What was the duration of Duran's prime?

[Obama]

I say from around the Buchanan fight through the first Leonard fight.

I'd expect legitimate variances on this to possibly begin a little past the first De Jesus fight (eliminating his first loss as prime) and end no further than past his loss to Tommy Hearns (adding 5 more losses onto his prime ledger).

I say he was prime for the first Buchanan fight for one simple reason: of the 13 LW title fights he had, Buchanan was the only hall of famer he beat. Buchanan was prime and Duran beat him handily regardless of the controversial ending.

As for his prime ending after the first Leonard fight, simply put that was the last time the man was committed to his training. He was also nearly 30 by the time Leonard beat him and had been fighting since age 16 on a regular basis. Duran never beat an elite fighter again after Leonard (Moore & Barkley being the closet things to elite). To Duran's credit however he didn't fall below a B level fighter until he was past 46 years of age. Kind of reminds me of Holyfield right now...

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

[1SILVA]

I say from around the Buchanan fight through the first Leonard fight.

I'd expect legitimate variances on this to possibly begin a little past the first De Jesus fight (eliminating his first loss as prime) and end no further than past his loss to Tommy Hearns (adding 5 more losses onto his prime ledger).

I say he was prime for the first Buchanan fight for one simple reason: of the 13 LW title fights he had, Buchanan was the only hall of famer he beat. Buchanan was prime and Duran beat him handily regardless of the controversial ending.

As for his prime ending after the first Leonard fight, simply put that was the last time the man was committed to his training. He was also nearly 30 by the time Leonard beat him and had been fighting since age 16 on a regular basis. Duran never beat an elite fighter again after Leonard (Moore & Barkley being the closet things to elite). To Duran's credit however he didn't fall below a B level fighter until he was past 46 years of age. Kind of reminds me of Holyfield right now...

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

I agree. 1972-1980 he was as ferocious as any fighter who ever lived

[TheGreatA]

The third Esteban DeJesus fight was the best I've seen of him. I'd say that he was in his prime from the second DeJesus fight onwards, when he improved on his boxing ability while retaining the earlier aggression.

At welterweight he seemed a diminished fighter in some performances (rather average and sloppy vs Brooks, Heiar, Gonzalez, Nsubaga, Wheatley), except for the Palomino and first Leonard fights in which he looked great.