DAN MORLEY kicks off his GOATs of boxing series with a lightweight master who crossed weights to build his legend.
To understand the depth of Roberto Duran’s greatness, you need to look far beyond his most famous fights in the 80s. The notion that Duran was a great champion who solely fell short to the even greater trio of the four kings is one of boxing’s biggest misconceptions amongst casual fans.
Duran was the greatest of the four by a considerable margin in my opinion. The very fact he not only became the only man to even beat a prime Leonard but also competed with Hagler and Hearns is a true testament to his class. Not only are his records phenomenal, but he is amongst the most complete fighters ever technically, possessing a fury none could match and honing every trick in the book to break his opposition down.
Whilst unleashing the most devastating inside fighting since Henry Armstrong, Duran was also one of the best defensive fighters ever, something that is often overlooked, because he coincided it perfectly aside an overwhelming offence.
It was the ability to ride shots off the chin, slide off his shoulders, smother opponents and contort his body in unique ways that made him unbelievably hard to nail clean.
Even if opponents landed, his chin was as solid as any ever seen, whilst his fearsome determination always made opponents pay for their brief success. To break down Duran’s claim as the GOAT, we must head back over a decade before the ‘Brawl in Montreal’.
A 16-year-old Duran made his professional debut in 1968, notching up an impressive 16 straight victories before he scored one of the most underrated victories of his career against fellow Panamanian great Ernesto Marcel. Marcel would impressively hold the featherweight titles from 1972-1974, defeating the fearsome Alexis Arguello.
Already in his teens, Duran had defeated the greatest fighters Panama had ever produced. The next year, he stopped former junior welterweight champion Hiroshi Kobayashi before earning a shot at the lightweight champion, Ken Buchanan.
The Scotsman owned a tremendous jab and was an elusive mover, holding a phenomenal record of 43-1, defeating the brilliant Ismael Laguna twice. He would provide plenty of problems for the 21-year-old ‘Hands of Stone’, but Duran fought like a man possessed, scoring a controversial low blow in the 13th round to defeat the Hall of Famer.
Now unbeaten across 29 fights, winning the title sparked a reign that has never since been matched at 135lbs. For six and a half brutal years, Duran dominated the division as champion with unrelenting violence, making 12 successful defences of the crown, 11 via KO.
To put that into context with his famous foes of the 80s, Duran’s length of reign, number of defences and KOs in defences are the same figures Marvin Hagler produced in his solo championship reign at middleweight.
Yet, whilst Hagler fought his 12 title defences successively within those six years, Duran often fought between title bouts. By the time Duran made his last defence of the lightweight crown in 1978, none of the trio in Hagler, Hearns, and Leonard had even won a world title.
Across the lightweight years, he suffered one defeat to Esteban De Jesus in a non-title fight, avenging it with two KO defeats. He defeated further world champions ranging from lightweight to junior welterweight in Guts Itshimatsu and Saoul Mamby, whilst beating notable contenders in fellow ‘Arguello conqueror’ Vilomar Fernandez, Ray Lampkin and Viruet brothers Edwin and Adolfo.
Having cleared out the division in unprecedented fashion, Duran jumped up not one but two divisions, leaping 12 pounds up to welterweight, where he faced the Hall of Famer, who had only just lost the title, Carlos Palomino.
Palomino was a strong inside fighter, naturally larger than the Panamanian lightweight. He had just lost the title via a split decision to Wilfred Benitez, off the back of eight consecutive welterweight title victories. A fight with Palomino would provide a big test at this new division.
Duran delivered his greatest masterclass, completely nullifying all of Palomino’s inside work with elite craft, bullying his larger foe in every way imaginable. Victory over Palomino set up his biggest fight so far, a shot at welterweight glory against Sugar Ray Leonard.
In the build-up to the fight, the macho Duran goaded Leonard, hurling insults and riling the champion into a fit of fury, a tactic that paid off. Leonard stubbornly opted to brawl with Duran over 15 sensational rounds, which have been cemented among the greatest ever seen in the sport. Yet, whilst Leonard was perceived to be the faster of the two, Duran met his speed punch for punch and out-hustled the champion, snatching the welterweight crown in his career magnum opus.
By this point, Duran had conquered champions from featherweight to welterweight, reigning among the top of the sport for a decade, owning a mesmerising record of 72-1 (56 KOs). His claim as one of boxing’s all-time greats was cemented, and he was yet to have his most famous fights.
Duran celebrated his monumental achievements lavishly, piling on the pounds with a party lifestyle whilst celebrating his new role as Panama’s biggest celebrity. While Duran was blowing up in weight, his management signed a lucrative immediate rematch with Leonard, which caught the overweight champion unawares, forcing him to readjust back to camp and lose a staggering amount of weight in a brief time.
The lack of preparation, alongside brilliant tactics and mind games from a hungry, disciplined Leonard, spelt disaster. ‘Sugar Ray’ danced around a sluggish Duran, taunting him while peppering him with fast combinations. The offering of his chin and shuffling of his elusive feet played with his mind so much that after eight rounds, boxing’s most vicious champion surrendered, sending shockwaves around the boxing world.
Further back-to-back defeats to slick stars Wilfred Benitez and heavy underdog Kirkland Laing spelt the end for Duran, with many writing him off as finished. But it’s not just his years of brilliance that cement Duran as one of boxing’s greats, but his unforgettable comebacks and having bit rock bottom, he was set to shock the world with a resurgence.
Following the devastating defeats in 1982, Duran took on the dangerous punching Hall of Famer Pipino Cuevas, who, during his fearsome reign as welterweight champion, had cemented his reputation as a legitimate jawbreaker. Duran pulled out a classic performance in this make-or-break fight, stopping Cuevas in four rounds, which set up a shot at light-middleweight champion Davey Moore.
With hindsight, Moore was far too green for a legend of Duran’s calibre. Nevertheless, the Panamanian entered the fight a considerable underdog, 28lbs above where he made his debut. The 12-0 Moore had already stopped Ayub Kalule and knocked out all but one of his opponents. Very few favoured an over-the-hill Duran who was at such a high weight. Yet Duran unleashed one of the most savage beatdowns ever seen on the young American, completely battering Moore into submission with a clinical eighth-round TKO, defying the odds and winning titles in three weights.
A hellacious schedule intensified, where remarkably, Duran moved up to 160lbs to challenge the seemingly invincible Marvin Hagler. Hagler had already knocked out every opponent through his eight title wins, yet the much smaller former lightweight king pulled out elite tricks, pushing Hagler all the way in a phenomenal performance against such overwhelming odds. Hagler won via a close 15-round decision, yet in his inspiring comeback, Duran had once again won the hearts of the fans.
His murderer’s row of opponents was ended abruptly in his next fight, where ‘The Hitman’ Thomas Hearns shattered his chin with a grotesque right hand in a two-round massacre. In the eyes of all, the punch, which was the only one across 119 fights to viciously knock him out, surely marked the end of ‘The Great’ Duran’s incredible bounce back. His form over the following five years showed nothing special, suffering a further loss to Robbie Sims.
In 1988, the colossal intimidator Iran Barkley blasted Duran’s former conqueror Tommy Hearns away to win the WBC middleweight title. When a 37-year-old Duran was given the shot to challenge Barkley for middleweight honours, he was given no chance.
34 lbs above where he defeated Marcel and a decade removed from his prime, there was surely no way in which he could out-hustle such a formidable adversary at the peak of his powers. Yet Duran pulled off the unthinkable, out-slugging Barkley in a firefight, taking his hardest shots and responding by knocking down the giant in dramatic fashion. After 12 rounds, Duran was awarded the split decision victory, winning the middleweight world championship of the world across his fourth division.
He would continue fighting for over another decade, eventually retiring in his 50s. After the Barkley fight, he continued to fight legendary figures, defeating Argentine world champion Jorge Castro and losing to Sugar Ray Leonard, Vinnie Paz (who he dropped), William Joppy and Hector Camacho.
Duran’s career is incredible, fighting across five different decades from 1969 to 2001. He defeated world champions across the equivalent of seven weight divisions today, from featherweight to middleweight and won titles from lightweight to middleweight. Past his best days, he even fought up to light-heavyweight.
During his prime, he may have been the craftiest and most relentless fighter the sport has ever seen. Compiling an unbelievable decade of dominance and past his best, he continued to defy the odds, going toe-to-toe with much larger all-time greats in history’s biggest fights and pulling off multiple miraculous comebacks, showing the heart and desire that made him one of boxing’s greatest.
Roberto Duran retired with a record of 119-16 (70 KOs). Notable victories: Sugar Ray Leonard, Ken Buchanan, Pipino Cuevas, Iran Barkley, Carlos Palomino, Vilomar Fernandez, Ernesto Marcel, Esteban De Jesus 2x, Davey Moore, Guts Itshimatsu, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Saoul Mamby, Jorge Castro, Edwin Viruet, Adolfo Viruet, Ray Lampkin.
