52 fight challenge: Week 31 - Kirkland Laing vs Roberto Duran

[Horse]

Kirkland Laing vs Roberto Duran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr76moW7Ojg

Watch and discuss.

[Horse]

Recent weeks' fights:

Week 30 - Wayne McCullough vs Yasuei Yakushiji: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=202593
Week 29 - Duke McKenzie vs Dave McAuley: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=202398
Week 28 - Alan Rudkin vs Lionel Rose: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=202256
Week 27 - Brian Curvis vs Emile Griffith: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=202047
Week 26 - Maurice Hope vs Rocky Mattioli II: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201894

Week 25 - Dave Charnley vs Joe Brown III: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201665
Week 24 - Dennis Andries vs Jeff Harding I: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201527
Week 23 - Henry Cooper vs Muhammad Ali I: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201361
Week 22 - Steve Robinson vs Paul Hodkinson: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=201121
Week 21 - Pat Cowdell vs Salvador Sanchez: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=200952


British & Irish boxing 52 fight history knowledge challenge thread: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=197079

[Horse]

Supplementary fight.

Kirkland Laing vs Sylvester Mittee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXxQSE-NHWk

[handsofstone]

Excellent performance from Laing and 1 of the biggest wins ever for a British fighter,although it was clear to see Duran hadnt trained as well as he should have but take nothing away from Kirkland because Duran fought plenty fights where he never trained and still won handily but Laing never gave him a sniff,i had it 98-92,maybe could argue a round closer either way the right man won and the judge who gave it to Robero must have been watching a different fight,Laing was sharp,mobile,flicking out the jab,landing counters with lefts and leading off with the right,he outboxed Duran for the most part but in the end he was outfighting him too

Shame about what happened to his career and life

[Dixonian]

Excellent performance from Laing and 1 of the biggest wins ever for a British fighter,although it was clear to see Duran hadnt trained as well as he should have but take nothing away from Kirkland because Duran fought plenty fights where he never trained and still won handily but Laing never gave him a sniff,i had it 98-92,maybe could argue a round closer either way the right man won and the judge who gave it to Robero must have been watching a different fight,Laing was sharp,mobile,flicking out the jab,landing counters with lefts and leading off with the right,he outboxed Duran for the most part but in the end he was outfighting him too

Shame about what happened to his career and life

Didn't Laing go on a bender the night before the fight? Think Buncey told a story about it.

[davie]

Excellent performance from Laing and 1 of the biggest wins ever for a British fighter,although it was clear to see Duran hadnt trained as well as he should have but take nothing away from Kirkland because Duran fought plenty fights where he never trained and still won handily but Laing never gave him a sniff,i had it 98-92,maybe could argue a round closer either way the right man won and the judge who gave it to Robero must have been watching a different fight,Laing was sharp,mobile,flicking out the jab,landing counters with lefts and leading off with the right,he outboxed Duran for the most part but in the end he was outfighting him too

Shame about what happened to his career and life

Didn't Laing go on a bender the night before the fight? Think Buncey told a story about it.

Holy fornicate.

Beating Duran with a hangover. I hope this man got fornicating medals for that win.

If it weren't for my deep burning hatred of the honour system in this country I'd demand he were knighted!

[Taansend]

And then Laing went on a bigger bender after this brilliant win.

One of my favourite boxers of all time. Saw him live a few times.

[handsofstone]

I thought Laing was gonna nick it by running going by the early rounds but as the fight wore on he held his ground more and more

[Eddy]

I saw the Buncey thing about KL. Did he suffer from mental health? What caused him to end up like he did. In Charlie Magri's book he noted that KL used to walk miles and miles a day.

[handsofstone]

Great finish from Laing in the Mittee fight,he didnt do much early doors again and i gave Sylvester the 1st few rounds,mainly for pressing but once Kirkland got going Mittee crumbled pretty quickly,cracking shot from Laing to send him reeling and the warning signs were ringing when Mittee turned away and it was a good call when the ref stopped it,i thought he was gonna let it continue

[Horse]

Laing - Duran

1. 9 - 10
2. 9 - 10
3. 10 - 9
4. 10 - 9
5. 10 - 9
6. 10 - 9
7. 10 - 9
8. 9 - 10
9. 10 - 9
10. 10 - 9

97-93 Laing


I thought after the first two rounds that this might have been like a Lara vs Alvarez type fight, with Laing running away the whole night and me scoring it widely to Duran and looking like an idiot.

Luckily Laing started fighting properly after the first two rounds and he won the fight clearly.

[Horse]

Laing - Mittee

9 - 10
10 - 10
9 - 10
10 - 9
- - - TKO

38-39 Mittee


Mittee was filthy and the referee was useless, but it was a pretty good fight.

Perhaps Laing's 2nd best win?

[davie]

Laing vs Duran

1. 10 - 10. Nothing of note to split the 2.
2. 9 - 10 - Duran. Could have been a 10-10 on punches landed, but deduct 1 from Laing for making no actual attempt to hit duran
3. 9 - 10 - Duran - Still waiting on this getting started
4. 10 - 9 - Laing. Better round, fast hands from Laing,
5. 10 - 9 - Laing. Duran really struggling to figure him out. Laing finding it really easy to land the straight right lead
6. 10 - 9 - Laing. Doing a great job of making Duran miss. Making an ATG look amateurish
7. 10 - 9 - Laing. Duran looking raged now
8. 9 - 10 - Duran. Couple of early shots seemed to make Laing a bit flat footed. Duran getting up close and making it messy in the second half of the round
9. 10 - 9 - Laing. Had Duran pushed back on the ropes for spells, hard to believe what I'm watching
10. 10 - 9 - Laing. Expected a big effort from Duran, but he looked flat. Laing looked like he just about had him going at one point. Great effort

97-94 Laing

Didn't get much chance to analyse what Laing did right, because I was too busy marveling at what Duran was doing poorly

It's hard to believe you are watching someone as great as Duran in a performance like that, but he was capable of it, going into a bout under prepared

I'm still struggling with the knowledge that it was Laing who was apparently hung over...