Boxing myth #2190 Sugar Ray fought Durans fight in Montreal

Nooooo!

Sugar Ray Leonard started off as a speedy slugger early on in his career. He loves to trade and even interviewed by Brian Kenny stated as an amatuer he tried his best to emulate Joe Frazier.

When he fought Duran he fought how he had fought most of his career at that point. As a guy with superior athleticism and power who tried to take you out with blazing hand speed. Infact Sugar Ray given his abilities was very much a good not great outboxer. People remember his fights against Duran 2 and Hagler where he was able to frustrate with his foot and hand speed. But forget he was being outboxed by Hearns before he went classic Sugar Ray slugger mode and took him out.

To check out other classic myths busted by Michiganwarrior

Boxing Myth #1890 - Ali invented the rope a dope prior to the fight in Zaire

Boxing Myth #89 - Toney was losing badly to Nunn before stoppage

Boxing myth #1234 - Pacquiao on dat A-side meth ( its actually balut)

 

Boxing Myth #812 Taylor was pitching a shutout over chavez up until the last 30 seconds of the fight (We have HBO and Mainly Leonard to blame for that)

 

actually Leonard's strategy in the rematch of not really engaging was not Leonards real style

 

as much as i love legendary nights they do kind of push those myths around

 

Yep. Infact it is very much the opposite of what Leonard was at that point in his career.

 

Agreed. You dont get ruined as a fighter in a fight youre dominating. With the knockdown it very much could have been a draw.

 

thats why i hate when ppl say he fought Durans fight in the first and more of his style in the second

i think Leonard fought his own style in fight 1 but fought a different style designed to beat Duran, couldnt beat Duran how he wanted to so he had to approach him different

Leonard fought very well vs Duran in fight 1 and i though it was really close last time i scored

 

Thats another myth associated with this one. The fight was extremely close. Infact Leonard thought he won. I believe a good portion of writers scored it for Leonard.

However the fact Leonard couldnt beat a light weight when he had utterly annihilated all previous opposition was a major shock in the boxing world. Thus "Leonard fought Durans fight" be like Mayweather being outboxed by Marquez

 

Strange that he said several times himself that he fought the wrong fight.
Not sure if you mean he fought the wrong fight or just "Duran's fight"
So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.


http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...IjHzRdfnPAPDXwEAA&sig2=KG8SZ2gX-GGhcpftVGC1Lw


But in June 1980, in Montreal, I lost because I lost composure against Roberto Duran, one of the most intimidating fighters ever. He would stare, push, shove, curse me, and then curse my wife. I allowed him to take me out of my game plan. Once you can control your emotion, you will reap benefits. Maintain composure. At that time, I only had 27 bouts versus 70 for Duran.

(Video showed Duran taunting Leonard, by pointing at his own chin during the fight, inviting Leonard to try to hit it. Duran taunted him repeatedly, even after the last round, before the decision. Duran won, 145 to 144.)

That hurt. Physically, it did hurt. Mentally, it hurt more. It was my first loss. The first time I had to deal with BAD. After that particular fight, I contemplated retirement. I questioned myself. I went on vacation, and I thought a lot about how to respond to the setback. I thought about how many times I worked at a certain level. I had fought the wrong fight against the man they called “Hands of Stone.”

I had to change the way his image affected me. Don’t look into his eyes, the press told me. I knew his eyes could not hurt me. It was his hands that I had to watch, when I fought him again, less than 6 months later.


(Video: Leonard got out of the corners more quickly, and landed blows on Duran, several times, hard. Finally, Leonard wound up dramatically with his right, and hit Duran hard with a quick left. Eventually Duran signaled he had enough. “No mas,” he told the referee. “No more.” Duran quit. Leonard won.)

When I was training, I saw that first loss in my head and knew it could happen again. I trained hard.

The day of the fight, I had extra inspiration. I was named after Ray Charles. You saw in the video, he was there to sing the National Anthem before the fight. I got to meet my namesake. And after Ray Charles finished singing, he came over, hugged me, and offered brief words of inspiration.

 

I loved the way Ray put his hands up and Cholo lost the plot at the end.Always thought he did it more to annoy Duran.Funny as ****.

 

Its better to say than "that little panamanian beat me at my own game". Me with the size, speed and athletic advantages got roughes around the ring by a lightweight.

Nah everyone fights the weong fight when they lose.

 

To be fair,he ignored Angie and Janks' pre-fight tactics.
I still think that loss is as important to Ray's legacy as the Benitez win.He proved he was much more than a dancing slickster that night,which was the casual fans' perception of him.

 

Leonard fought the wrong fight against Duran in their first fight and pretending otherwise won't change that fact. Watch Leonard's fights against Benitez, Geraldo, Ranzany and other guys before he fought Duran and you'll see that he boxed in all of those fights. He started off boxing against Duran, but began to slug and fight on the inside as the fight progressed. He allowed Duran to dictate the style and pace, but he refused to do let him do that in the rematch. That's basically what he's been saying for years. It's all on video and you can see it for yourself.

I've never heard anyone say that Taylor was shutting out Chavez. He was winning, but he didn't win every round.

 

I'm really not sure where you're going here.Are you saying that the whole gameplan through camp was to fight Duran the way he did?

So everyone from his team just went along with the "wrong fight" line?

 

He slugged it out with Benitez. Infact he slugged it out with most opponents he fought. His superior power and speed won the day. Not that day though.


Sugar Ray was not a runner. That is a myth. Infact he was a great range boxer either