EsNews caught up with Paulie Malignaggi and Roberto Duran and the meeting took a fairly unexpected turn when Duran was asked about one particularly legendary story about him.
Depending on which version you have heard, Duran once knocked out a large animal. Sometimes it’s a horse; sometimes it’s a donkey, every once in awhile it’s a bull. For those keeping score, Conan the Barbarian has KO’d a camel and a horse. Anyway… these are legends.
Or are they? There is video evidence of Conan’s animal punching, and now Roberto Duran has confirmed his own legend… I think. He seemed a little inebriated at the time time, and I didn’t know what he was saying, but everyone else says he confirmed it, so that’s good enough for me!
After Duran blew some air into the balloon of his own legend, Paulie Malignaggi gave his thoughts on how Duran would fair against guys like Manny and Mayweather. Malignaggi didn’t seem to be convinced that he would have beaten either fighter, but he says it would be a good fight.
“I think it [sic] would have been some exciting fights. He would have definitely belonged in the ring with them, and you never know what would’ve happened. He’s a rough customer… if the second Sugar Ray Leonard fight showed us anything, he can be frustrated.”
And on whether Paulie believes that Duran actually knocked out a donkey?
“I don’t know man. I don’t know if a Donkey can be knocked out, but I love that he goes with it anyway. Even if it’s legend or not, I love the fact that he says ‘Yeah, I did it.’, I don’t care if he didn’t do it!”
Is knocking out a donkey really that great of a feat anyway? In my experience, donkey’s have terrible footwork and no defense whatsoever. They tend to be plodding fighters that come straight forward with total disregard for their own safety. I’m not trying to dismiss Duran’s achievement but most donkey fights end with a ref stoppage because of their inability to keep their hooves up and protect themselves, so I don’t see the big deal.
Anyway in case you were wondering, Duran also thinks he would have been able to defeat Manny, Floyd and probably Brock Lesner too.
