THE Duran....DeJesus III version...

Everybody knows how much I love Ali, Roy, Leonard, Whitaker...

HOWEVER, everytime I watch Duran-DeJesus III, I can't help but think I'm watching the best fighter who ever lived.

Absolutely perfect, complete fighting machine. Skilled, poised, SUPERB defense, SUPERB balance, SUPERB infighting ability, SUPERB punch selection, combined with all the ferocity and offensive brilliance that made him who he was. Just a mind boggling fighting talent he was.

TBE still belongs to Robinson, overall. HOWEVER, suggesting Duran as TBE is pretty damn arguable IMO.

I watch this version of Duran, and say with the utmost confidence there's not a snowball's chance in Hell of the Grand Rapids stripper lover beating him at lightweight.

 

Mayweather, Corrales version.....Mayweather, Gatti version...Ali, Williams version...Jones, Toney version.....Jones, Hall Version....Calzaghe, Lacy Version

Many guys have looked like the TBE during their most virtuoso performances.

 

Oh and fuck Duran. He lost to Kirkland Lang and Hearns flattened him in two rounds...y'all musta forgot.

 

Floyd panicked when he had trouble with Castillo in the first fight, so it's hard to him beating Duran at lightweight.

 

Please introduce me to your dealer. Joe belongs nowhere remotely NEAR this conversation.

I've NEVER watched Floyd and felt like I was watching the GOAT. I watch him at 130, and feel like I'm watching the best junior lightweight of all time, but GOAT overall? Hell no!

Besides Duran, only other guys I watch and feel like I'm watching the GOAT are early 80s Leonard, and mid 90s Jones.

I'm sure if there was more footage of welterweight Robinson, this would probably be a non-debatable thread, but there isn't enough footage.

From the highlights we have available of a prime Robinson, he certainly looks like the best who ever lived.

 

Floyd had a broken wrist, twisted ankle, ruptured anus, flu, hepatitis C, and vision problem brought forth by his sickle cell...during that fight.

 

Forget Duran, it's really no guarantee Floyd beats DeJesus at 135. No guarantee at all.

 

And Castillo weighed 180 pounds not including his loaded gloves.

 

^^^THis...I have seen probably 95% of Floyd fights...at no time did I tell myself...I'm watching the greatest of all time...NO...NEVER...Greatest of my generation? YES...

I seen a few Roy JOnes fight where I didn't know what I was watching...either the greatest skills or the greatest athleticism I have ever seen in a boxer....

 

word.

If it wasn't for those things he would have won easily.

 

No Guarantee Duran beats Kirkland Laing....let alone Floyd.

How 'bout dem apples? ;)

 

We've seen Duran OUTCLASSED by Hearns, completely outboxed by Benitez, made to quit by Leonard, beaten by Lang...NEVER seen Floyd or Calzaghe beaten...yet there's a stronger case for Duran being the TBE than dem boyz?

Who's smoking what?

 

Kellerman said it perfectly when he said Floyd's greatness is based around being great for a LONG TIME. He compared him to Tim Duncan, a consistent great for many years. But prime-for-prime, Kellerman stated that Roy and Leonard were better, and I agree.

I've never watched Floyd and felt like I was watching somebody who was necessarily better than say.... Benitez.

You watch Duran at 135 and feel like you're watching a man who God designed JUST for the sole purpose of destroying men.

 

Let's list the best fighters that Duran ever fought:

Leonard
Benitez
Hearns
Hagler

What do they all have in common? They all fucking BEAT the supposed TBE! o

Get real motherfuckers!! Get real.

The Sly One is here and he's not going to let that shit slide!!

 

All these years of posting on an educated boxing message board, yet you still manage to consistently sound like a CASUAL fan.

Only a casual boxing fan who gets their knowledge from ESPN would base a fighters greatness purely off an undefeated record.

Going by your retarded logic, Paul Spadafora is greater than Archie Moore.

 

Point is DURAN fought the Benitez, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler of the BOXING WORLD.... ICONS...LEGENDS..at their VERY BEST....Floyd has an EXCELLENT resume but he never fought anyone in their prime near BENITEZ(pick him because of the top 4 from the list Benitez was the 4th best) level....

and Calzaghe? pendejo please...

 

Know what else they have in common?

Floyd woulda shamelessly ducked every last one of em.

 

I'm causing trouble...but I do get this distinction.

Truthfully.....

I rate Jones and Ali over Mayweather in terms of peak for peak talent.

 

What....the same way he ducked Hernandez, Corales, Castillo, Hatton., De La Hoya, Cotto, Mosley, Judah, Canelo....you mean like that?


Nigga please...

 

YUP.....incredible thing is Duran fought all those guys 13-20 pounds from his best weight....and in those guys PRIME(maybe not Hagler)....in their PRIME...fucking Floyd ducked little Pacquiao for 5 years....

 

Floyd never had those specific guys in his era...but he did fight the best fighters of his era...unless of course you rate Williams, Cintron and Margarito as the best names?

 

Yeah, I always knew Floyd was a top fighter but he never seemed "that" special compared to other elite fighters. What really moved him to that level in the eye of the public was fights with Gatti, Hatton and a close win against a faded DLH and that's pretty funny when you think about it. Floyds a great fighter but his TBE claim is more pr than anything.

I'm not sure if his cult status will hold up years down the road when boxing fans have another potential TBE to gawk at and they look up the fight of the century and see a scared NBA point guard running from an angry Korean grocer.

 

Nonsense...

This was the case of one of the few times in history..perhaps the only time...where in a potential megafight BOTH guys had claim to the A-side of the promotion. In a case like that a deal is very hard to make......because you're dealing with two equally huge egos.

name ONE other megafight...where both sides had EQUAL claim to being the headliner. Just ONE.

 

Margarito knocked out the second best name on Floyd's resume. Before Floyd did.

 

I agree that he's not the TBE.

 

Like I said Floyd resume is TOP 3 today...probably #1...but the only top guys he fought/defeated in their prime was Corrales/Castillo. For the most part it wasn't his fault....once or twice(pac) he shamelessly avoided the fight when Pac was in his prime....

 

Whenever I watch Hopkins vs Glenn Johnson or Trinidad, I feel like I'm watching a more special fighter than Floyd.

Floyd as TBE is a TOTAL PR, Stephen A. Smith creation by sports media who know their NBA, NFL, and MLB, but know ZERO about boxing.

 

I personally always felt this is Duran's best performance. It's his most complete performance. He absolutely DEMOLISHED a masterful boxer in DeJesus. A guy that gave him a lot of trouble in their first two fights, beating him the first time.

It is one of the best performances in the whole sport of boxing, PERIOD.

I'm not gonna talk about Mayweather in this one. This is about Duran.

 

Floyd needed that fight because it would've been a prime great on his resume. And he was way bigger than the guy so it would've been a steal as far as legacy.

I understand it's a big fight that was hard to make, but I don't buy it as the reason the fight basically never happened. Floyd waited for the much smaller guy to also slow down.

 

Canelo was prime. Cotto can still be argued to be prime (since he went on to beat Martinez) and Hatton was a top fighter whether we want to admit it or not. He was ranked top 5 P4P at the time, was undefeated and had stopped Kostya Tszyu and Castillo leading up to that fight.