Who is this?

[I'm goin' down]

One of the greatest lightweights in the history of boxing. Before the first Leonard fight, which he won, he had only one loss in over 60 fights, and that was a ten round non-title fight with Estaban de Jesus right after he dethroned Ken Buchannon for the lightweight title. Duran fought de Jesus twice after that, during de Jesus' prime, and he knocked him out both times.

Duran once knocked a horse down on a bet. He ended the career of one fighter, who was unconscious for an hour after Duran knocked him out. Duran said that man was lucky, and that if he had been hit with a clean shot, he would not have survived. Knockout power in both hands, and extremely skilled defensively. Terrific fighter.

Wikipedia:

regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" ("Stone Fists," although the literal translation is "Hands of Stone") during his career.[1]

In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years.[2] Bert Sugar rates him as the 8th greatest fighter of all-time and the Associated Press voted Duran as the #1 lightweight of the 20th century.[3] Many even consider him the greatest lightweight of all time. He held world titles at four different weights***8212;lightweight (1972***8211;79), welterweight (1980), light middleweight (1983***8211;84) and middleweight (1989). He was the second boxer to have fought a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson.

He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 119 fights, 103 wins with 70 KOs. Up until the second Ray Leonard fight, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.

Durán is one of the rare men in boxing history to win fights in 5 separate decades. He registered wins in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s, putting him in the company of Jack Johnson, who had wins in the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by WernherVonTrapp

Now, let's see how many boxers I can remember:

I watched Johansson beat Patterson. I watched Patterson beat Johansson. I watched liston beat Patterson. I watched Clay beat Liston.

Then I got bored. I know Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard by name. Mike Tyson. A couple others I would recognize if I heard them. That's about it.

[aanker]

Thanks @I'm goin' down

I like boxing but am a novice and my favorite weight class is titled overseas.

(should mention Submarines) I bet there were some good bouts in the aft torpedo room!

Happy Hunting!

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I watched Johansson beat Patterson. I watched Patterson beat Johansson. I watched liston beat Patterson. I watched Clay beat Liston.

Then I got bored. I know Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard by name. Mike Tyson. A couple others I would recognize if I heard them. That's about it.

I forgot about Sugar Ray Robinson! I knew there was another Sugar Ray before "Leonard" but couldn't recall. I don't remember if I ever saw Liston fight, though remember the name Floyd Patterson. Yeah, I was a BIG boxing fan through the late 70s/80s, and then I just suddenly lost all interest.
Anyway, not many boxing fans will recall Christy Elliott. He was an up-and-coming boxer who was on the Irish Olympic team. I'm surprised that there is very little info about him on the web. It's been so many years that I can't remember, but I vaguely recall that he (very) briefly held some class of Champion title (maybe Bantamweight), but I honestly can't remember.

I knew him personally and was (briefly) very close friends with him back in the early 80s. His personal story, the one that I know, is very sad and tragic. BTW, I just found out (while searching the web) that he passed away in Jan., 2011.

[merc4ulfate]

@SS I did not see a point.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by merc4ulfate

@SS I did not see a point.

The point was simply that you misspelled Neal's name. I was teasing a little, with what I thought was a gentle correction. Since you still don't seem to get it, I guess now there is no point.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I watched Johansson beat Patterson. I watched Patterson beat Johansson. I watched liston beat Patterson. I watched Clay beat Liston.

Then I got bored. I know Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard by name. Mike Tyson. A couple others I would recognize if I heard them. That's about it.

You forgot to capitalize the L in the first Liston, just thought I would point it out.

Three years I've been waiting for you to make a mistake.

[Sailor Steve]

You're not very observant then. I make mistakes all the time. Frau Kaleun has mentioned it several times, and several others at least once each.