Roberto Duran the greatest Light weight

[Heckler]

Ive always held the view that Roberto Duran is the greatest Light weight ever. Tough, deceptively skillfull, and powerful. However, ive come across quite a few that beg to differ. Many believe Joe Gans was incredibly skilled and the greatest lightweight ever. My knowledge pre-dempsey is nothing short of poor thus i ask you informed folk, have any of you seen footage, if so was he THAT good?

[sleazyfellow]

only footage i know of is the fight with terry mcgovern where he threw the fight...

[shortright]

duran the best easily, he jumped up 2 weeight classes beat prime srl, then beating hagler after twelve plus duran was old then

[The Noose]

duran the best easily, he jumped up 2 weeight classes beat prime srl, then beating hagler after twelve plus duran was old then

Beating Hagler?


Im a huge Duran fan. Naturally gifting fighter, his reflexs were second to none.
He placed his punches rather than just relying on just power, and his underestimated defense was great.
He could do so much. My favourite aspect of his game was his acuracy and counterpunches. He could slip and counter shots so fast.

At lightweight he had so much energy, and loved to mix it up.
Great scientific offensive fighter.

[shortright]

leading after 12 agaisnt hagler, plus he had an incredible run at lightweight, those are overlooked to much, ex JOE C and hopkins for years never got the credit they deserve it is very hard to consitantly win, look at what just happened to jmm

[Rockin']

He is definately up there, but to call him the greatest is hard. There were an awfull lot of great lightweight fighters in the past. But I agree, that any conversation concerning the best lightweight ever would have to include Duran in there somewhere.

Rockin'

[Yogi]

I rate Benny Leonard as the best Lightweight of all-time, but the argument can certainly be made for Joe Gans being deserving of that number one spot (ditto for Duran and possibly a couple of others).

1. Benny Leonard
2. Joe Gans
3. Roberto Duran

With the likes of Tony Canzoneri, Henry Armstrong, Ike Williams, Carlos Ortiz following suit, but not neccessarily in that order. Jack Blackburn, Pernell Whitaker, Joe Brown, Jack McAuliffe, Lou Ambers, Barney Ross, Battling Nelson, Kid Lavigne, Alexis Arguello, Freddie Welsh etc., are also in the running for an all-time top ten or fifteen spot from me in this division.

And the only footage of Gans that I've seen was from his "fight" with McGovern, which somebody posted on a clip about a year ago and on a different forum. But there's also Gans footage of his fights versus Battling Nelson (W via DQ-42) & Kid Herman that I know of...I believe Greek said he has the Gans/Nelson footage, and if so he might be able to give you a rundown on how Gans looked in it.

[oldgringo]

It's tough for me to go with anyone but Duran because I've seen footage of him at 135 and have seen what the man can do at higher weights.

There were so many facets of Durans game that were so overlooked it's scary. He was a machine, and I don't know if I'd favor anyone at 135 in a fight over him at his best (outside of a tip-top Whitaker maybe).

Many say Gans and Leonard were better, apparently Durans own trainer (who also trained Leonard) gave the edge to Leonard as well. Very interesting stuff, but for my money it will always be Duran.