the future, and those who make them will not consult our thousands of old lists. Every generation has its own ideas, good or bad. In eighty years the "humans" watching old fight tapes will have many electronic implants to supplement their analyses. That is rock-solid certain. For all we know, they will be inside the fighters in some way. Watching high resolution digital replays from our era would feel more primitive to them than daguerreotypes to us.

[rightsideup]

True realists know duran should not have been in the ring with Leonard for the second fight. No fighter at that elite level can go into battle with the lack of preparation.

But as the ts stated we are to discuss roberto's greatness and part of his legacy was to create doubt be written off and comeback. At his best he was a complete fighter capable of fighting in different styles if necessary compare dejeus 2 and 3 the boxscore result was the same but duran was more refined in the last fight. He moved up in weight and engaged in fantastic fights. As his manager for the beginning of his tenure said if duran prepared himself correctly he was unbeatable.

[sonnyboyx2]

IMO Duran's greatest career performance was against Marvin Hagler. It is a fight i have watched many times over the years and Duran was masterful that night. Hagler rallied in the final round to "Just" edge the decision on the scorecards, but Marvin fought the toughest opponent of his entire career. Duran actually fought that final round feeling as if he had already done enough to gain the victory, which was a huge mistake on his part. I had Marvin winning the fight by one round (final round).. Duran's ability to slip and roll with Hagler's punches, while standing in close with him was incredible. Duran's body-punching, hurt Hagler through rounds 8-14.. Marvin finished the fight the victor but beaten up, by a truly legendary fighter...

[rightsideup]

It's fairly amazing that Duran has been in many wars and over 100 fights from 1968-2001 and shows no signs of mental problems or at least from what I've seen from him recently. A lot of his fights were vs. larger prime opponents.

The man was an absolute animal.

Recently he looks very well his weight is down and he has all his facilities he once had a physical and his skull was abnormally thick and this may have aided him in regards to taking shots

[The Old LefHook]

My Spanish is mediocre. He only speaks Spanish, so I cannot tell if his speech is messed up.

[soul_survivor]

Top 10-15 ATG in the eyes of everybody. Top 5 in the eyes of many.

In terms of offensive capabilities, few have been better, especially at lw and ww but he coupled with with some defensive smarts and had exceptional natural abilities: power, speed, punch resistance. Fewer fighters have been so good for so long and done so much so well.

[SouthPawHitman]

My Spanish is mediocre. He only speaks Spanish, so I cannot tell if his speech is messed up.

What are you trying to say?

[rightsideup]

Duran is fine today and enjoying life