Duran vs Lampkin: 40 Years Later

[elmersalsa]

On Sunday, March 2, 1975 in Panama City, Panama, the great Roberto Duran, WBA World Lightweight king, was defending his crown in his hometown against American boxer Ray Lampkin. It was a great scrap from start to finish. A close fight. One of the few fighters that I saw that REALLY SLUGGED IT OUT with the Hands of Stone. It was a very hot day and even hotter inside the Nuevo Panama Gymnasium. Duran won by 14th round knockout. What a shot! It was a left hook to the body, followed by a left hook to the head. It was over. But the Panamanian crowd had to be very pleased with the performance of Lampkin. He came to fight.

Duran said something about the fight afterwards saying "The next time I put him in the morgue". That was when Lampkin was taken to the city hospital after the brutal KO.

I had Duran ahead 126-125 at the time of the stoppage. But, boy, what a fight.

[Scypion]

I read someplace that Duran and Lampkin ran into each other years later. Ray Lampkin told Duran who he was and mentioned their fight. Duran then invited Lampkin to his home in Panama and I think that Ray took him up on it. Duran showed Lampkin around in Panama and treated him royally.

[elmersalsa]

Ray Lampkin gave the great Roberto Duran one of his toughest fights at lightweight. Lampkin was a former NABF lightweight champion.

[Scypion]

Lampkin was good. The best lightweight of that time other than Duran was Esteban DeJesus, as I am sure you know. If Duran wasn't around, then Esteban probably would have been the dominant lightweight then. What did you think of DeJesus as a fighter?

[elmersalsa]

Esteban De Jesus was an excellent fighter. Some guys in here think that he was nothing special, WHICH MAKES ME LAUGH, because when you look at Esteban's accomplishments, he is a deserving HOF in my opinion. Besides Duran, Esteban did not lose to another lightweight. There is no shame in that when you already beaten one of the top five greatest fighters ever and the best lightweight of all time, and HE IS THE ONLY ONE to fight him three times in the Hands of Stone's prime. He was the only one in Duran's prime that decked him twice. A top 20 lightweight of all time in my book, by anybody's standards.

Esteban also beat Ray Lampkin twice.

[scorpio83]

Yes, Esteban De Jesus should be in the IBHOF, but he will fell short. However, I hope De Jesus would eventually in the IBHOF with good accomplishments in the ring including being the first man to defeat the legendary "Hands of Stone" and Hall of Famer Roberto Duran.

[Seamus]

DeJesus is pretty overrated nowdays, and I always maintain that being overrated means that you are still good. Realistically, outside of his upset win over Duran in a non-title bout, he has some good wins, but nothing really impressive. Ishimatsu and Frazer were probably his next best scalps, and those were cerrtainly good, but not great fighters. Maybe a top 50 Lightweight of alltime, and that's not bad considering some of the Lightweights who have been around since the late 19th century.

[elmersalsa]

Esteban De Jesus to me, is a top 20 all time lightweight. One of Puerto Rico's greatest fighters. THE ONLY MAN to beat the great Roberto Duran in his prime. That is enough for a brilliant and excellent career.

[Scypion]

Esteban De Jesus was an excellent fighter. Some guys in here think that he was nothing special, WHICH MAKES ME LAUGH, because when you look at Esteban's accomplishments, he is a deserving HOF in my opinion. Besides Duran, Esteban did not lose to another lightweight. There is no shame in that when you already beaten one of the top five greatest fighters ever and the best lightweight of all time, and HE IS THE ONLY ONE to fight him three times in the Hands of Stone's prime. He was the only one in Duran's prime that decked him twice. A top 20 lightweight of all time in my book, by anybody's standards.

Esteban also beat Ray Lampkin twice.

Esteban DeJesus beat Ray Lampkin for the NABF Lightweight title both times. So, Esteban held the NABF (North America Boxing Federation, I think) title as well as the WBC Lightweight Championship. The NABF title is the same as the title that Muhammad Ali fought Jimmy Ellis for (except that it was heavyweight).

DeJesus had a good chin. He was knocked out twice by Duran (How many lightweights could go 15 with Roberto Duran in those days?), and Saoul Mamby in his very last fight when his skills were eroded by drugs or whatever.

Esteban fought some champs and ex-champs during his career. Besides Duran and Mamby, there were Antonio Cervantes, Ishimatsu Suzuki, Antonio Gomez, and Alfonso Fraser. Also some pretty good boxers like Edwin Viruet, Josue Marquez (3 times), Johnny Gant, and Hector Medina (28 and 0 record when they fought). Final record: 57 wins and 5 losses. Looks like a pretty good boxing resume to me.

[Ambling Alp II]

The NABF title was completely meaningless.
Marquez, Gant and Fraser weren't much above the journeyman level. Medina had a completely padded record. Not a big win at all.

He lost to Mamby, Cervantes, and Gomez.
So outside of Duran, he's left with wins over Guts Ishamtusu (a hot and cold fighter), Viruet and the legendary Lampkin.

Outside of Duran he had a decent, solid career.

[Scypion]

The NABF title was completely meaningless.
Marquez, Gant and Fraser weren't much above the journeyman level. Medina had a completely padded record. Not a big win at all.

He lost to Mamby, Cervantes, and Gomez.
So outside of Duran, he's left with wins over Guts Ishamtusu (a hot and cold fighter), Viruet and the legendary Lampkin.

Outside of Duran he had a decent, solid career.

I guess that we have different opinions, but that's OK.

I don't think that DeJesus compiled his record of 57 and 5 by just fighting bums, but that is JMO.

[Seamus]

De Jesus beat some good fighters, but outside of Duran, none of them were close to being great.

[Scypion]

I wish that DeJesus fought Ken Buchahan (both prime). That would have been a good match up.

Interesting (to me) that Duran and DeJesus were born about a month and a half apart and fought a lot of the same boxers coming up. Not a good thing for Esteban though. Just think how different his career could have been if Roberto was not around.

Buchanan was tough, I think. Who would have won if Ken Buchanan and Esteban DeJesus fought each other?

[Tomasino]

I wish that DeJesus fought Ken Buchahan (both prime). That would have been a good match up.

Interesting (to me) that Duran and DeJesus were born about a month and a half apart and fought a lot of the same boxers coming up. Not a good thing for Esteban though. Just think how different his career could have been if Roberto was not around.

Buchanan was tough, I think. Who would have won if Ken Buchanan and Esteban DeJesus fought each other?

I'd take a prime Buchannan to beat DeJesus.

[Scypion]

That would be a tough fight for DeJesus, and for Buchanan. I'm a little surprised that they didn't fight. Buchanan fought mostly in Europe after the Duran match and maybe that is part of the reason. Also, there was not much to be gained by either fighter from taking such a tough fight. I would have liked to have seen it though.

As far as common opponents for Duran and DeJesus go, Esteban beat all but Saoul Mamby in his last bout. DeJesus beat Lampkin twice, but Duran beat Viruet twice. DeJesus beat Viruet when I think that his boxing career was on the decline (1978).

[Seamus]

I thought Viruet deserved the decisions in his first bout with Duran and his fight with De Jesus. I had him winning both by 2pts. He lost to Duran by a landslide in the title bout though.

[Scypion]

I thought Viruet deserved the decisions in his first bout with Duran and his fight with De Jesus. I had him winning both by 2pts. He lost to Duran by a landslide in the title bout though.

Not sure I agree. I saw the Viruet/DeJesus last night and it looked like Esteban won to me, but I guess I could be wrong. Not sure about Duran/Viruet 1. I will have to watch the whole fight sometime. Viruet was a hard guy to fight because he used to clinch a lot and run a lot. I guess that running is considered good fighting in today's boxing. Used to be that a boxer would get points for being the aggressor, and the guy running away would lose points and sometimes even have their purse held up.

A boxer named Jimmy Slade had his purse held up by the boxing commission for running away too much in his first fight with Floyd Patterson. I saw that fight and Slade didn't seem to run as much as fighters like Ray Leonard or Viruet. I really don't blame Slade for running in that fight because he was taking quite a beating from Patterson. He was knocked down 5 times in 8 rounds.

[Cholo_cws]

I was in Panama in July 2002 and there was a tribute to Duran held in his honour at the arena named after him. There were exhibition bouts, music and a screen showing Duran's career highlights. Ray Lampkin was there as a guest and after being announced he and Duran hugged in the ring. A really nice moment.

[Scypion]

Good to hear. I like the way most boxers like and respect each other outside of the ring. Some fighters had terrific battles in the ring, but became lifelong friends afterwards.

[Counter-puncher]

I wish that DeJesus fought Ken Buchahan (both prime). That would have been a good match up.

Interesting (to me) that Duran and DeJesus were born about a month and a half apart and fought a lot of the same boxers coming up. Not a good thing for Esteban though. Just think how different his career could have been if Roberto was not around.

Buchanan was tough, I think. Who would have won if Ken Buchanan and Esteban DeJesus fought each other?

I'd take a prime Buchannan to beat DeJesus.

it would be a heck of a match and the kind of fight that would have everything, a lot of skill and talent in that ring.

i think Buchanan's good engine would be a key factor over 15, but i think Dejesus' fast and quite heavy hands would win early rounds with some tough moments for Ken.

[Ambling Alp II]

It would have been a competitive fight, but I would lean towards DeJesus. Too bad it never happened.

[Scypion]

It would have been a competitive fight, but I would lean towards DeJesus. Too bad it never happened.

I agree. I would have both DeJesus and Buchanan in the top 20 all time in the lightweight division, though some may disagree.

[Ambling Alp II]

No, they don't belong in the Top 20 lightweights of all time. If you take into the consideration all of the light weights in the last 130 years, there are clearly more than 18 who were better. There are at least 30 guys who fought at lightweight who were better.

[Seamus]

If I had to pick DeJesus' 5 best wins I'd say it's

1.W10 Roberto Duran
2.W15 Guts Ishimatsu
3.WTKO12 Josue Marquez
4.WKO11 Vicente Mijares
5.WKO10 Alfonso Frazer

That's not even close to an alltime top 20 Lightweight's resume. One big win and then a deep dropoff.

[Scypion]

No, they don't belong in the Top 20 lightweights of all time. If you take into the consideration all of the light weights in the last 130 years, there are clearly more than 18 who were better. There are at least 30 guys who fought at lightweight who were better.

There were a lot of good ones. If not top 20, then I do think he makes top 30.