Roberto Duran beats up DeJesus in their third fight.

[kjchuck81]

@LOVEMPIRE666 Yea, he had HIV before he went jail. He got it from his brother. His brother died of aids and Esteban was worried cause he was all sick and messed up in jail, he got checked out and he had full blown aids.

[rudy7921]

Duran - THE #1 GREATEST boxer of all time !!!!! An artist, an absolute ROCK, and a poet on two feet !

[june1683]

so good. I have been watching boxing for 40 years and have him rated

second pound for pound only behind Salvador Sanchez.

If Duran were in tip top shape, he would likely beach Sanchez but in a

best of 3 or 5, I give Sanchez the edge. As far as the rest of the great fighters

of the era, the 135 lb version of Duran would have stopped any of them with perhaps Mayweather the only one going the distance

[rudy7921]

@june1683 Yes my friend - Salvador Sanchez, I almost forgot about him. WOW is the word. So GREAT! Better at his trade than most anyone ever was at any trade. I still give it to Duran for #1 as he weathered it all like the true Champion he is at weight classes a lightweight should normally never be seen at. How about going up to 165 to not only fight middleweight but to really legitimately almost beat a game Marvin Hagler in his prime. Simply awesome. The hispanic guys like Sanchez and Duran -WOW

[icebear1946]

Duran and Roy Jones were the two really superior prize fighters of our age. Of the two Duran is the one you'd want to study; Roy Jones' game depended a bit too much on physical gifts nobody else is likely to have.

[tellthetruthg]

makes you wonder how many of todays fighters could go 15. If the first SRL jvs hearns fight wasn't 15 Hearns wins . Love the term Championship rounds you don't here that any more

[beasy1234]

It's been stated that Dejesus contracted AIDS while doing drugs in prison after killing a 17 teen year old in a traffic dispute.

[beasy1234]

@bigbootylover42 you must of replied me by mistake because I didn't mention sugar ray Leonard and made the case for Duran being the greatest of the modern warriors.

[mariosaballos]

...Duran is the best lightweight of all time. Alexis Arguello is the best jr. lightweight of all time.

[efravi25]

ohh what a stupid commentary! why don´t send to kill yourself?

[set2light]

you're delusional. Armstrong is technically a dog compared to Duran. Duran was a better speciman, more intelligent, faster, more clever and he was better trained. Even worse for you, Duran was the meanest toughest and hardest hitting lightweight in history. Duran is the ONLY lightweight to win the middleweight crown, and his welterweight win was at the level of genius. Undoubtedly the greatest win in boxing history. He also set outright records and in his class as well.

Haha U look inferior

[carbert68]

@set2light -- Armstrong a "dog" ? I think YOU are delusional. Duran's win over Leonard the greatest single win in boxing history? Give me a break. I love Duran but that is ridiculous. Duran is one of the great lightweight champs, but Ike Williams, Benny Leonard and, yes, Armstrong, have to be rated above him. Name one great fighter that Duran defeated aside from Leonard. Hard to do , isn't it?

[set2light]

You're too stupid to reply to.

[carbert68]

In other words, you admit you don't know what you're talking about.

[OPD4OG]

look i see why u dont think duran deserves to b number one but leanard isnt da only great person he's beaten he's gotten Bunchanan, cuevas, palomino, then he's beaten ironed chin jorge castro, davy moore, barkley and da camacho fight was his and many other good/ great fighters dat werent well known, I think Dejesus is a future hall of famer n he is great. he beat the likes of guts, alfonso, lampkin, duran, and defends it for times

[carbert68]

But I'm talking truly GREAT fighters, guys who have to be considered in any ranking of the all-time best. You make the case for DeJesus but I've come across virtually no one who ranks him among the best ever. I love Duran, and I agree he is one of the best lightweights of the last 50 years, but to call him the greatest of all-time, or better than H. Armstrong just doesn't make sense. Benny Leonard, Ike Williams, Armstrong, Joe Gans, Canzoneri, all are on par with Duran or more accomplished.

[OPD4OG]

bro, they are great, not well known but they are great, mayb they're not in da all-time great category but they are great.. n henry armstrong did as well beat great fighters, but not all time greats... duran was extremely accomplished because of his longevity and coming out on top when he was an underdog against the elite of all the eras that he was in (5 decades)

this is my top five

Roberto duran

Joe gans

Benny Leanard

Tony canzoneri

Henry armstrong

Ike williams

[carbert68]

Okay, but I have to correct you on one thing. Armstrong did beat some all-time greats: Barney Ross, Lou Ambers and Fritzie Zivic are boxers that deserve consideration as being among the best in the history of their divisions. Some put Ambers and Ross above Duran as lightweights. There's an interesting article about this in Ring mag, Sept. 1980, where a panel of experts are asked where Duran ranks all-time. No one puts him #1, and some don't put him in the top 10. He makes my top 10 for sure.

[OPD4OG]

well u have a point bro. And all I can say is that depending on the circumstance that Roberto was fighting in when he fought all those fighters he was suppose to lose to. Nobody really expected him to even beat Sugar ray, in the Moore fight he was supposed to be a former shell of himself and only a big name to boost his popularity. In the Barkley fight as well, but Iran Barkley was on a roll beating good second tier fighters like Olajide then a big win over Tommy n duran was 38 when he beat him.

[Kedbuka]

I written it before but I might as well state it again: Ring Magazine rated Duran the No. 1 lightweight of all time; and rated him No. 5 all time pound-for-pound. He'd have kayoed Ross, Ambers, Zivic and almost any other lightweight you can name. Benny Leonard and Joe Gans likely would've gone the distance due to their boxing ability. I think JC Chavez would've made a tough fight for him in his prime; but Roberto comes out on top in that one too.

[beasy1234]

none of them have more defenses then Duran(12) none of them have more knockouts in Defenses then Duran(11) None have a better record then duran at Lightweight 62-1. Benny Leonard Struggled mightily with his competition, and Armstrong although great fought one way straight ahead with no defense. The rest you mentioned outside of Joe Gans aren't on his level at all.

[carbert68]

The sport was very different in B. Leonard's or Canzeroni's time. There were more non-title, exhibition and no-contest fights and the competition was much stiffer. Plus, the best fought the best, always. And more than once. A busy year was more than 20 fights, not four or five. To say Duran is superior to these great fighters of the past doesn't wash. Duran is one of the greats, but I can't rate him above certain guys, and to say they "aren't on his level at all" is hyperbole.

[carbert68]

Continued .... I mean, Canzeroni alone fought guys like Kid Chocolate, Benny Bass, Johnny Dundee, Bud Taylor, Billy Petrolle, Jimmy McLarnin, Lou Ambers, and Barney Ross. Duran is a great one, but the list of terrific top-notch fighters he defeated is relatively short. I wish he had gotten in the ring with Arguello and Cervantes but he didn't. And he lost to guys like Kirkland Laing. Duran is a great fighter, but not the best ever. And the great champions of the past deserve our respect.

[beasy1234]

He didn't have Leonards level of competition, that's true. But he made up for it by dominating the competition he had that much more. If you wanna say Leonard or armstrong are better cool. But Tony Canzeroni has always been overrated to me. 21 world championship fights record 11-10.

[Bigbootylover42]

I beg you a pardon? That Duran didn't have the level of competition of Sugar Ray Leonard? You need to be schooled in boxing history and remember that Leonard was the golden boy who always had his wishes taken care of by the promoters the corrupted World Boxing Council who let Leonard dictate and applied his own rules for everyone of his fights including the imposition of the boxing glove without a tumb which was a living hell for most of his opponents. Duran never had an easy ride to the top.

[rickyp4ever]

@Bigbootylover42 Very well explained!!!!

[Bigbootylover42]

@rickyp4ever , Thank you rickyp4ever it seems clearly to me that you know about boxing especially when it comes to Roberto Duran. Nobody has been able to equate his performance in the lightwight division since he relinquished the lightweight title in 1979. Roberto Duran only lost one fight from March 1967 to June 1980 and that loss was to the great Esteban De Jesus !What a record!

[spikedawg1970]

@Bigbootylover42 Dang, I forgot the thumbless glove bs, good memory! lol...Leonard was a great boxer, when he wasn't running around that is. But it's hard to have much respect for him because he was such a prima donna pretty boy. Duran haters I can't respect either, just knowing where he came from and to where he went, is like a real life fairy tale, it just doesn't happen. But all the haters can only talk about 1 fight, yet they don't remember that it was Leonard who didn't fight that night,

[Bigbootylover42]

At one point the fight between Duran and Cervantes was being negotiated but Cervantes was never willing to fight outside Colombia. Cervantes was too slow that even a sixteen year old kid named Wilfredo Benitez beat him. The circumstances never allowed for Duran and Arguello to meet in the ring because Duran left the lightweight division 2 1/2 years before Arguello came to the lightweight division. Duran went after the big money in the welterweight division where there was more competition.

[vidnut67]

@Bigbootylover42 On top of that, Arguello tried his hand at lightweight initially in 1978, a full three years before he won the belt at 135, against the same Vilomar Fernandez that Duran had knocked out the year before. Fernandez clearly outboxed him and sent him back to junior lightweight for another couple of years.

[Bigbootylover42]

I don't take any credit from the fighters that you mentioned that according to you were greater than Duran. But remember one thing nobody was able to take the lightweight title away from Duran he reigned for seven years and he had to relinquish the lightweight title because there were no more challengers in the lightweight division. Duran has been the only lightweight to win the Jr. middleweight and middleweight crowns which is something that none of those fighters achieved. Satisfied?

[vidnut67]

carbert, forget who he fought and look at how he fought. He was really the first guy who fought in a brawling style who learned how to fight brilliantly defensively. Frazier couldn't do it, Tyson couldn't do it when faced with an unafraid opponent, and even Armstrong couldn't do it. For all of Armstrong's achievements, he was a horrible defensive fighter and his prime was short as a result. Duran was in his prime, by contrast, a full decade (1970-1980).

[judaschongo]

I agree with you, Armstrong was great no doubt, but he was a Featherweight and Duran a natural Lightweight. Nobody ever did the things Duran did in the ring.

[set2light]

A glorious performance from Duran.

[KleePietro]

Duran confused the hell out of DeJesus in this fight. Duran came up dancing, jabbing, counterpunching. If you notice Esteban is the aggressor and Duran is moving back. De Jesus was not expecting this kind of fight from Duran and by chasing Duran got really tired. Duran had a lot of respect for EDJs power. EDJs was actually a natural 124, 130 and short, but had no competition in thosse classes. He even fought Cervantes in 140 and lost in a competitive fight.

[SoJuDaMaN]

Amen

[MJKDTJ]

Well pryor just challenged leonard at welterweight but he never wanted to campaing at welter. he never challenged tommy hearns or duran. He never wanted to move like duran did and take chance at welter or jr middleweight.

[M14Mann]

I wish Duran would have fought Aaron Pryor.

[judaschongo]

Duran would of killed Pryor! Pryor knew exactly where he belonged and that was at 140 fighting over the hill fighters and blown-up featherweights. Away from: Duran, Leonard & Hearns.

[M14Mann]

I don't about Pryor being killed. I think Pryor would probably have been K.Oed in the 7th or 8th round against Duran. Pryors weakness was that when he punched he would float his chin out there and against Duran that is a very bad thing. Still, I think it would have been interesting to see.

[judaschongo]

we agree on: Pryor on the losing end! just as he would of been against Leonard & Hearns.

[wayneBedfre]

Great rubber match & Trilogy! Love them both!

[judaschongo]

Duran was a perfect fighting machine! specifically at lightweight! never off-balance, always in position to counter or attack, stamina, chin, awesome defensive skills, aggressive footwork. The complete package, the closest thing to perfection!

[joeygonzo]

The ref was an idiot for not stopping that earlier.

[shire2005]

If this fight occured today de jesus would make $2M maybe more.

[milk115]

two of the finest fighters of the seventies

[bradcalix]

this is a boxer right here.strong aggressive agile sTRONG great chin,and never the less his hands are stones!in his prime he was all time best!fighting for too long made him loose

[SoJuDaMaN]

Duran is the only multi-division champion who fought in 5(!) different decades. That's simply insane, I am so in awe with this man.

[set2light]

Just look at Duran in this fight and tell me if there is not a certain beauty to be found here

Duran appears in absolutely stunning peak condition.

In this shape, Duran would destroy every single lightweight that ever walked the planet. Until human beings evolve into something else, Duran is the man.

This is one of the few verities of boxing

In Freudian terms, Duran is the 'super ego' that every man wants to be. It's incredible just how mucho he was.

[set2light]

I was reading an interview Paul Thorn gave of the fight he had with Duran. The thing he remembered the most was not being hit by Duran but just how difficult it was to hit Duran! Duran countered Thorn, bloodied his face and won the fight.

[ksjb85]

so now you've just admitted duran was great, and you also called arcel a stooge...on top of that you say De Jesus was a shell of himself @ this point. What about their match in 74? Duran beat him there also. find and excuse for that, then get another one for why Ray arcel is a stooge when he's considered one of the greats along with dundee, Steward and so on...Dundee new what was up also...He spoke about Duran later on in a sports illustrated article about How Duran dictated the montreal fight.

[set2light]

This was the unification fight for the WBA/WBC undisputed crown. Both were champions. Dejesus was a difficult boxer with a very nasty left. However this is Roberto at in his prime and NOOBODY could beat him

Duran looks really fit and strong. He is relaxed in the ring and very loose, supple and light on his feet. He is also very clever and intelligent and as slippery as an eel. It's next to impossible to king hit him

Roberto puts in a beautiful consummate display worthy of the master he was

[BoDiddley24]

You hear Arcel sayin Duran had the flu during training?? LOL!!! People ALWAYS got to make excuses for the squirt- EVEN WHEN HE WINS! Hes just mad caus Duran said he was gonna kill DeJesus by the 5th. Durans stooges ALWAYS gotta do that shit tho- 'he wasnt prepared, or 'it wasnt fair, hes only a lightweight' or howbout, 'he was OVERtrained'- or, 'he had the flu', or 'he partied' LOL!!!!

[BoDiddley24]

Dejesus is a shell of himself by here, & was even messing with dope by this time. Estaben had only fought 3 guys antbody remembers: Duran, Cervantes, & Mamby. They ALL beat him! He won the WBC title a couple years before this from Suzuki on points, & defended it to a couple nobodies (Just like Roberto used to do)before Duran decided he would bypass Alexis in favor of a 3rd shot with Estaban! How brave!

[set2light]

What an exquisite knockdown. Dejesus was coming in and Roberto backs off, gives himself room, and from a cramped position, hits Dejesus with a short stunted right. The timing was beautiful.

Reading the posts below, I think we all agree, Duran is the greatest lightweight, the greatest P4P and top 3 of all time.

[los005]

Forget Latino, at his best he was the best. No one beats Duran from 74-78. Chin and hands of stone, heart, stamina, speed, power, could box, defense, everything. The guy was the greatest. Too bad he had to get old and move up in weight.

[SoJuDaMaN]

even then, when he got older and fought in divisions far above his natural catch weight, he showed that he could still beat the best. Which victory was Duran's most impressive?

I thought his fight against Iran Barkley. Simply the best.

[los005]

Yes, I would agree that the Barkley fight was the most impressive win. However, it was not Duran's skill. It was his heart and will. This '78 Duran is a master to watch. He is a perfect machine. The 1st Leonard fight was also very impressive, but the Duran from the mid 70s was truly unbeatable.

[SoJuDaMaN]

I have to agree. I think moving up two divisions and beating Ray Leonard was so impressive. I don't get how people still nuthug Leonard saying he won the rematch and the rubber match. That doesn't mean shit. When both fighters where in their prime and fought each other, Duran won.

After that Duran went crazy, blew up to over 200 pounds and partied all night long. He didn't care about losing the rematch against Leonard, because he'd already proven he is the best.

[judaschongo]

that was a great 1! due to the fact that Barkley was champion and it was 17years after Duran had won the Lightweight Crown; he also happened to be 37years old defeating the man who twice conquered Hearns.

[CHORILLO]

Simply the best lightweight and best latin boxer of all times. Period!