Question......Who was better, Duran at lightweight or Holyfield at cruiserweight?????

[Silencers]

Duran had already became champion and had defeated Ken Buchanan 5 months earlier so i don't see how he was green. I don't think that there should be any excuses for Duran, he lost fair and square and had 31 professional fights.

There are plenty of fighters that had NO amateur experience and still went on to reach greatness.

Holyfield fought limited opposition before he defeated Qawi so he was very green.

I'm not making excuses for Duran, he clearly lost that fight. Buchanan was holding his own against Duran, Duran knocked him out with a low blow.

I still think Duran was greener than Holyfield at that point because of Holyfield's amateur experience.

Duran probably hadn't faced anyone with De Jesus' style up to that point in his career, Holyfield probably fought quite a few fighters with similar styles to Qawi and his cruiserweight opposition. Besides Duran and De Jesus fought 2 more times and Duran knocked De Jesus out both times.

[wmute]

Qawi's prime was at 175 anyways

[slicksouthpaw16]

Qawi's prime was at 175 anyways

Whats your point? Qawi was a beast at both light heavy and cruiser. He stopped the undefeated Piet Crous to capture the cruiser weight title and defended it twice, one of those defenses was against Leon Spinks. After the Holyfield losses, Qawi went on to give Foreman a hard fight at heavyweight.

A person has to be ignorant to try to take away from Holyfield's victory. The man only had 11 pro fights and he defeated an experienced veteran that had 26 fights and was a former light heavy champion.

[TheGreatA]

Qawi was 5'6, quite amazing for a light heavyweight/cruiserweight. Imagine Hatton fighting at cruiserweight.

How about Michael Moorer at LHW vs Evander Holyfield at CW? Moorer had all of his wins by knockout in that division.

Moorer never faced any great opposition as a light heavyweight but he showed how good he was by being a top contender and a champion as a heavyweight, kept most of his power too.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Qawi was 5'6, quite amazing for a light heavyweight/cruiserweight. Imagine Hatton fighting at cruiserweight.

How about Michael Moorer at LHW vs Evander Holyfield at CW? Moorer had all of his wins by knockout in that division.

Moorer never faced any great opposition as a light heavyweight but he showed how good he was by being a top contender and a champion as a heavyweight, kept most of his power too.

Interesting because my uncle and i were actually discussing this fight a while ago. Hes a Holyfield fanatic so of course he choose him. I think it would have been a good fight.

Moorer's chin was weak at heavyweight so it could have been better at light heavy.

Even when Holyfield was better prepared for their rematch, Moorer's southpaw pure boxing style gave Evander problems. Holyfield always seemed to have problems with southpaws. He was also confused in the Ibragomov fight.

Close one to call. If Evander doesn't stop him, (which could very well happen) then he would lose a decision.

[Jim Jeffries]

Whats your point? Qawi was a beast at both light heavy and cruiser. He stopped the undefeated Piet Crous to capture the cruiser weight title and defended it twice, one of those defenses was against Leon Spinks. After the Holyfield losses, Qawi went on to give Foreman a hard fight at heavyweight.

A person has to be ignorant to try to take away from Holyfield's victory. The man only had 11 pro fights and he defeated an experienced veteran that had 26 fights and was a former light heavy champion.

Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't make them ignorant. Yes Holyfield accomplished a lot in his relatively short stint at CW, and he did it after very few professional fights, but he did have a very good amatuer background including his olympic experience (did you know that Leon Spinks beat Ali (albeit a diminished one) after only 7 pro fights?

Holyfield didn't have nearly the career at CW that Duran did at LW, so it's difficult to compare them. Since Duran is a top 10 ATG and his best weight was LW, I think the answer is obvious.

[slicksouthpaw16]

Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't make them ignorant. Yes Holyfield accomplished a lot in his relatively short stint at CW, and he did it after very few professional fights, but he did have a very good amatuer background including his olympic experience (did you know that Leon Spinks beat Ali (albeit a diminished one) after only 7 pro fights?

Holyfield didn't have nearly the career at CW that Duran did at LW, so it's difficult to compare them. Since Duran is a top 10 ATG and his best weight was LW, I think the answer is obvious.

He was taking away from the victory, its obvious. When people say that Hatton was not in his proper weight division when he fought Mayweather, doesn't it take away from Mayweather's victory? Thats what he was doing when he said that Qawi's prime was at light heavy weight. Its similar to when people say that Hatton's true prime was at junior welter. See you learned something.

And yes, Spinks beat Ali but he also lost the rematch. Qawi was not past his peak when Evander beat him, whats your point? Also, Duran is not a top 10 great only because of his lightweight career. Duran being a lightweight champion, welterweight champion, beating the then unbeaten Ray Leonard, capturing the junior middleweight title, and middleweight title is why he is in the hall fame. If Duran retired with only the lightweight career that he had, then he wouldn't have even been top 20 of the greatest fighters of all time. What great fighter did he beat at lightweight?

[wmute]

Whats your point? Qawi was a beast at both light heavy and cruiser. He stopped the undefeated Piet Crous to capture the cruiser weight title and defended it twice, one of those defenses was against Leon Spinks. After the Holyfield losses, Qawi went on to give Foreman a hard fight at heavyweight.

A person has to be ignorant to try to take away from Holyfield's victory. The man only had 11 pro fights and he defeated an experienced veteran that had 26 fights and was a former light heavy champion.

Qawi's prime was at 175, De Jesus prime was at 135.

It's ignorant to not understand the point.

[BKM-]

I can't argue with that. But you have to consider the fact that Holyfield was undefeated at cruiser weight and fought the better line of fighters in my opinion. Duran lost to Esteban De Jesus by UD and was out on feet from a left hook.

Evander unified the cruiser weight titles and beating, Qawi, and sugar De Le leon is pretty impressive when you think about the few fights that he had. Holyfield was 17-0 when he beat Carlos De Leon and 11-0 when he beat Qawi the first time.

Don't get me wrong, Duran was one of the greatest lightweights of all time but this is hard for me to choose. Duran did some great things at lightweight as well.

I thought your question more of a 'who was a better fighter, ability wise' and not who was greater based on accomplishments. Because now I see people comparing their legacy's at these weights. Which is also fine. In that case i'd still go for Duran based on longetivity and showing less weaknesses than Holyfield at CW.

Both of their losses(Well, imo Holyfield lost the first fight against Qawi. Either way, Holyfield showed his inexperience and other weaknesses) were early in their careers, and both avenged those defeats impressively. Holyfield perhaps more impressive but again, not trying to discredit Holyfield, but it looked more like Qawi threw that second fight. He just layed there, or he quit.

Since that is about even, you have to look at how many more fights Duran had at Lightweight compared to Holy. He stayed there longer, showed his Boxing skills against diffirent types of opponents where as Holyfield left CW as soon as it was cleaned out by him.

[TheGreatA]

The Duran - DeJesus trilogy:


Duran vs DeJesus I 1972


Duran vs DeJesus II 1974


Duran vs DeJesus III 1978



Other Duran LW fights:


Duran vs Buchanan 1972


Duran vs Ishimatsu 1973


Duran vs Lou Bizzaro 1976