Roberto Duran was he the best Lightweight ever?

[elmersalsa]

Ray Lampkin was a very good fighter. He probably, alongside Esteban DeJesus, gave the great Roberto Duran his toughest fight at lightweight.

Duran's quality of opposition at lightweight was not great, but neither was mediocre. He beat some real good fighters like:

Ken Buchanan: Lightweight champion of Scotland, Great Britain and the World.
Esteban DeJesus: Lightweight champion of Puerto Rico, NABF, and WBC World. First man to deck Duran and gave the Manos de Piedra his first loss.
Ishimatsu Suzuki: WBC World Lightweight Champion. Beat Rodolfo "El Gato" Gonzalez twice, who was also world champ. Beat also Ken Buchanan in an exciting match in Japan
Vilomar Fernandez: People forget that he beat the great Alexis Arguello.
Edwin Viruet: A good lightweight contender.
Hector Thompson: Almost stops Duran in a slugfest in Panama City, Panama

If we go of which lightweight had the best quality of opposition at lightweight all-time, then we should pick the great Ike Williams. He beat Beau Jack, Bob Montgomery, Sammy Angott, Enrique Bolanos, Jose Maria Gatica, Freddie Dawson, Wesley Mouzon, Willie Joyce, Juan Zurita, Lulu Constantino and Sluggy White. And lost the crown to Jimmy Carter....ufff! that's a lot of great quality of opposition right there.