Buchanan v Duran 2 Scotland

Just finished watching a Buchanan documentary which covered the first fight. Buchanan to this day is very bitter about it. It was your typical boxer v fighter match up but Duran's tactics to smother Ken and stop him from jabbing properly worked to his advantage. This may have been covered before so forgive me but what do you think would have been the outcome had this fight deservedly taken place?

Dear Lord. It has never happened before. A boxer not allowing his opponent to fight as he wants. What a cheat. How unfair.

As for a rematch. Same outcome only quicker.

It should have been a DQ really with the ending it had but I think Buchanan was always going to come off second best against Duran. There was no need for Duran to risk disqualification the way he did. Had he not been well ahead I doubt he would have got away with it.

Probably best for Buchanan's sake he never got the rematch.

manos de piedra wrote:It should have been a DQ really with the ending it had but I think Buchanan was always going to come off second best against Duran. There was no need for Duran to risk disqualification the way he did. Had he not been well ahead I doubt he would have got away with it.

It looked to me like Buchanan knew he was going to end up on the wrong side of the decision, so he made the most of the low blow and it backfired on him. I think he could have continued, just like I always thought Montell Griffith could have continued against Roy Jones.

Can't see any other outcome other than a win for Duran. Either a late stoppage again or the roar of a home crowd keeps Ken hanging on to the end to lose a fairly wide decision.

I think, straight away, anyone who thinks that a rematch between the pair wouldn't have been a legitimate and worthwhile fight should reconsider that stance; Buchanan would be among one of the better names on the record of any Lightweight champion in history, and wouldn't be disgraced against any of them, either.

Having said that, though, I think that another fight between the pair would have resulted in Duran winning again, and I think Roberto just had the wood on Ken in that respect - he could have had ten cracks at a Lightweight Duran, and I'm still not sure he'd have been able to ever get revenge over him.

It's worth noting that Buchanan, in 1972, was at the absolute peak of his powers, whereas Duran was probably still yet to mature in to the fighter who is often lauded as the best Lightweight of the lot; it was only five months later that he was outboxed by DeJesus in his first professional defeat, and it wasn't until 1978, in their third and final bout, that he reached his absolute zenith at 135 lb and produced his finest championship performance at the weight.

Duran was still only a young pup when he took on Ken. After that nightmare start, Ken chucked the kitchen sink at the 21-year-old Duran and still the Panamanian was able to cope. My guess is that had the pair met again, Buchanan would still have provided one hell of a test, one of the toughest Duran could have ever had at 135 lb, but would once again be stopped late. Duran just had that knack for sweeping opponents aside in the championship rounds.

Atila wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:It should have been a DQ really with the ending it had but I think Buchanan was always going to come off second best against Duran. There was no need for Duran to risk disqualification the way he did. Had he not been well ahead I doubt he would have got away with it.

It looked to me like Buchanan knew he was going to end up on the wrong side of the decision, so he made the most of the low blow and it backfired on him. I think he could have continued, just like I always thought Montell Griffith could have continued against Roy Jones.

I used to consider that, but supposedly the low shot ruptured one of Buchanans testicles. Either way, there is no doubt it was an illegal shot. The ref was in a tricky position, it was either DQ Duran or rule Buchanan as a corner retirement. Ive often wondered if Buchanan was up on the cards would he have just battled through the last two rounds. He must have known he was losing though and getting a bit of a beating on top. The low shot probably ended any chance he had of pulling out a win so going back out for the last two rounds would have been pointless.

Buchanan was well beaten but the ref was definitely in the wrong for not disqualifying Duran. If I remember rightly he didn't even deduct a point or give Buchanan any time to recover from what was a deliberate foul. Any rematch would have resulted in the same result, Duran was at his best and would have been a handful for anyone.

manos de piedra wrote:

Atila wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:It should have been a DQ really with the ending it had but I think Buchanan was always going to come off second best against Duran. There was no need for Duran to risk disqualification the way he did. Had he not been well ahead I doubt he would have got away with it.

It looked to me like Buchanan knew he was going to end up on the wrong side of the decision, so he made the most of the low blow and it backfired on him. I think he could have continued, just like I always thought Montell Griffith could have continued against Roy Jones.

I used to consider that, but supposedly the low shot ruptured one of Buchanans testicles. Either way, there is no doubt it was an illegal shot. The ref was in a tricky position, it was either DQ Duran or rule Buchanan as a corner retirement. Ive often wondered if Buchanan was up on the cards would he have just battled through the last two rounds. He must have known he was losing though and getting a bit of a beating on top. The low shot probably ended any chance he had of pulling out a win so going back out for the last two rounds would have been pointless.

The ref thought that the blow landed at he bottom of the abdomen and if you watch it the punch landed and the bell is still ringing. It's sort of like Henry Cooper v Muhammad Ali, were this myth about Cooper being robbed was allowed to continue for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8_4NK07Wzs