How would Manny Pacquiao do against a prime Roberto Duran?
By Lester Salvador
Submit Your Article to Nowboxing.com
I had an argument with a Pacquiao fanatic the other day who told me Manny Pacquiao could easily destroy Roberto Duran prime for prime because as he put it “Manny Pacquiao can punch harder than Mike Tyson.”
I would like to warn any boxing fan that getting into a boxing debate with a Pacman fanboy is a no win situation, either way you lose because you are arguing with someone who only started watching boxing with Manny Pacquiao and has a limited amount of knowledge when it comes to the sweet science.
On the Cover: Roberto Duran, Boxing,
Photographed by: John Iacono
I will just cut to the chase, keep it short and simple, Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t last 5 rounds with Roberto Duran at lightweight prime for prime.
Roberto Duran the greatest lightweight boxer of all time, the man known as “Manos de Piedra” (hands of stone), Duran who knocked out a horse with a single punch as a teenage boy would destroy Manny Pacquiao.
Roberto Duran youtube highlight
Roberto Duran had fought in an era when every fighter was hungry and fought with heart and determination, also noted, Duran fought “PRIME” fighters he never had his opponents hand picked for him or drained.
Roberto Duran simply had too much power, a better chin, and too much pressure for Pacquiao, Manny wouldn’t know what to do if he had a guy like Duran pressuring him with combination’s, Duran would just shrug off any punch Pacman threw at him.
I believe Duran could take what Pac dishes out but I doubt that Pacman could take anything Duran would dish out to him.
For any of you Pacquiao fanatics who will disagree and hurl insults at me, even Manny Pacquiao’s own Master Freddie Roach said on ESPN that Manny would not be able to defeat Duran and said Duran is the greatest lightweight ever.
Watch the video and listen carefully to Freddie Roach at 2:48
So if you are gonna throw some remarks at me like I don’t know boxing, what is your opinion of Manny’s respected hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach, since he shares the same prediction as mine?
Discuss this and other boxing events in the Now Boxing Forum (membership is FREE)
Popularity: 48% [?]
Loading ...
you can also say manny can’t beat cotto, dela hoya and hatton last year. no point to argue with duran cause we can’t put them in the ring now. this is just a negative write up discrediting manny’s achievements. just wan’t to say, have a good day floyd fan
simply put its your subjective opinion period!!!
It seems that this writer had run out of worthy opponent against the mighty Pacman??? He is now pitting Manny vs a dead legend that is Duran. It just shows how pathetic Mr. Lester Salvador is? You got nothing in writing but “ENVY”! Take a walk… Loser!
You should not match boxers with different times and come up with a partial statement. Because you never know what is going to happen because it is not realistic. Stop doing that ok!!!
The guy who says that the Pacman hits harder than tyson and klitschko combined is not really Filipino, I don’t know who he is or what nationality he has but he isjust saying that to make Filipinos look like fools. Most Filipino boxing fans knows the difference between a heavy weight punch and a junior wleterweight-welterweight punch and a welterweights punch would never exceed the punch lof a middleweight because Power= mass x velocity and a hewvyweights mass would always be greater than a welterweights mass, but I don’t agree with the article because it is nonesense, saying that pactards are stupid because they don’t know anything about boxing and says stupid things because you are doing the same by saying that duran can beat the pacman easy with no facts to back it up just hearsay.
Pacman haters said Cotto, DelaHoya, etc would win. Now that Manny’s destroyed them all the only thing these Pac haters can do now is to pit him against long retired fighters. Fights that can never happen so you can’t ever prove them wrong. At the same time these haters, these “sports writers” are nowhere to be found after every Pacman victory. I’m a Filipino and I’ve been a HUGE boxing fan since the early 70′s and would gladly challenge these jealous haters to a boxing trivia. Oh, and I’m a HUGE Pacmaniac! You hear me Lester Salvador! You must be a jealous Latino!
Pacquiao’s GREATNESS isn’t being measured more of beating legit Welterweights but beginning his career as a small Flyweight into becoming a Welterweight.
yes duran can beat manny, but inside 5rds is insane… manny can beat duran too and that’s not impossible beacause manny loves to upset impossibles…
This guy Lester is nothing but PATHETIC IDIOT!!!
whats with the comparison of who can beat who??? duran is past and manny is the present. get over it guys!!! lets just talk about the manny will beat the living hell out of gayweather. oh i have a title for this fight. MANNY PACQUIAO VS FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. THE FASTEST HANDS ON THE EAST MEETS THE FASTEST MOUTH ON THE WEST!!
This is a stupid article n the comments r no better. Duran beat a prime leonard and was even with hagler at 157. although i like pacquiao more since i’m filipino, i do think he would lose by a unanimous decision. Duran also beat iran barkley who fought at lightheabyweight a couple of times.
im a boxing fan since the mid 80′s..i watched evry great bouts on that era and on my opinion Roberto Duran will be pulverized by Manny coz hes a standing target..no head movements and slow on his feet, just look what Sugar Ray Leonard did to him..the only guy who cud beat Manny is himself period.and to you Lester Salvador find another job..
we can agree till our hairs are gray but we will never find out who will win between pacquiao and duran. this is the only thing certain, pactards may be ignorant but they are correct 10 for 10 in pac’s last 10 fights and the pachaters are going 0 for 10 now.
And that’s the ugly truth
he belittled the fighters manny defeated from every weight divisions. he belittled manny when he says duran will win in 5… so he is no different from pacquiao’s fanatic. he is just a duran’s fanatic! don’t pretend to be different and more knowledgable.
i am a fan also of duran but i don’t think he has the edge in offense, maybe equal in power but manny has the speed and has the edge in defense.
Duran destroying MP in 5 rounds? And it already validates your claim that you are knowledgeable about boxing? You’re just making yourself more STUPID and FOOLISH!
Roberto Duran is great.. but that is a different era..
This the guy who keep punch after punch after punch..
a killer instinct to KO. his opponent.
But no way.. prime vs prime.. of manny pacquaio..
if you see Roberto Duran he just like a stationary target for Manny Pacquaio he doesnt know how to protect himself and he takes more on a punishment in his last fight.
for sure if they face together with manny pacquaio right now. Roberto Duran is just like Ricky Hatton. even Round 1. this guys.. get KOed.
Hands Of Stone with no defence. VS Iron Chin with a hands coming from Heaven and that is Manny Pacquaio.
this article is so fucking retard!!! why ask roach right now if he still believe that duran can beat pac. as we know pac is still an evolving boxer. and now he proves that he can take welterweight punch c/by cotto.
I thing I know that Manny Pacquiao did not QUIT in any of his bout unlike Roberto Duran.
Here comes again the dumbest stupidest moron writer pound for pound Mr. Lester Imbecile Salvador!!!!
Here comes again the dumbest stupidest moron writer pound for pound Mr. Lester Imbecile Salvador!!!!
Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!
Mr. writer if you took note of what roach said. “he said pacquiao is still going on ofcourse (3;11), means pacquiao wasn’t in his prime yet during this interview with freddie and still improving So your title was prime vs prime. Pacquiao is peeking just now. That interview was before cotto fight. So prime vs prime. Ask roach when pacquiao peeks and im sure he would say Pacquiao.
Haven’t you heard what he said recently. Roach said his the greatest of all time. His singing a different tune. Coz he can still see his fighter is growing. If you think there are boxing fans that are pactards I believe your a biased writer yourself. Footwork and speedalone manny is better. So if you say 5 rounds ko you must be kidding man. Your no boxing annalyst.
Mr. writer if you took note of what roach said. “he said pacquiao is still going on ofcourse (3;11), means pacquiao wasn’t in his prime yet during this interview with freddie and still improving So your title was prime vs prime. Pacquiao is peeking just now. That interview was before cotto fight. So prime vs prime. Ask roach when pacquiao peeks and im sure he would say Pacquiao.
Haven’t you heard what he said recently. Roach said his the greatest of all time. His singing a different tune. Coz he can still see his fighter is growing. If you think there are boxing fans that are pactards I believe your a biased writer yourself. Footwork and speedalone manny is better. So if you say 5 rounds ko you must be kidding man. Your no boxing annalyst.Be unbiased and wou will be a better writer.
I’ve been looking for you. its about time . You’re the most stupid and yet the most entertaining writer for me , you make me smile every time you write something,you have a brain of a pig and a dog put together.I am not a pacman fan but after his wins against hatton, de la hoya morales and cotto i have given my respect to him , to deprieved him of that respect is just outrageous.
come on pacfans! take it easy with the writer… he has a point but a little bit one sided… he must remember that duran doesn’t make use of the ring when he fights n doesn’t have the foot speed that pacman has… he also failed to ask “what if pacman hits duran or will duran catch the pacman or how about the iron chin of pacman?” i say the fight will end up with a KO but i think pacman has more chance of connecting his left straight or left hook… pacman wins by KO in rd 10…
ur just a stupid dumb gay writer…you should write on a showbiz magazine instead of wasting ur time here.
enough of this imaginary matches of the past and present fighters…get real, nobody will ever know who’s better or the best fighter of all time. All we can have right now are pure speculations and tons of opinions…I believe that the author of this report just lost in a recent argument with someone and this is the only outlet that he could think of to gain a little edge against that someone.
yeah…maybe…but I understand Roach’s comment..he was just saying that as he respects Duran as a fighter/legend of the sport.
Duran was knocked out by a single punch and what about the “NO MAS”? ala Dela Hoya..hehee…if you don’t know that…just try to research again. ok.
pac would outbox em like sugar ray outboxed em, “no mas”?
Hey! if you want to argue please argue on the merit and stop insulting Pacman’s followers by saying ” I would like to warn any boxing fan that getting into a boxing debate with a Pacman fanboy is a no win situation, either way you lose because you are arguing with someone who only started watching boxing with Manny Pacquiao and has a limited amount of knowledge when it comes to the sweet science”. Please …. you do not have the sole knowledge here of boxing.
Where is Duran now…. what was he remembered for “No mas No mas”. Where is Pacman at the moment?
Keep on playing your video game man. There you can make your make believed scenario.
When roach said that the fight with cotto wasnt there yet, I thnk roach will think differently now
Hey, weren’t you the one who predicted a sure cotto victory and evenmentioned that you are a sweet scientist. Eat shit now for your prediction!!! haha. You are again trying to degrade pacman by comparing him with Duran, what an asshole!!
wow.. you did it man.. With these many comments? its cashing.. cashing… You’re wrong on one thing and fool to say that all Pacfans are merely Pacfans and not boxing fans. I have been following the sport since the time of Duran, Hagler, Hearns, Tyson, Lewis, Roy Jones, Tito, ODLH and now Pacman. And it’s the same thrill until now. Just accept that it’s Pacman’s era. And we really don’t know who will win if they ever meet in the ring. Definitely, Pac does not punch harder than Tyson. Those people think that way sucks…
are u crazy? manny will kill duran if they fight in his prime… pacquiao is a complte fighter.. duran is a slow fighter… stop writing about pacamn coz you are only jealous to him.. maybe ur a gay hahahahahah
Thank you Mr. Lester Salvador for a good article.
Indeed I am one of a Manny Pacquiao fan, but I did not started watching boxing with Manny Pacquiao. In fact, I started watching boxing during the time of Muhammad Ali (who started in boxing with the name “Cassius Clay”). I am also a fan of of Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Smokin Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Aaron Pryor, Alexis Arguellos, Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Bobby Benitez, Sanchez (the one who die in a motorcycle accident), etc. etc. until the excitement in boxing die a natural death. Boxing had resurrected with the arrival of Manny Pacquiao and his exciting style.
My opinion though is that we would not know for who will prevail until the actual fight had been done. Thus I do not agree with you that Manny Pacquiao will last 5 rounds with Roberto Duran. There is comparison and there should be NO comparison that should be made between them. Roberto Duran was a legend before, and Manny Pacquiao is a legend now. Roberto Duran was a different breed, and Manny Pacquiao is also a different kind. Most of the writers who writes against Pacquiao had been proven wrong now and then – so please stop this nonsense.
duran is a very good fighter, i like him, and respect him but Pacquiao is More than a very good fighter like Duran, Pacquiao is The New King of Boxing, Better than a King….
Mabuhay Pinoy all over the world.
Here in Japan, Pacman also is verry famous that during the fight of naito daisuke and kameida, They were shouting the name of Pacquiao when Kameda attack naito…
So eNOUGH OF tHIS dISCUSSION, PACQUIAO IS SIMPLY THE BEST…
Are you kidding me? that interview with freddie was before the hatton fight! and manny has improved dramatically after 2 fights with hatton and cotto. roach’s opinion on manny changed! if you are living under a rock, a recent interview with roach states that manny pacquiao is top5 the GOAT surpassing duran! get your facts straight!
this is author is ridiculous, how can u analyze and came to that conclusion. The question is will duran hit pacquaio, pacman is just too fast that duran wont see it coming.
ohhh so your an expert in the sweet science ha? What ever happened to the “Pacquiao cannot take Cotto’s Left Hook” stuff? you just destroyed your reputation as writer and your article is surely crap and I wont bother read it.
hey lester…you should behave lyk a writer and not just a stupid pacman hater…please just humbly accept your defeat…i don’t know what kind of excuses you are trying to say when pacman (the humble warrior of GOD) destroyed your GAYWEATHER…come fight night…MAYWEATHER WILL SURELY KNOW AFTER THE FIGHT WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS…WHOEVER EXALTS HIMSELF WILL BE HUMBLED, AND WHOEVER HUMBLES HIMSELF WILL BE EXALTED…it’s because just what Manny says his strength just simply comes from ABOVE…peace bro.hehe
This writer is completely biased against pacquiao. I have just viewed the rivalry of duran,leonard hagler, and hearns. Duran is slower than pacquiao and does not have the slashing combinations his footwork is not as fast as pacquiao. How can he say pacquiao will not last in four rounds. He has a granite chin? look what happened in his fight against hearns. I think even cotto will beat him, nuff said.
when i read the first part of your article, i kind of nodded because there are indeed some pacfans who fit your description (but not all). but it kind of degenerates from thereon. reading the rest of your article showed that you’re no different from the pacfan you so despise…only the other way around. thieves hate fellow thieves :p
pac wouldnt last 5 rounds with maidana either. yeah i said it. people are fools.
seeing the videos above, i’m thinking, duran’s way too slow as an aggressor..for one to be effective against the pacman, he’d need to have speed & power at par with the pacman. what’s the use of duran’s power if he’d have time difficulty landing them hands..
it so sad to hear that fellow filipinos dont play fair on matters of expression of opinions.. we always brag that manny is the greatest or manny can punch like tyson – it’s ok because it’s our personal opinion. if others say manny cant last 5 rounds against duran – it’s ok, let us respect their opinion. we should not hurl insults or invectives to them. we should be humble as manny is. ….to those boxing fans who were victims of unfair comments, sorry
Lester Salvador predicted Cotto to beat Pacquiao senseless and has zero credibility as a writer. Lester Salvador was nowhere to be found after Pacquiao beat Cotto and has suddenly came out of his hole to finally fire back against the “Pacnuts” who were proven right…REALLY LESTER SALVADOR? IT TOOK YOU NEARLY TWO MONTHS TO THROW A REPLY HATE ARTICLE, WHICH DOESN’T EVEN ADDRESS THE FACT THAT YOU COMPARING THE ELORDE-ORTIZ FIGHT TO THE PAC-COTTO FIGHT WAS PLAIN RETARDED (AMONG OTHER THINGS)? You flip the script and say Filipinos dont know shit about boxing with your history lessons on articles past, yet your conclusions proved to be false. Sure, some pinoys just talk smack online big whoop, most are probably kids under 16, that’s right your talking shit to kids. You really think adult Filipino males waste their time on the PC talkin smack? What you DONT know or fail to realize is that the PHILIPPINES has had world champions since the turn of last century, hell we currently have 4 world champs RIGHT NOW! People say we only like boxing cuz of Pac…I can tell you as a Filipino that if we didn’t like boxing, we wouldn’t give a shit about Pac. Common sense would suggest that. Filipinos are avid boxing fans back home. Boxing is on basic television all the time in the Philippines something that Americans don’t even have. The thrilla in Manila, the biggest fight ever in heavyweight boxing was held in the Philippines TO A SOLD OUT CROWD AND THAT WAS BACK IN THE 70′S! One last thing Lester, after the Pac Cotto fight, you got a bunch of replies from two of your articles straight clownin you man, cuz you are a joke. Reading this article further proves that point. You are a ‘writer’ and should act like one. Write with a sense of class, and not as a ‘youtube commentator’. Fail.
Duran would be a sitting duck for manny he will like just barrera and cotto a human punching bag..
hey lester, your such a brilliant critic, i salute you for that. but you are comparing a typewriter versus computer,lol. if you’re a good observer of your own video, b4 duran can hit pacquiao, duran will recieve 6 combo to the head and body. to me cotto is faster than duran. you,re such an idiot writer. you are into so much dreaming. you dont know boxing. if you could just enjoy pacquiao while he’s in our time, and without pac now, boxing less than mma.
hey lester, your such a brilliant critic, i salute you for that. but you are comparing a typewriter versus computer,lol. if you’re a good observer of your own video, b4 duran can hit pacquiao, duran will recieve 6 combo to the head and body. to me cotto is faster than duran. you,re such an idiot writer. you are into so much dreaming. can you just enjoy pac while he is in our time? without him boxing will lack of excitement.
Mr. Salvador is partly right. Duran could beat Pacman at lightweight. We have to remember that the pac did not become a complete boxer at lightweight. He was good but not yet great. Duran, on the other hand, was already great at lightweight. But i wouldn’t give Duran the trophy just yet. Pacman’s power at lightweight was even more devastating than his. He could kill a mule just by slapping him. Duran was just the more complete fighter during those times. But on a one-on-one fight should time return, pac could just as easily destroy Duran with one hand and vice-versa. Botom line — we’ll never really know. So just be relevant and compare the fighters who can still fight each other today.
Duran got power but no footwork …
If there is a boxer at present similar to Duran, it would be Edwin Valero i would say.. But the thing is we don’t know who will win if he fights pacquiao.. It purely depends on one’s perspective…