Long armed fighters who could shorten their shots effectively...

So a 31 year old former Lightweight who was fighting 19 lbs above his long-time championship weight in his 78th fight and the 14h year of his career is somehow still in his prime?

After the Leonard' fights, the remainder of Duran's career was up and down to say the least, with unimpressive outings against Laing, Batten, Gonzales & Benitez mixed in with better ones against Moore & Hagler. I don't put too much stock into the Cuevas fight as Pipino was clearly in decline at that time. Or are you going to suggest he was still in his prime, too?

I get annoyed with the Duran extremists as much as anyone, except maybe Ike, who is not to be taken seriously in Duran discussions, but claiming Duran was still in his prime at the time of the Laing fight sounds a bit self-serving.

It seems obvious you don't like Duran, or are just lashing out in defense of Morales, but let's try to be a little objective here.

 

So you think putting too much emphasis on the Espada fight is an exaggeration when assessing his career, so you come back with an even worse exaggeration of your own about Duran? Sounds like a Morales fan getting a little worked up to me.

 

Yep, truth be told in his 30's most of the time Duran looked like he was just going through the motions, a pretty far cry from the beast who steamrolled everyone at lightweight. Even in a lot of his wins he looked flat and unmotivated.

Fights like Cuevas, Hagler, Barkley, Moore etc were the exceptions, where Duran was motivated, trained hard, and came to fight and win.

 

Yes...Duran was very consistent up and until the 1st Leonard fight, but much less so afterward. Up and down performances by a fighter in the 14th year of his career at a higher weight do not suggest a fighter in his prime.

 

I think Duran up and down performance were much more a result of motivation than decline of ability

 

Honestly I don't even know why you argue with me on this. You said that Duran was not far pas his prime for the Laing fight, wich his almost the same thing I said

 

Not really. You said you didn't buy that Duran wasn't in his prime at the time of the Laing fight. Which sounds to me like you think Duran was still in his prime at that time.

What I said was that Duran has passed his peak, but still had a lot of fight left in him. A fighter can not be in this prime of his career and still turn in good performances. Even a lesser version of Duran is still a handful for most fighters if he bothers to train for the fight.

I also disagreed with huthut lumping Laing-Duran with Spinks-Ali or Johnson-Jones because Duran clearly had more left in the tank than Ali or RJJ.

As usual...the truth is somewhere in between the two extremes. Duran wasn't as washed up as hut would like us to believe, and he wasn't in his prime as you would like us to believe.

 

That's The Duran to you sir. Go in peace.

 

No one did that.

 

His best occurred entirely within the realm of the 1970s. Duran's legend is built on his title reign at Lightweight, which is easily one of the 5 best reigns any champion at any weight has ever enjoyed.

Anything after that is gravy... Duran could have retired in 1979 and he'd still be 1 or 2 on the list of greatest Lightweights who ever lived.

 

consistent motivation is part of being "in your prime"