Duran vs Leonard aftermath

I just finished re watching the leonard vs duran trilogy as well as some of their other fights. I got to say that duran never had the same intensity after the 1st fight with leonard. Even in the remach he tries to fight with the same energy but he is just missing a bit. He was still a great fighter who could compete at the elite level as he showed against hagler and barkley but that fight was grueling and I think it took something out of him. Not that he was shot after the fight but that was his peak performance in terms of stamina, power and intensity.

He would never be able to physically fight with the same intensity and without this intensity he would not be able to beat a prime leonard ever again unless leonard got careless. As his career progressed he lost more and more of that intensity and began to rely more on countering with his right hand which allowed him to win many fights like the barkley fight which is a great case study of how deadly and effective the right hand counter is. Mayweather and james toney are two of the only few fighters who counter and lead greatly with their right hands.

The fight was also grueling for leonard but he was only 24 and was able to recover. Leonard's peak performance was against hearns but he also paid a heavy price. He lost some great years because of his detached retina. Had he rematched hearns a year or two later the intensity of the fight would have severely cut his career shorter than it already had specially since hearns was a bit stronger at 154. he would have had to go through hell to beat hearns again.

I think leonard from the second duran fight or the first hearns fight would be able to beat hagler using his great movement specially since hagler was still fighting as a boxer puncher not a seek a destroy monster like he did during the hearns fight.

 

The thing is Leonard had a few significant advantages over duran:
Hand speed, size, youth and foot speed. Duran had to be in tip top shape and fight with his vintage intensity but I honestly don't think duran had it in him anymore. Even if Leonard didn't cunningly wait for duran to get super fat, lets say leonard gave duran enough time to train for the rematch I don't think duran would be able to reproduce the performance. I think he left something in the ring that night during their first fight.

duran never fought with the same intensity after that fight and without that intensity he could not beat leonard unless leonard would fight flat footed or run into a right hand counter like he did in the 3rd fight where he got both eyes cut.

 

My intention is not to open a can of worms but i wanted to share a pattern I saw after the first leonard vs duran fight.

 

I am amazed and inspired by the heart duran, hagler, hearns and leonard showed during their careers. These guys left it all in the ring. They fought their asses off and because of it they left something in the ring. Duran was never the same after his first fight with leonard, leonard was never the same after his fight with hearns, etc. That was the price they paid for fighting their asses off.

Now modern fighters like maywheater are aware of this wear and tear they can suffer so they choose to fight defensively to avoid losing longevity. That's why even at 38 he is able to fight effectively although he has slowed down some. Where as leonard was shot by age 34

 

Sure duran came out on top during their first fight but he paid a price. That fight was 15 hard fought rounds where both fighters dished a whole lot of punishment. Luckily leonard being the younger man recovered but duran although not an old man (he was 29) did not recover as well and never had the same intensity since.
kinda like the corrales vs castillo fight. Those guys fought their asses off but they were never the same after that fight. That fighter ended whatever was left of their prime

 

legacy wise no, but what i mean is that he has avoided the types of wars that shorten your careers. I am surprise that pacquiao is still fighting the way he does after all the wars he has engaged in. A 36 years old man should not be as explosive as he still is.

 

I know that, duran is my favorite fighter followed by leonard, hagler and then hearns. Duran fighting hagler would be the equivalent of mayweather fighting GGG. Although Hagler is much more accomplished than GGG. People would definitely give mayweather a pass for not fighting ggg so likewise duran had no business fighting at middleweight yet he still kicked ass. I get annoyed when people claim duran is over rated because he lost many fights. The question is how can you expect a lightweight to consistently beat weltherweights and strong middle weights. We dont expect mayweather to move up to middleweight and beat fighters like ggg, hagler, hearns, hopkins etc. That is unrealistic and speaks of a hidden agenda. I also don't understand why people cant be fans of multiple fighters. They think being a fan of a particular fighter means hating on another great fighter