Roberto Duran: Control

Any intelligent ranking of the greatest boxers to have ever lived, pound-for-pound, will be dominated by names from the past as the simple fact is that the Golden Age, as it were, of boxing expertise is decades behind us. That said, no doubt the very best pugilists of any era, including this one, could have competed with the luminaries of the past, but there is also no doubt that in today’s version of the fight game certain skills and techniques are not as widely understood or appreciated as they once were.

One such skill is in-fighting, the ability to scuffle, joust and maneuver at close quarters in order to find punching room and then strike with short, clean blows to body and head. On the surface, it may look simple enough: you move forward, get inside your opponent’s reach, and then punch away. But as is often the case, what looks simple is anything but. Effective in-fighting is as difficult a skill to master in boxing as any other.

In “Control,” Lee Wylie illuminates the techniques of in-fighting while once again paying tribute to his pugilistic idol, Roberto Duran, a legendary champion who is, without a doubt, one of the greatest inside battlers to ever step into the ring. What skills and tactics allowed the legendary “Manos De Piedra” to control the action at close range and land vicious hooks and uppercuts? Wylie has the answers in another of his video masterpieces. Check it out: