Whitaker vs Duran - who would win?

[mickey malone]

I think the key point here, is that as a lightweight, Duran was totally untested against anyone of Whitaker's skill levels, and dare i say it? - but this would also have to include DeJesus and Buchanan respectively..
Fundumentally, he'd never even met a good southpaw, let alone one of the craftiest whoever lived.. In fact, can anyone help?, as i'm at a loss to name even one southpaw that he did engage as a lightweight..

On statistics, Duran takes it, but i'm not so sure about lightweight resume..
Both were undisputed, with championship records of 15-1-0 to 14-1-0 (Whitaker), and both had lost 1 DC a piece to quality fighters.. Both also avenged these defeats, DeJesus twice by Duran & Ramirez once by Whitaker..
Duran dominated for 5 years, and also won 16 non-title bouts during his reign.. Most of them were by way of impressive KO, but to be fair, quite a few of them were against journeyman pro's, with one noted exception, being the classy Saoul Mamby who dropped a narrow points decision over 10..
Whitaker, on the other hand, had 3 years of domination with no non-title fights, but in my opinion, faced a better quality of opposition.. Duran's greatest lightweight performances were against DeJesus and Buchanan.. Other victories included, an old Jimmy Robinson, Guts Ishimatsu, Masataka Tayayama, Ray Lampkin, Leoncio Ortiz, Lou Bizzarro, Hector Thompson and Vilomar Fernandez..
Whitaker beat, Jose Luis Ramirez, Greg Haugen, Freddie Pendleton, Anthony Jones, Policarpo Diaz, Miguel Santana, Jorge Paez, and an old Azumah Nelson..
It could also be argued that Nelson's style had many similar characteristics to Duran's.

After studying the logic that surrounds this intriguing match-up, i'd be inclined to suggest that Sweet Pea would have been Duran's stylistic boogieman, and with compitent judges, would have taken a closely fought majority decision..

[BennyST]

I can never decide on this one. Very difficult to predict. Neither faced anyone nearly as good or even very similar. However, I do have to say that anyone thinking Whitaker would trouble Duran with his speed and combination punching is way off base. He never had any trouble with speed or combination punchers. At LW, Duran would be bigger, as fast and he would be able to push and handle Whitaker on the inside while being as hard to hit as Whitaker himself.

On the outside is where Whitaker could win it, but being purely a counter puncher usually and with Duran not leading that much but usually waiting to counter or slip a jab etc himself before using that to get inside, it's a really hard one.

I think with wins over guys like Marcel, Buchanan, Mamby and Leonard the very least that shows is that Duran handles slickness, speed and a solid jab from great counters punchers very easily and at LW he was much more able to take advantage of his strength and speed, whereas against Leonard (which everyone relates to too much for this fight) he was towered over and Leonard threw better combinations and was faster than Pea.

Although everyone brings up the myth he had trouble with boxers, he never really did until he was past thirty, slow, unmotivated and small compared to his opponents. It was only trouble against boxers at 154 when he was slow and fat or against Leonard at 147 in the rematch. Leonard would have won that second fight just as easily if he fought the same fight as he did in the first anyway. Duran was just not going to win that second fight.

At his weight, he had no trouble against Buchanan, who was easily one of the slickest, craftiest boxers of the day. Viruet and Marcel too were incredibly slick. Fought exactly like Mayweather and Mamby was also very crafty. He had no trouble with any of them because at LW he was as fast, as big and as crafty himself and when started to slow just that little bit, he always came on like a steam train.

The good pressure fighter Pea fought was Chavez, who at that stage of his career was slow compared to Duran and didn't have nearly the defensive and boxing/countering skill either. It was also at WW, where Chavez was never that good anyway so it makes it difficult to compare.

The best southpaw Duran faced was Hagler and he handled him rather brilliantly though Hagler doesn't fight at all like Pea, so it's very hard to answer.

Also, on the frustration thing which everyone harps on about, at LW that would not happen. Pea engaged more than Leonard did in that second fight and I think Duran was really past his fire by that stage after the first win. I remember Freddie Brown saying he lost the fire after that first Leonard win. He had nothing left to be angry about and had made a strange peace with himself. He had attained the highest peak of the mountain and there is nowhere to go but down from there, and down he went in a big way.

After that there were only ever flashes of the once great form that he showed from 1968 to 1980.

He had guys like Viruet and Fernandez clown on him as much, and more in Viruets case, as Leonard did and he never got frustrated. Just more fired up. They were not as good as Leonard or Pea of course but it was a different story at LW in his peak years. It was an aberration and it would have happened against Viruet or Fernandez on that night too.

Anyway, I could see this going either way in a very close fight or being a genuine draw, unlike the Chavez/Pea fight.

Would be great whoever won I think. Highly skilled, defensive counter puncher vs the highly skilled aggressive counter puncher.

[bojangles1987]

This is really a 50-50 fight. Duran's pressure and power would be effective against Whitaker, and Whitaker's defense and speed would be effective against Duran. This fight probably comes down to a decision based on what the judges prefer, aggression or defense.

[mr.N]

Whitaker, in my opinion. his defense was something.

[DeepSleep]

Wow, Really tough fight to pick. I don't think I have ever seen Duran fight any slick southpaws. Whitaker is an extremely peculiar guy to watch as he does some extremely unorthodox things that only he can make work and it can cause some of his opponents to look lost trying to figure out where to begin going to work. I think Sweet Pea is too confusing for Duran to solve, which would lead to Duran wading through Pernell's punches and overloading Pernell's awkward defense. The fight comes down to a judgment call, Pernell throws and lands less punches but his are cleaner and at a higher connect rate, Duran throws and lands more punches but not many clean punches and it's at a lower connect rate. I'll take the unpopular approach and say it'll end in a draw. If I'm put up to gun and forced to bet on it though I'll take Duran.