Who IYO Is The Most Complete Fighter That Ever Lived?

Of course it was fake because there was nothing wrong with the man, I'd say the chances of a man with his ego throwing a fight for money are slim to none. Why the bloke hasn't told the truth on the matter is beyond me.

 

I don't think anyone uses it as an "automatic explanation", certainly not anyone with the same limited knowledge of the event as we have.
But it is okay to be vigilant and have suspicions when strange things like that occur, to mention the possibility. When people are silenced or mocked whenever they say "that might be a fix" or "it looks a bit crooked" then the people who will fix and corrupt things are only encouraged.

Duran quit because he was frustrated to the point of quitting is another possible explanation. Very possible.
Holes can be picked in that too though. For example, the often expressed idea that Leonard's showboating-boxing was horribly one-sided and intensely humiliating is a gross exaggeration and distortion of what was actually happening. I think people tend to stretch the truth of what happens in the fight to suit the explanation of how it ended.

Lots of these quotes and explanations have been propogated by commentators in the media who really don't understand professional boxing. For example, the idea that Duran was indignant at discovering that some boxers don't share his sense of "machismo" and fight in another style, "like a clown", comes across as something from the minds of those who don't understand that the man was a cool professional, experienced and trained athlete, with umpteen years of experience. The idea that he was some untamed fiery passionate Latin who came up against civilized American boxing or something, that was easily understandable to the American media who mythologized the whole affair.

 

It depends who you owe money to, and how much. Some of these boxers are extremely reckless with money, and naive. They discover too late that it's easy to spend a few more millions that they've actually made. They are seen in casinos surrounding by women and hangers on, rubbing shoulders with wise guys characters who saw them coming.
Most people who made their fortunes by fighting aren't particularly sharp.

 

If Duran was throwing the fight he'd have done one helluva lot better job than quitting.

 

If it very much seems like someone quits because he doesn't want to go on, one should assume he did so unless there is something substanstial pointing to another explanation. It's as easy as that for me.

Otherwise we can speculate wildly by most results that have any sort peculiar behaviour about them. We can say that Ali clowning on the ropes (which he didn't do in the other Frazier fights) in FOTC was a part of a fix as well. Or LaMotta very suddenly fading against SRR after being competitive up to that point and being competitive in all previous fights. Schmeling being blown apart by someone he dominated not long before...

Hell, the list would be more or less infinite. No mas was more peculiar than most fights, yes, but there are many fights with peculiar elements. Personally, if there isn't anything of substance to indicate that events were other than they seemed I'll be believe that they were what they seemed. In these cases as well.

 

duran quit because he was getting embarrassed, knew he wasn't in shape and knew he was going to lose, i've read/watched enough stuff that I don't even entertain any other story.

 

Bingo.

 

Or maybe you fell for a double bluff?
The thing is, whatever you think of why the thing occurred, I'd say Duran should have done a helluva better job at it.

 

Obviously he quit because he didn't want to go on. Every possible explanation has to acknowledge that.
The question has always been: why didn't he want to go on?

Duran's quit job was not so easily deciphered at the time, and was downright mystifying to most people. 35 years later nothing new has come to light, so it remains the same puzzling event.

It's a real stretch to compare the way the fight went to fights where guys got beaten up and/or knocked out.
You yourself said Duran's behaviour was "disgraceful".

 

And yet .......
1. There was nothing to be embarrassed about BEFORE he quit. The quitting is the embarrassment.
2. He looked in shape, he didn't look tired.
3. No one knew he couldn't win until AFTER he quit. There was no one-sided beatdown, and the fight was only half complete.

Hence, why people scratched their heads in bewilderment when he quit.
Decades later people are acting like this was all good and natural, easily understood and Duran's thoughts and motives are an open book. It seems no one can deal with the uncertainty and mystery any more.

 

Hagler

 

It's just not that complicated.

He had struggled in preparation and was weakened.
He possibly had an upset stomach.
He saw SRL had done his homework and was not going to fight flat footed.This frustrated him and made things tougher.
He shot his best wad not long before the final round and expelled most of what he had without succeeding in a stoppage.
He knew he couldn't win.

 

I don't think it is complicated either.

He quit.

 

Alot of fighters have realised they can't win mid-fight and still never quit....

 

It is whether something can be seen as puzzling and whether a fix always should be seen as a viable explanation or not. I think it's somewhat puzzling that Ali clowned as much as he did in such a huge fight as FOTC, but that doesn't automatically make fix a viable explanation. I absolutely don't think it was fixed, just as I don't think New Orleans was fixed. Besides there being nothing indicating a fix in either fight, I have a hard time seeing either man throwing the fight like that, erratic behavior or not.

What we do know about Montreal is that he quit saying "No more", "I'm not fighting this clown". That doesn't translate into a fix automatically being a viable explanation for me, to put it mildly. His words rather points to him not wanting to fight anymore due to frustration. The same with his manager saying that Duran quit because of embarrassment. Nothing points to a fix.

But that's as far as I'll take this detour.