BoxRec

Sugar Ray Robinson V Roberto Duran, Welterweights 15 rounds

ray was damn near invincible at welter but if anyone could have matched him its roberto.
what do ya'll think

..an odd time of year for an april fool joke....

.an odd time of year for an april fool joke....

Now that is funny!!

I voted for Rob as the bigger man but Duran could win if he is in the right mindset and in shape.

It appears to me we are talking about the finest welter vs the finest Lightweight.....Hmm Light vs Welter. This requires focused scientific thinking.

First let's convert this to beer so everyone can understand.

1.Take a real beer put it on the bar in front of you.

2.Then take a light beer and put it on the bar in front of you.

(If your not at a bar a table will do, does not matter if it is a kitchen table, coffee table or an end table)

2. Take a good quaff of the real beer

3. Take a good quaff of the light beer.

4. Ask yourself which beer would do a better job.

5. Repeat if needed.

6. If you run out of beer fill your glasses again.

7. The answer will come.
You can try this at home it will help you solve this or any other problem you may find yourself faced with in life. It's amazing how answers come forth utilizing this highly scientific approach.

I'd have to go for Ray, great as he was Duran was not a more complete boxer than Ray, and anyone saying so hasnt seen much of Robinson... aside from that Robinsons advantage in natural size would be crucial and so Ray wins a great fight but a clear cut decision... Ray was the most complete boxer I've seen bar none...

Robinson from 135 to 147 was virtually unbeatable.

Why Robinson Duran and not Robinson Leonard? Duran was a superb lightweight who also achieved stuff at higher weight-classes, but at 147 he's on balance inferor to both Leonard and Hearns.

Roberto Duran was a supernatural Lightweight, arguably the best in that division. His knock out power seemed to diminish as he moved up in weight, but he called on his superb skills to dominate the higher weights.

Ray Robinson was the greatest welterweight of all time, and his power never seemed to diminish as he moved up, because he was so offensively great. The perfect weight class for these men to have fought at would have been below Welterweight, maybe Junior Welter, and both men in their primes.

It would be a non-stop stand still, and the publicity before the bout would take place would probably be just as big as the fight its self, just like how Duran belittled Ray Leonard and called him a homosexual and his wife was a tramp.

It wouldn't just be a physical fight, it would be psychological warfare.

I'll go with Duran...only cus that man was a genuine bad ass and at Lightweight he was unstopable and fought with a fury that seldom has anyone matched. Robinson was one of the greatest fighters of all time, pound per pound greatest, but I can't see Robinson of any weight dominate Duran in every sense of the game---it would be a give and take fight.

It would have been tough, but SRR would have found a way to win.

Then again, if the fight had of happened in SRR's day, they would have had about 3 or 4 fights & I can see Duran winning one of those.

PS: The ultimate superfight would have to have been Roberto Duran -v- Aaron Pryor at light welterweight in about 1980.

Problem is Aaron would never sign the contract. Due to the fact that he lost his lucky pen.

Duran completely lost his punch aftert moving up from lightweight...check his record out...the only worthy stoppages that he scored past lightweight was Cuevas and Moore...which Cuevas was pretty much shattered at that point from Hearns and Moore was thrown to the lions too early in his career and was just too inexperienced to face someone like Duran...but even then it took Duran a while to stop Moore in a bout where Moore took a vicious beating.

Prime Robinson dominates a prime Duran and either stops him in the middle rounds, or it's a "No Mas" again. Duran didn't have the power to contend with Ray Robinson and at welterweight no one...I repaeat...no one...could compare to Ray Robinson.

Duran was a great lightweight, but Armstrong, Gans and Leonard were just as good if not better...at 147 Duran has little hope unless Robinson came in completely out of shape, but a prime Robinson would put a pretty solid beating on Duran at 147, or 160!

Now Duran and Armstrong would be a great fight at 135, or 147, but I would take Armstrong in both instances as well!

I'd give Duran a chance at Armstrong at 135... his speed and skill would give Armtrong lots of problems... not to mention his infighting. I dont think Duran was really as much a one punch ko artist as people say... he relied more on combinations and wearing down his opponents... when he moved up he was slower, threw less punches and so koed less people... but the strength was still there... not many people floored Iran Barkley and Duran was definately strong enough to gain Haglers respect... so he must have been throwing something otherwise these guys would have walked all over him...

..buzz..robinson beats duran at lightweight. robinson beats duran at junior welter if that half division had existed in robinson's time. ..robinson beats duran at welter. again, if this half step had existed, robinson beats duran at super welter. robinson beats duran at middleweight.

now that this is settled, can we move on to a legitmate discussion?

Decagon wrote:

Jaclem wrote:..buzz..robinson beats duran at lightweight. robinson beats duran at junior welter if that half division had existed in robinson's time. ..robinson beats duran at welter. again, if this half step had existed, robinson beats duran at super welter. robinson beats duran at middleweight.

now that this is settled, can we move on to a legitmate discussion?

Actually, jr. welterweight and jr. middleweight were created by the Walker Law in 1920. The Boxing Blade had a poll to see who the first World Jr. Welterweight Champion would be; it was Pinky Mitchell in 1922. Henry Armstrong pretty much killed the jr. welterweight division when he was welterweight champ, weighing 133 pounds.

The jr. welterweight division actually did exist in Robinson's time. Tippy Larkin, a bralwer/swarmer lightweight, claimed it after beating Willie Joyce for the vacant title.

I remember the 140 pound division being in existence and fighters claiming the title. The Whitechapel Whirlwind was a world champ at the weight in the 30's.

Who were the early world champs at 154? I don't think I've heard of that title being claimed before the 60's. You'd think a guy like Basilio would have been a very dominant champ at that weight had he chose to contest it...

I give this one to Robinson by a wide decision.

How about a lightweight battle between Duran and Armstrong? or Duran and Ike Williams?

Decagon wrote:Although the jr. welterweight division had a pretty good run from 1922 to 1935, the jr. middleweight division was completely dead until 1962, when Emile Griffith and Denny Moyer claimed the title.

Well the 154 division wasnt exactly 'dead' till 1962, it wasnt invented till the early 60's... 140 division died for a while from the 40s and then came back in the 60s...

... i am awareof the junior titles having existed back then...they weren't given the esteem in which they are held now...but yes..they were there...but many fighters preferred to go up to "full step" divisions which held more prestige.

tiuppy larkin was not a swarmning brawler. he was an exceptionally fine boxer..with a china chin. his match with billy graham was voted by the boxing writers as one of the finest exhibtion....by each fighter....that was seen in a decade. larkin won.