For one, out of the four kings he was the only one to have beaten Leonard, and he moved up in weight to do it.
He was the most dominant lightweight at the time he was basically unbeatable.
If we had a fully focused Duran we have one of the most multifaceted fighters ever. He was very capable of fighting on the inside his fight against Palomino showed that to an incredible extent, here he was against a very strong welterweight who was known for fighting on the inside, Duran dismantled him.
Duran was very crafty as well the whole pull counter that some modern fighters do? Duran used to do that expertly. Waltzing opponents? Duran did this multiple times at Lightweight. Using Feints to gauge what an opponent would do and using that knowledge against them? Again something Duran does brilliantly, Lomachenko also does this and he is regarded by some as the best p4p fighter we have currently. Landing shots while simultaneously avoiding or blocking the opponents shots? he was an expert at that. He had one of the best uppercuts as well something that is horribly underutilized in boxing, watch some of his fights when the opponent cliches, Duran barely needs any room to throw the uppercut its ridiculous.
Duran is in no way over-rated, he is one of the best fighters of all time, he unfortunately fought well past his prime however was still able to beat decent fighters.
His fight with Hearns as you mentioned that one, he got up pretty shortly after being knocked out cold, he was gone before he hit the floor, plus Hearns on that night was quicker then I have ever seen him, that shot that landed on Duran would have floored pretty much everyone bar Hagler, it sounded like someone being shot for god sake.
You seem to forget, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard all had massive height and reach advantages over Duran, plus all three of them were fighting in there natural weight classes and were freaks of nature, Hearns is one of the tallest, fastest and strongest punching welterweights of all time, Leonard had so much natural athletic ability and was very fast as well, that makes him a hard combo to beat, and Hagler, he was a natural middleweight with the strongest chin in boxing, he also to me is very under-rated as a boxer people think of him as a puncher, but his ability to switch hit is excellent, he is always in a position to attack and has brilliant rhythm.
Its a shame what happened in the second Leonard fight, Duran was underprepared for that one, he looked sluggish compared to what he was like before, I believe if he had much more focus the fight would have been much more competitive, he would have still lost because mentally Leonard was in the zone in that fight but it would have been close.
All in all Duran is a joy to watch for casual fans as well as people that pay attention to the finer details, watch some videos on Duran on youtube by a boxing fan called "leewylie" i think the videos are called scientific streetfighting etc, the guy knows how to analyse fighters and he shows exactly what Duran is capable of.
He isnt over-rated in the slightest, now Julio Chavez Junior? Yep over-rated along with Canelo "I am basically a light-heavyweight but refuse to go above light-middleweight" Alverez.
Its good to learn new things, you ought to try it once in a while.
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pgFiSheYe
7 years ago
that's what lightweights are supposed to do
I really don't see the merit of Duran, other than being another Mexican who was close to the top but never made it.
By the way, if you correctly recall, Leonard beat the crap out of him, and Duran ran like a little girl quiting in the middle of the fight, because he knew he was gonna get killed.
I mean, who does that?
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richard_heys-757-149700
7 years ago
Wait lightweights are suppose to move up in weight? so your saying that every single lightweight out there is suppose to move up???
I understand lightweights moving up in weight after they have outgrown there weight class, Duran was over 30 when he moved up in weight I would say he moved out of his natural weight class to one which is higher. Thats not outgrowing his weight class.
Why do you keep saying mexican for? what has that got to do with anything? Does the race of a fighter mean that much to you?
Dont bother saying if you correctly recall as well thats just dumb everyone knows about that fight, and also if you correctly recall he made Leonard look stupid in there first fight when Leonard thought he could stand toe to toe with Duran and got the crap beat out of him for doing so, against a physically smaller guy how pathetic.
Duran in the second Leonard fight was not physically or mentally prepared, Leonard was, Leonard had nothing to lose in the second fight, which only made his preparation stronger.
Also from your response you didnt even bother looking for any of the technical skills Duran possessed which made him that much more capable as a fighter, for someone such as yourself claiming a lot you seem to be very incompetent at doing any basic research.
Duran is an all time great, his technical prowess when matched with his controlled aggression and when he was mentally prepared makes him a very tough fighter to beat at lightweight, there are only two lightweight fighters I would say who could match up to him which are Vasyl Lomachenko and Manny Pacquiao.
At welterweight more fighters can beat him, however, that to me is not a flaw in his skill, its more physical, he is a small welterweight.
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