Imagine how good Duran was that he could spar someone like Benn who was in his prime, while being past his prime and out of shape…just insane how good Duran really was!!
Duran was a natural lightweight , with only 5'7 height. It's insane that he could handle guy's that were much bigger than him. Duran was one of the greatest fighters of all times.
“Fame doesn’t make me any different. I am the same man now who grew up in the hard streets of Panama. I am just myself. I always will be. Whoever wants to talks to me, talks to me. Whoever loves me, loves me for who I am.” Duran
Durans ring savvy and skills are insane. By the second round he's slipping and rolling by half an inch. Ben doesn't let up for even a second. You don't see work like this anymore.
@@nofearofwater Duran could have blasted him with big shots 100x and didn't, because he chose not to. Most of those super slow arm punches and little taps on the head were to let Benn know that he could have eaten a hard shot there. Learn boxing.
@@wtfgoogle3884’Learn boxing’, okay I can tell you got brain damage from getting beat up like this too and thinking you look cool clowning around like an idiot while getting your head bounced around like a ping ball machine. Please though an out of shape out of prime lightweight Duran would’ve smashed middleweight Nigel Benn if he wanted too I bet you think haha
Randomly looking up Duran Footage clicked on this and see my Uncle in Duran’s corner giving him water and calling time. Almost forgot he worked with him back in the days. Thank you for uploading this footage!
As a life long fan of Nigel Benn I can imagine this was a highlight and an honour for him to be inside a ring with such a legend. Brilliant to watch these two . Real treat
Yeah so am I and this is the young raw Benn before he fought Watson and went to Vic Andretti. He still had a lot of improving to do yet but still an awesome spectacle to watch. This is two fighters sparring lightly one past his best the other before his best one great fighter in Duran and a very close to great in Benn but still Benn was a great puncher.
I'd agree with comment. I feel the punches were pulled to allow more fluid body movement and foot work. Benn already knew how to hit hard he didn't need to work on that. I'd guess this was set up to give him a chance for him to experience Durans ring craft and learn a bit from him without either man having to worry about power punches.
His mind was like steel. Even though he could snap during a back-and-forth altercation in the ring he was so calm and focused on what he was doing. You need that attribute in order to be an all-time great
Nigel Benn was a special fighter. He was a pure warrior. He wasn't known for being a technician but he was a huge puncher and was always launching haymakers. Duran is an all time great. He is just toying with Benn. It's incredible to see. Grappling, throws in a few shots, yanks him off balance, circling, holding, just taking a stroll thru the park. Most fighters sparring Benn will have their hands full. Duran just pulls out a bag of tricks and never even starts fighting. He lands a brutal 2 punch combo but then continues playing games with him. Benn is a beast and Duran is on a totally different level. A top 200 fighter all time sparring with a top 5.
Duran was a top 5 all-time lightweight, as a super-welter he wasn't top 20 all-time as a Middleweight he wasn't top 50 all-time Barkley who he beat for the Middleweight title by SD had got lucky against a past his best Hearns, when Nigel Benn fought Barkley the year after Duran he stopped Barkley in the first round after dropping him 3 times Benn Was easily a top 10 all time super-middleweight and a top 50 all time middleweight.
@@theguru699 Duran during those years was having parties every weekend and blowing up and was usually twenty five pounds overweight two weeks before his fights.
@@EminiMagic It still doesn't change the fact he wasn't an all time top 20 Super-middleweight, it's said he lost the No-Mas fight because he had been stuffing himself with food a few hours before, but parties and weight problems were no ones fault but his own.
Ben's combos were lightning quick.. unbelievable how Duran timed the slips so perfectly.. I never realized how precise Duran's rhythm was before this video. Thanks for posting!
Lol Duran was super tricky...how else do you think he beat sugar ray Leonard in his prime? Sugar ray was PHENOMENAL. I mean Sugar ray was one of the best ever to do it... Duran beat him then..albeit he gave up in their rematch it's still an amazing moment.
Duran had more tricks in boxing more so than most ,by tricks I mean skills, the greatest lightweight of all time , than becoming champ in multiple weight divisions. The man had a bigger pair off balls than a heavyweight, a true master of the sport. His fight against Barclay at middleweight and Barclay nearly the weight of a light heavyweight got the ears boxed of him by the man (Duran) 11 years older, a pure masterclass.
@@thediaz07 that's right, & Barkley was saying he was going to give Duran a hiding in the ring for beating his mate the light middleweight champion Davie Moore who Duran bet around.😁
@@CC-ff7ft yup. David Moore was good too. Duran, Sugar ray, Hagler and hearns we're the fab 4 of the 80s. Duran is my favorite bc he was smaller then the other 3. Sugar Ray wasn't too big either.
I don't know much, but loved Roberto Duran. He's a boxing lesson on two feet and an incredible specimine. He's sparring with this kid who is many years younger and showing us multiple occasions where he could, if he wanted to, connect with punches but at the last second, he pulls up. I expect the younger boxer to be fast, but he's not fighting Duran in his prime with the specticle of the lights, crowd and media... Big fan of Mr. Duran.
This has got to be one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Duran was just incredible with his awareness and balance, its often overlooked because his aggression and intensity was also off the charts.
Crazy quickness by those two, even by Duran who was obviously out of shape. Never saw Roberto clown like that in the ring. In a real fight, he was serious as a heart attack. Teddy Atlas in Nigel’s corner, by the way.
Don’t think that is Teddy Atlas, sure it is Howard Rainey who was a great trainer to both professional and amateurs at the time, trained out of Fitzroy lodge.
@@theescoffierkitchen5581 Ah, yes, I believe you’re right. I wondered what Teddy might be doing in Nigel’s corner, but it looked very much like him and I didn’t know about Rainey, After looking up images of Harold, it has to be him. Thanks for the correction.
@@eddyoquendo3065 I knew Harold back in the day as he was my friends trainer, lovely man full of boxing knowledge always happy to lend out his a boxing VHS tapes.
Duran was training for Barkley at the time, I believe. He wasn't in his top shape,but he was in pretty good condition. Benn wanted to make a name for himself and Duran was already a legend. We can see his far superior experience in there. Duran just wanted a good workout and Benn wanted to impress people. Duran was telling Benn about he should been wearing head protection. He told Benn that in nice way. Benn was young and he probably thought he didn't need it with a washed up guy. Duran wasn't looking for hurting him or giving him unnecessary injuries while Benn didn't care or he might wanted to hurt Duran to impress people. This is about right,isn't it ?
Roberto “mano ‘e piedra”Duran the man emptied all the streets of Latin America in every fight. 30 years professional boxer and 4 weight divisions champion. GOAT!
Goat ? Ermm Sugar Ray Leonard Hagler Hearns Sugar Ray Robinson said no chance he's a good solid fighter maybe a goat in the Latin world but some would argue n say Chavez none the less he is a boxing hall of famer and came up in the world of men not like today's weak minded fighters aka Bronner ect. Peace....
@@EnemyDestroyerNumber1 Sugar Ray Robinson had a 91 fight winning streak and fought from lightweight to light heavyweight in his career and he was never knocked the fuck out
Glad there are educated boxing people in this forum. One could see an older heavier Duran look like he's taking alot of incoming but his use of feints, shoulder rolls and moving in such a way where punches that look hard don't have the impact people think they are having. Plus Duran realizes that he's there to help a younger boxer. Duran knows that it's Benn's time to shine and he is more or less a facilitator who has nothing to prove. What a great video thank you.
Benn's speed and intensity got the best of Duran in the first round. Once Duran warmed up and got his timing down he showed great defense at mid and close range. Great work by both fighters. Awesome footage
@@issacjames6033 not saying he wasn’t. But he was clearly not taking it seriously snd clowning a lot. He actually looked more solid than Ben when he stepped on the gas a little and also was pulling his punches and moving majority of the time.
Two of my all time favorites, Benn because he was just such a fierce very bad man in the ring and Duran because he was just insane as far as skill and they didn’t call him the hands of stone for nothing
we tend to think of Duran as an insane Kamikaze type puncher only, but look at his moves. Slick, balanced, controlled yet graceful and effortlessly performed,. Uncanny timing and distance calculation. just masterful. Thank you for posting this.
@@JuggoJuggo Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Duran was 54-1 in the Lightweight division. Now your job is to find out who the guy was that beat him. I'll give you a hint the guy was trained by Wilfred Benitez's father and it wasn't Wilfred. That loss came years later.🙄
@@melvinsims5379 The loss was above lightweight in a non title bout, when they fought at the lightweight limit for the title he stopped Esteban, twice.
That was freaking great. Duran is so relaxed and knows so much shit. He's hanging his weight on Benn,, tying his arms up etc. It's like sparring an encyclopedia.
Pretty awesome stuff. Duran showed his craftiness and Benn showed his hand speed and boxing ability. If Nigel would've only been this disciplined in his real fights, he might have had a longer career.
But not as successful a career. His crudeness benefited him ultimately. Sure it cost him many times, but he would have never got to those heights without it.
@@dolowdeore was never hurt once in the entire fight. Hagler didn't even give him a rematch despite the media giving Marvin so much shit over not being able to dominate a blown up Lightweight
@@alphonseelric5722 Hagler was overrated. Had he gone up to cruiserweight (what Duran did to fight him), he would have gotten stomped. Goes to show that Duran in terms of pure skill, talent, grit etc. was by far the best of the four kings. All he lacked was size.
This sparring reminds you how great Duran was at slipping shots. Too easy to think of him as an animal when he was fighting. Joe Pesci sparred him and said he was terrified, but it was the way he slipped shots that really stood out.
Correct! The myth that Fraud, er, i mean, Floyd Mayweather is the greatest defensive boxer ever is absurd! Duran, Leonard, Benitiez WERE FAR BETTER defensively than Floyd! The only difference was that the aformentioned greats were not afraid to take risks! Trust me, if Duran was as cautious as Floyd...he would be undefeated too!
Amazing to watch, speed and explosiveness of benn is something else. Loved how they were taking the sting out of 90% of their punches. Duran always a legend
Fascinating different in styles and attributes: Benn's speed, athletic movement and obvious power; and Duran's rocklike balance, calm and technical wizardry.
I sparred with Kirkland Laing, Micael Watson and Nigel Benn. Steve Collins was another Sparring partner I sparred with and more. I would have love to spar with Roberto Duran. Nice to see this. Thanks for the upload
Duran the master of conserving his energy here....this is a natural boxer at work, everything looks laid back but there acute smartness at play. Nigel pulling his punches loads out of respect and knowing its a light spar
The master & the killer. This is beautiful to watch, & must have been a real experience for Benn, he’s getting real work here from the old timer. You can see the reverence Benn has for Duran, wonderful respect.
Amazing Spar between two legends. Benn with an almighty tenacity and pace meanwhile Duran showcasing some lovely defensive skills and real composure. I have read through the comments quite thoroughly though and a lot of comments are people discussing how Benn got the better of Roberto. I have seen a couple defences for Duran saying he is much older and out of shape etc. but non of them are needed. All you have to do is look at Roberts’s body language. He wasn’t even trying against Benn here. I honestly think if he wanted to he could have done whatever he wanted to in this spar. No doubt about it. Duran was in complete control.
This was probably in preparation for his bout with Iran Barkley. Duran was almost forty here. He had been fighting professionally for twenty years. Hanging with Benn, a surging up-and-comer that would become a great in his own right, it's incredible.
He fought technically I believe in 5 decades, Duran officially turned pro in 1969, and I believe finally retired in 2001. Pretty sure it could be 99 so maybe he just missed out on technically fighting in 5 different decades, but I am pretty sure it was 2001 when he retired.
Benn expending plenty of energy and Duran having a gentle Sunday morning spar. One is a very good fighter in his era and the other is an all time top five greatest fighter pound for pound.
Duran is soo relaxed and just playing, giving Ben targets and shots yet skill and footwork, head movement off the charts. Duran is legend in a league of he's own
@@liamsmith2340 8:10 Duran was clearly playing around with Benn the entire time. Everyone in their even laughed as Duran giggled while he slipped those punches. You need to watch more boxing.
Duran ring savy, experience, skills and defense are second to none. These are how professionals work. Not out there to kill each other. Getting in hard shots when they need too. Good solid work.
Duran is teaching here. You can tell how far past his best he is here and obviously out of shape. Nigel Benn was a very very good but very one dimensional fighter and Roberto was showing him that there are real weaknesses to that. Duran was once thought of as one dimensional before he started to age too so its a lesson he learned and was passing on. Definitely friendly and extremely educational for Benn.
Nice Video. Duran shows tremendous skills and knowledge, with some really nice punches, and 'small' punishers showing he still got it. Benn showing many of his traits and skills. Benn was born in the anvil and fire in a period of British boxing middle and super middleweight out side of an American golden period. Watson, Benn, Eubank - these guys could, and should have had superfights vs the best US fighters of the time. Yes, Barkley, Yes a few others, but a host of fighters did not meet who should have. And without that, we are only left to look back on a golden period for the Brits in that timeframe. Depending on styles and skills, hard to say who would really come out, but we'll never know. In most of his fights, watching Benn fight was spectacular. Not actually the biggest, and not the strongest, but he tried to hit like a hammer, and generally did. Benn vs Eubank 1 remains one of the most brutal wars we've ever had in the ring. Matching era's, especially the men from 15 rounds - vs other eras, is not really comparable, but we can say the fights would have been great. Savour the thought of Hearns Vs Benn. Hagler vs Eubank, Duran vs Watson, and so on.
@@petecernan2568 lol eubank would of made u all look stupid mate he had a chin of pure steel and could fight to the end.. look at the Thomson fights and he was old then so don't sleep on eubank he would of found a way to beat an boxer when he was in his prime he is clearly at the very top of the list with all the greats!!!!!!
These sparring sessions have a purpose: stamina, reflexes, timing, distance, blocking punches, avoiding punches, etc. This wasn't a real fight! Ben had a good career, but trying to compare him to Durán is ridiculous. Right now, Durán has a great and happy life. He's healthy. Everybody in Panama loves him. Wherever he goes everybody wants to take a picture with him and hug him. He goes to eat and sometimes he doesn't even have to pay because somebody or the place invites him. He has a stadium with his name and a statue. He goes to the U.S. and hotels pay him thousand of dollars just to go there a couple of hours. He got Covid and had to spend some time in a private hospital... free of charge. Besides being an All Time great... he's doing just fine.
Privilege to see two of the very best boxers in my lifetime. Duran incredible skills from a truly great era of boxing. Benn an underrated fighter I always believed at the time of his ring career.
@@truthseeker2095 Consider how many British World Champs there have been, for a land smaller than California, and you might want to lose your smugness matey. I recall "average" Benn going state side and beating Dewitt and Barkley, and stopping McGlellan in UK. You're sure ignorant for a "truth seeker" aint ya lad?
Nigel Benn, even during sparring is just scintillating to watch. He's not the smoothest or most technical but there's something about the Dark Destroyer. And Duran is so savvy. You can see he's nowhere near in shape yet he's more than holding his own. This is legendary.
Some fighters are just so neat even watching there sparring and even just regular training sessions are exciting to watch, another good example of that besides Benn would be Juan Marquez, his training sessions are almost as enjoyable to watch as his fights are at times. And he usually ends a session with exploding a speed bag via sweet uppercut lol.
