Duran would not be used to a guy that can match his stamina and intensity and exceed his work rate. To add insult to injury this slightly shorter guy would present a small target, is a southpaw, constantly moving and has ridiculously fast hands throwing punches from all kindsa weird angles. Used to fighting the 70s cavemen he is bewildered by the superheroes of the new millennium. After 6 rounds of this war an exasperated Duran throws his hands in the air and screams “No mas!! No mas!!”. He never thought that one day he’d meet a younger faster version of himself...he retires soon after.
Pac’s not much of an inside fighter and he can move in and out and pick his spots well but he’s not much of a runner and he can’t fight at a slowed pace. It’s hard to see him completely dominating Duran with the hip-hop 1,2 an it’s hard to see how he wins without completely dominating. I think Duran rapes him.
Sly, being the idiot that he is, probably equates Duran as being close in style to Cotto and Hatton, which would be a bad comparison, since neither of those guys were ever touted for their counterpunching skills. Duran was essentially a BETTER counterpuncher than Marquez, and his counter right hand was MADE to land on Pac, and often. When you add in Duran's body attack, and the fact that he was a much better thinker than Pac, and you have a clear favorite here. Duran actually thought in there, and was a master of setting traps. Pac's more instinctual. His ring IQ for an all time great was average. Whereas a prime Duran worked off a combination of natural instinct and ring IQ. Duran stops Pac late.
"Nonsense! There's only one man who could beat a prime Pacquiao! And that's the man who beat.... a past-prime Pacquiao!"
word. I course I'm somewhat trolling the Duran fans/ old timers here with the heightened rhetoric, but I think Pacquiao vs Duran is a GREAT fight and would be competitive and Duran would find himself in a serious fight. Pacquiao will test him to the limit.
My favorite Duran story is that after defeating Edwin Viruet in 1975 and 1977, he was matched with Edwin's brother Adolfo Viruet in 1978... he won the match and afterwards engaging in some shit talking with the brothers shouted at them "next time, your father!"
I think Pac is too small, for one. Would be a similar size difference to what he faced against Floyd. Duran was also a sharp counter puncher with the right hand which Manny was always available for. Because of styles, Duran probably will get hit more than Floyd did against Manny, but he’d also be delivering more punishment in return. And Manny as we all know, knows no other way but to fight back and that would expedite the stoppage. Duran KO 8
Nothing beats the story of the fan who came to Duran's workout and kept taunting him saying "Pipino Cuevas would kill you!" Which prompted Duran to drop his trucks, grab his crotch and say "Pipino Cuevas can suck my dick!" Supposedly there were women and kids there too...
