Boxing myth #2190 Sugar Ray fought Durans fight in Montreal

He boxed Benitez and broke him down as the fight went on. He didn't stand toe to toe in most of his fights. He did so in spurts, but that was not his style. Why are you using these negative terms to reference guys who decide to box? First you called them runners, and now you're saying "cute boxer" to describe that style.

Leonard saying that he tried to fight like Frazier as an amateur doesn't mean that he fought like that as a pro or that it was the way he planned to fight as a professional. Did Leonard ever remind you of Frazier in the ring when he was a professional? Not only that, but a comment of how he wanted to fight as an amateur has nothing to do with the subject anyway.

I'll ask you again; why didn't you talk about the other Leonard fights that I listed?

 

Well, at least you know it's impartial. I go to bat for both of them depending on the topic or detractions being made. SRL did fight Duran's fight, and it was the woefully wrong course to take. The sticking point is that it was the fight he had fully intended to take part in beforehand. Stonehands wrote a few paragraphs on this fight in his Gods of War Duran feature:

Duran’s strategy was drilled into him. He was instructed to be elusive against the jab, close the distance, crowd Leonard, and hammer the body. Leonard’s aggressive strategy was not expected. It made things more not less difficult to cope with for precisely the reasons that Dundee had alluded to –good little guys don’t beat good big guys. “In this fight, Duran’s not the puncher,” he added, “my guy is.” Their respective knockout percentages over their previous five fights confirmed this: Duran’s was 40%, Leonard’s was 100%. Leonard stated that he planned on “standing and fighting more than expected.” “They all think I’m going to run. I’m not,” he said to New York Magazine, “I’m not changing my style at all… he’ll be beaten to the punch…those are the facts,” he continued, “What’s going to beat Roberto Duran is Sugar Ray Leonard.”

Dundee substantiated this in his autobiography. Leonard’s strategy became certain from the moment that he watched the films and deconstructed Duran’s style. Duran, he said, was a “heel-to-toe guy. He takes two steps to get to you. So the idea was not to give him those two steps, not to move too far away because the more distance you gave him, the more effective he was. What you can’t do in the face of Duran’s aggression was run from it, because then he picks up momentum. My guy wasn’t going to run from him.”

So there you have it.

Leonard’s strategy in Montreal was deliberate, and sound. After the fight, Dundee and Leonard revised history and a willing press has gone along with it ever since. We’ve been spoon-fed a fable that has long since crystallized into orthodox boxing lore. It is the archetypal image of the Latin bully who “tricked” the All-American Hero into an alley fight, and it sprang from the idea that Leonard “did not fight his fight” because Duran challenged his masculinity. The problem is that it is at complete odds with statements made by Leonard and Dundee about Leonard’s clear physical advantages and the strategy that would be formed around those advantages. It contradicts Dundee’s earlier statements about Duran’s high level of skill and it contradicts statements that both had made immediately after the bout –before they had time to think about posterity: “You’ve got to give credit to Duran,” Dundee told journalists, “he makes you fight his fight.” When asked why he fought Duran’s fight, Leonard said he had “no alternative.”

Since then, Leonard’s loss to Duran has been cleverly spun, re-packaged, and sold at a reduced price. It’s time to find our receipt and exchange a fable for the facts. And the facts begin with this: when both fighters were at their best, Duran was better.

 

I don't know what the **** you're on about.Never had you down as a silly ******* so have to assume there's a joke I'm missing here.

Always reliable for articles of relevance HOI.
And to be fair to MW,this would suggest he has a valid point.
When it comes to Ray though,it's always wise to have a permanently open mind.:hey

 

That quote about stopping the momentum, moving forward to break the offensive fighters initative... Really intreuges me about a 135lb fight between Duran and Sugar Shane Mosley.

 

Him making this thread really surprised the **** out of me, I'll tell you that.

I bet.

Springs is a pretty damn good writer for my money. His archive:
http://www.thesweetscience.com/columnists/springs-toledo

Some others you might like (or want to refute):

http://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles-frontpage/14465-deposing-maravilla

http://www.thesweetscience.com/arti...e-blueprint-how-to-beat-floyd-mayweather-pt-I

http://www.thesweetscience.com/arti...-blueprint-how-to-beat-floyd-mayweather-pt-ii

 

Very interesting stuff.

 

So MW schools some of you and you all then start talking about the article that merely confirms his hypothesis instead of giving him props?

LOL.

 

“Duran is thought of as a rough guy, but he’s not rough. He’s smart and slick.” - Angelo Dundee

DeJesus III another excellent example.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aiuZ5Fh-sk&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aiuZ5Fh-sk&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]

 

It's his wild hair and bad ass goatee :smoke

 

Same thing was said by Merchant I believe during the Mosley/Margarito fight. Margarito couldnt produce his usual power because Mosley wasnt allowin him to generate momentum.

Its why I always thought Mayweather trying to replicate what he did to Corrales with Castillo was a terrible way to go about that fight.

I felt when he stood in the pocket with Castillo he was far more successful.

 

I wonder how a Duran - Mosley fight at 135 would have been.

 

Yeah, but it's not the clip I really wanted. DeJesus was already battered by the time that picks up.

Just watch the damn fight if you haven't seen it people. With fresh legs and much quicker hands early on, DeJesus couldn't land jack **** all night. Neither could Palomino and they fought in a phone booth much of the time. If SRL wasn't proof enough...

 

I don't know what you missed about my quote but I'd say I made a fair acknowledgment of MW's original point having some truth.
And given how big headed he can get,I even surprised myself.

 

I flat out agreed with the homie MW

Nobody takes that victory or night from Duran. :deal :yep

 

Maybe his most flawless, overall.