Description : Here we have an incredibly rare poster from that most momentous night on the Atlantic City Broadwalk when Roberto Duran pulled off what seemed the absolute impossible task of defeating the reigning & defending WBC middleweight Champion in Iran "The" Blade" Barkley. Duran was 37 years of age & more than well past his prime & prime weight division, he was now viewed as just some old "Name" washed up pug, spluttering out his remaining years in a ring that most commentators thought he had no rights to be involved in anymore.
But, who could ever write of one of the greatest warriors & also one of the greatest boxers ever to grace the squared circle. Duran was up against a 6'1in monster of a man who had just obliterated Tommy Hearns in an act that can only be described as "Middleweight Terrorism" Iran Barkley, on the verge of defeat at the hands of the WBC Middleweight king in Tommy Hearns, Knocked out Hearns to claim the crown, yes, the very same Tommy Hearns who had KO'd Duran in 2 rounds back in 1984 & now he was bent on doing the same to Duran juxtaposed with the fact that Barkley was also a friend of the late Davey Moore who got beat to a pulp by Duran in 1983 where Duran tore off the WBA Light/Middleweight title from poor Davey Moore, who was never the same fighter after that shocking 8 round battering at the hands of Duran....Iran Barkley said that he wanted to punish Duran for what he did to his friend & many feared that this old 37yr old Duran was going to get the same treatment that he himself had dished out to Davey Moore.
What a battle! What a War! 12 rounds of absolutely absorbing toe 2 toe action from start to finish, it looked as if Barkley was going to prevail when he spun Roberto like a top in the 8 th round, but that only seemed to galvanize Duran even more as he set about smacking Barkley from knees to teeth & then dropping Barkley in the 11th round with an absolute purist 5 punch combo to send the crowd into fistic ecstasy...It was close, every round had been competitive, the judges scores came out | judge: Tom Kaczmarek 116-112 | judge: Dave Brown 113-116 | judge: Giuseppe Ferrari 118-112...and the NEW!!!
Ring Magazine & BWAA fight of the year!!!
Very few of these posters exist, no more than about 1,000 were printed, I've only ever seen 5 of them, it's one of those cases where damage & time take their toll.
Postage: 10.00 Special Delivery... 20.00 International.