Duran explains why he quit (April 1981 Ring interview)

His explanations seem to shift a bit, but a few of the things he blames his alleged stomach cramps, and his overall loss on, are: only having 5 weeks(?) to train for the fight, needing to lose too much weight before the fight, and drinking too many fluids and eating too much steak at lunch before the fight. A lot of interesting points including:
-Arcel stating that they had requested a two-week delay for the fight (I don't think I've ever heard that before);
-Duran claiming that he doesn't drink alcohol;
-Duran denying that he had taken diuretics before the fight or partied afterwards; and
-Duran claiming that he was not affected by Leonard's showboating

From the story "Pulling No Punches," on pages 29-31 (typed it up quickly so pardon any typos).

R: After the first fight in Montreal, you said that you did more than beat Leonard. You said that by beating him you also beat American publicity. Did you train as hard for the rematch as you did for the first fight?

D: No I didn’t. There were two reasons. First of all, I was too heavy going into the start of training. Second, the fight was only about five weeks away. I knew I’d have trouble getting in top shape and cutting the weight so fast. My mental attitude was not as it should have been.

R: There are many versions of what happened to you in the weeks before the fight. One of those versions has you becoming a swell-headed superstar, too big to listen to anybody. Did you take the advice of too many people, too many of your followers who flew in from Panama? As opposed to listening to Freddie Brown, Ray Arcel, Carlos Eleta, and Luis Henriquez.

D: Yes, I did. I listened to too many people. It taught me a lesson.

R: What happened to you the day of the fight? How did you feel physically?

D: The day of the fight I did not feel physically fit. In the ring I had pains—terrible pains—in my stomach. I did what I did because I could not continue fighting. All I did was relate to my physical condition. People don’t seem to want to believe that. But it’s what really happened. I cannot change the truth. [...]

R: Another version of what happened to you was that before the fight, on Sunday, November 23rd, you took some diuretics to help you lose weight. Accounts say you took a few pills, even several. What is the story about the pills?

D: I’ve heard those stories a lot. I’ve heard that I took one pill, lots of pills, even a handful of them. The truth is, I did not take even one pill.

R: Another story said that you were using cocaine.

D: I don’t use drugs, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any of that because I know it’s harmful to your body.

At this point Ray Arcel interjects. “He was pleading for a two week postponement of the fight. The people at the Superdome would not grant Don (King) a postponement. He had been complaining right from the first week that he needed more time. We couldn’t get it.”

D: [...] I was ill, I was sick. I couldn’t do anything else. I would never give up against anybody. But against Leonard, I just couldn’t move doe to the pain. It hurt even worse when I relaxed my body, when I was stalking him as he ran all over the place But Leonard did not make me quit the pain did. I am not afraid of him. I am not afraid of anybody. But you, and everybody else, must realize how ill I was that night. I had one thing on my mind, and that was my terrible stomach cramps.

R: It has been said that on the day of the fight, you ate a meal at noon another meal at three and another one around five.

Again Arcel cuts in.

“Immediately after the weigh-in I gave him a cup of beef broth. We went to lunch. He ate his steak and half of Carlos’ steam.”

Henriquez added, “In my life I’ve never seen steaks so big. They were supposed to be 16-ounce steaks but they looked much bigger. He did do something I didn’t like at the meal, and that was drink too much liquid—far too much. Then, in the evening, around five, he ate a small piece of meat.”

R: What did you do between meals?

D: I went for a walk, then went back to my room to rest.

R: It had been said you drank lots of cold liquid, perhaps fruit juice, once you got back to your room.

D: How the hell can people know what I did in my room if I was alone? A lot of these questions you ask me are inventions, things people made up just so they can knock me. Since the day of the fight, the American public must have come up with a thousand reasons why I lost. I just don’t understand the mentality of the American people.

R: Let’s set the record straight right now. When did you get sick, or start to feel sick?

D: All this happened after I ate the first meal, not before. I’ll give you a good example (He points to the interviewer’s steaming tea and the glass of ice water next to it.). Drink that tea as fast as you can, then drink the ice water the same way. See if you don’t have a reaction. I did something like that, only with a lot more than hot tea and ice water.

R: How early in the fight did you think about quitting?

D: I thought about it for the first time in the fifth round. Mr. Brown and Mr. Arcel do not speak Spanish. I kept complaining to Ernesto Quinones (Duran’s trainer and cornerman) that I wasn’t feeling well. The message never got across. The pain got increasingly worse and worse until the eighth round, when I just couldn’t stand it any more.

Arcel made the point, “When I usually help him off the stool and push him out for the start of ever round, his legs usually have spring. That night he just didn’t have the snap. Right from the beginning he didn’t have it.”

R: When Leonard wound up with his right in the seventh round and hit you with his left, did that infuriate you or cause your mental pain to increase?

D: That didn’t bother me. I am supposed to get hit. I know a lot about feelings. I’ve been in the ring long enough to know that I’m supposed to get hit. Why should I get mad? What bothered me more and more is that I couldn’t do anything about it. I knew that the day before the fight Leonard had to lose weight. I knew he was scared and I knew he was weak. But I couldn’t do anything about it. If I had been able to train the way I trained in Montreal, I would not only have beaten him, but knocked him out. All this makes more more determined than ever. Why do you think I’m back in the ring?
….
R: Did you, as we have heard, go out and party after the fight. There are many sources who said they saw you at a party.

D: I had nothing to party about. I didn’t feel well. I had been in my room with a lot of friends from home, but I was not partying. I still didn’t feel well. In fact, I even went to the hospital for a checkup late that night. I was getting really worried about my stomach pains.
Henriquez explained further:
“Duran had invited a few Panamanian colones to his room, along with the members of his camp. Only 15 or 16 people should have been there. About 50 or 60 showed up, some of them drinking beer. To outsiders, it may have looked like a party, but, like Roberto said, there was nothing to party about.”

 

Would be if it were true. There were five months between the fights. I vaguely recall reading that Leonard's people had contacted Duran's about a potential rematch in July or August, and that the fight had been finalized by September (more than two months out).

 

It takes much of the force out of the "woe is Duran for being tricked into a quick rematch by Leonard" bs though.