Amir Khan v Roberto Duran

I'm a Duran FAN, but honestly, NO FIGHTER in history gets more excuses for their losses than he does.

Benitez simply had a style that Duran couldn't figure out.

ANY great masterclass performance can be picked apart. ANY.

People pick apart Jones-Toney, and Mayweather-Corrales by saying Toney, and Corrales were weight drained. They pick apart Ali-Liston by saying Sonny was old, and threw the fight. Pick apart Hopkins-Tito by saying Tito was too small.

Benitez put on a MARVELOUS display of boxing in that fight. He was also masterful against Palomino, and Cervantes, but the Duran fight IMO was his true peak performance.

 

The Benitez fight was like a year after the Leonard fiasco. Duran lost to Kirkland Laing in his very next fight after Benitez. The guy had lost interest, motivation, and was in a clear slump for years. Even after that, he was never the same fighter again. I'm not trying to take anything away from Benitez, it was a brilliant performance & he was a brilliant fighter. Defeating even that version of Duran was no mean feat. But it's clear as day that Duran was disinterested and had no fire that night. Ray Leonard (doing the commentary) noted it several times early on.

 

Duran was past prime but he was in tip-top shape for that fight... Trained like a maniac on a former French penal island... He was motivated, all of it... He just got beat fair and square

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j861G_yIPU#t=730

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j861G_yIPU#t=907

 

See above clogg ^^

 

What you trying to show me here???

 

Listen to what Leonard is saying

 

man, fuck Leonard!

Dude talked out his ass constantly

Duran trained demonically for this fight, it was well-documented at the time... Benitez was just a lot better than Davey Moore

 

but Leonard is speaking on things he's observing in the fight about things Duran is doing, which (imo) are clearly visible to anyone else watching the fight as well

edit: Palomino is also on the commentary and says the same thing

 

Agreed, big style off night for Duran. He had a lot of them post prime unfortunately, he just kind of went threw the motions in a lot of fights, without anywhere NEAR the intensity he had as a lightweight and young WW.

 

Dude was in great shape, nothing he could've done different, IMO... I think a younger Duran probably takes Benitez but in 1982 he wasn't going to be any sharper than he was for that fight

 

Thats because most his big fights happened well into his 30s, 70, 80+ fights into his career, when he was training intermittently, 2, 3, 4 fights above his prime weight. Excuses/facts.

 

Like MWS said, he was physically in shape but just going through the motions.. it was very clearly a different fighter from the one in Montreal, or even the one who beat Cuevas.

 

The one in Montreal was 2 years younger and Cuevas was fucking used up. Benitez made him have to be tentative by hammering him with shots

 

Absolutely. Being in shape is simply one factor of a fight, a basic prerequisite for an elite pro fight.

What's the main thing you think of when you think of Duran? The sheer fucking energy and intensity he had in his prime. He had huge skill and talent apart from that, but the energy and intensity was a huge part of him, and that's what dissipated post prime.

That level of energy and intensity is what propelled prime Duran to be the GOAT :kidcool:

 

There's no argument for Duran as GOAT. None.

 

Uh, top light weight in history is surely in the conversation. Was he not "terrific" enough for you?

 

I think there's an incredibly strong argument.

Late 70's Duran was the ultimate fighting machine, and I think he would have beaten anyone else in history P4P, simple as that.

 

Truth. That was what allowed a raw and green version of Duran beat a very good, skilled boxer in Ken Buchanan from pillar to post for 14 rounds. That, combined with the skills he developed later, were what made for the savage brilliance that was Duran.

 

question for clogg -

do you think Mayweather Jr - say, of the Hatton fight - loses to the Duran who fought Benitez?

now, what about the version who fought Davey Boy Moore? do you see that Duran losing to Mayweather Jr?

 

The only lightweight who I would hesitate to pick Duran over for even a second would be Pernell Whitaker.

 

absolutely

but P4P number one? Not a chance

 

I don't think either loses to Mayweather Jr.

 

This is crap, man

He was not raw and green when he beat Buchanan... He'd been fighting pro for 5 years and had already beaten a near-great fighter in Ernesto Marcel

His skills were well developed by the time he beat Buchanan for the title

 

:: at Davey boy moore

 

I think Simon Le Bon from Duran-Duran could beat Khan.

Afterwards they would be calling him Simon Le Bad.

 

Lou Ambers would fuck Duran up.

 

:l2: ridiculous