Former WBC cruiserweight champion, Tony Bellew, has highlighted whom he believes to be the greatest lightweight in the history of the sport, admitting that ‘they don’t make them like that anymore.’
Bellew won his cruiserweight world title in fairytale fashion, defeating Ilunga Makabu by third-round knockout at the home of his beloved Everton FC before twice stopping David Haye in one of the most memorable British rivalries in recent years.
The ‘Bomber’ hung up the gloves in the following fight, losing to the current unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, in a challenge for the undisputed cruiserweight title in 2018, where he was knocked out whilst ahead on the scorecards.
No stranger to being in with some of the best of his era, the fighter turner pundit recently looked further back in the sport’s history to the ‘greatest lightweight of all-time’ – Roberto Duran.
Now I am old cos they 100% don’t make them like this anymore! Ladies and Gentlemen this is THE greatest lightweight EVER!
Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Duran #HandsOfStonepic.twitter.com/yJaKDOvkc7
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) June 15, 2023
Duran knocked out Scottish icon, Ken Buchanan, in 1972 to claim the WBA Lightweight title, a belt which he would defend on twelve occasions before moving up to the welterweight division.
Of his thirteen title fights at 135lb, the Panamanian lived up to his nickname of ‘Hands of Stone’, winning all but one of the contests by knockout, including two victories over Esteban De Jesus, who was the lone blemish on Duran’s 62-1 record at the time of their trilogy bout.
The legendary pressure fighter would go on to achieve world honours in three further weight classes, engaging in the fabled wars of the ‘four kings’ of the middleweight division in the early 1980s, despite beginning his career as a bantamweight.
It was this fearless attitude, accompanied by technical skills, that earnt Duran a worthy induction into both the World and International Boxing Hall of Fames in 2006 and 2007 respectively, to honour his 119-fight career.
