Duran explains why he quit (April 1981 Ring interview)

In the second Leonard fight he lost the minute the fight was signed, he was gone. What you had was a street kid given millions of dollars who had lived an incredibly rough life and was going to live it up and no one was going to stop him. That's why Arcel had Duran fight so often, non title fights and such to keep him out of trouble. After he beat the hell out of Leonard he was off the leash. Even though he wasn't right mentally I don't think very many fighters could have beaten Wilfred Benitez that night he was awesome. Hearns fight? after the big payday with Hagler here he went, he received a cash advance for the Hearns fight and spent 250,000 in hotels in Vegas with 2 lesbian prostitutes while getting ready for the fight, I mean why not? Hearns had showed nothing in his last 3 fights. Duran in an interview was asked about the first knock down against Hearns in round 1 and he said,," for some reason I was wondering where the lesbians were? These are not meant to be excuses, but it explains a fighters mental make up for a fight. This is why Duran is one of the greatest fighters of all time, when he was focused he could rise to incredible heights against fighters physically he shouldn't be fighting. Could you imagine Floyd Mayweather fighting Iran Barkley at 160 pounds when Floyd was almost 38?

 

He is the only guy who has excuses for losing to elite fighters. Had he beaten more elites we could say, ok he didn'ttrain. But he only beat one elite, who fought the wrong fight. Hearns right hand was going to hurt Duran no matter if he trained for 5 years straight. Hearns was elite and had he beaten him, that would have been a huge feather in his cap to this day.. One of the best 154 pounders in history and a legend.. But he didn't train. Well we will never know. Hearns hurt his hand against Benitez. Fought a middleweight big guy who Spinks had trouble with in Sutherland, and Minchillo was a tough European, whom Duran could not stop and Mike McCallum went 13 rounds with. He was the greatest fighters because he made excuses against the greats but beat Moore and Barkley-two non elites? No he made up too many excuses. Well Duran is a bigger man than Floyd is..Duran went up to 250 pounds after boxing. Even Hearns only maxed at 200.

 

Probably best if he simply just said, I got my 10 mil up front so it's back to the bar for me. Seems to me to be the honest answer . .Either way SRL was the better fighter that night.

 

Duran is 5'7 with a 67 inch reach, how big's Floyd?

 

Yeah I'd like to have seen a lightweight Marvin Hagler move up and fight a natural middleweight Roberto Duran. He'd have lasted about 4 rounds, Hearns and Leonard too

 

So much mythology around this fight taken as fact. But it's just not so:

The fight was announced at the Holmes vs. Ali bout because the boxing press was there. That was on Oct. 2:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/10/03/page/61/article/duran-leonard-rematch-set

This story nine days before the fight says he's been training for six weeks already. His camp was in Miami:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...f64-b8ed-903ce91659ac/?utm_term=.46a2dde89735

 

It fits the narrative for many that Leonard somehow tricked Duran into getting back in the ring too quickly. So they glom onto a version of what he said and dismiss what doesn't fit the narrative:

1) Leonard says Janks Morton saw Duran partying in New York weighing "200 pounds" and they needed to get the rematch as quickly as possible. No doubt Leonard said this, but that doesn't mean the other things he said should be dismissed, because ...

2) He also says he went to Hawaii right after the first fight. It even notes that he had swelling and soreness from the first fight, so this wasn't like 2 or 3 months later. It was very soon after. And he says he went out for a run and decided he needed to keep fighting and that he could win the rematch, so he called his lawyer/manager Mike Trainer and said, "Make the rematch, I want him back as soon as possible."

3) Now, there's no way Duran gained more than 50 pounds from 147 to 200 in a matter of days or even a few weeks. So Leonard's side is clearly initiating negotiations long before Roberto got out of shape.

4) There's no way Leonard's side can negotiate a rematch without Duran's side knowing. So if he chooses to keep partying and pigging out and gaining a lot of weight, that's on him. Surely he knows there IS going to be a rematch and that he needs to get back in the gym, or at least moderate his partying and eating, yet he decides to not worry about it.

5) The two links I posted above made it clear that Duran had nearly two full months notice from the ANNOUNCEMENT of the fight (which happened at the Holmes vs. Ali fight on Oct. 2) to get ready for the rematch. One of those stories notes that he's been in training camp in Miami for six weeks, and this is published 9 days before the rematch. So make it 7 weeks in camp.

6) As noted, Duran always ballooned up between fights. That's why they kept him so active at lightweight, lining up the next defense or a non title fight right away after every defense. His team knows he has a problem with discipline and lack of dedication, so they want him to have as little time as possible between fights to blow up. So in this case, they did the same thing. Yet he went way overboard after the first fight AND choose not to dedicate himself when he began training for the rematch. It's the same strategy they had used time and again, this is actually his LONGEST LAYOFF in like five years.

7) Duran's team felt it needed to get the rematch made because he was out partying too much after the first fight, wasn't listening to people who told him he needed to maintain some discipline and get back in the ring, and they were worried that he'd get upset by some lesser fighter if he didn't make the rematch with Leonard right away. The people closest to him thought he'd NEVER get the big payday rematch if he didn't do it immediately, because he wouldn't be prepared if he took a tuneup.

All of the info above comes from accounts given by those involved, yet the only thing some people want to pay attention to is "Leonard said Duran is known to blow up between fights so he wanted to fight him quickly to get an edge." It's more complicated than that.

 

According to this firsthand account, Duran was notified in early September that the rematch was in the offing. He waited a month to start training, gaining more weight and partying into the night while Leonard was training.

http://www.thesweetscience.com/articles-of-2004/310-no-mas-my-version

Choices have consequences. If the rematch had instead been made for January, it's doubtful that Duran would have begun training further in advance of the fight then he did. He simply would have kept partying and adding even more bad weight.

 

Hagler fought a sparring counterpunching mentally that night, afraid of a thumb also. Hearns moved up and won a title from an undefeated champion who was 5 years younger than him Virgil Hill. Hearns beat more elites than Duran, that is a fact.. If you want to go by quality of opposition.

 

You are correct. HOWEVER, you are leaving out a very important piece of the puzzle you need to include.. He got the 10 million up front. First boxer in history to get that. Where is the 100% focus and dedication if you have already been PAID! He loved to party, so it was back to the bar for Duran.

 

The schedule of the two fights was normal.
The first fight happened on June 20th.
Duran would have always expected to make a defense before the end of the year. He and his camp had never taken a whole half year off. November would have probably been considered the most likely month.
November 25th was ideal.

 

I believe it was in form a credit line.. He was spending money like crazy, partying a lot, just didn't really care about this one. I forget which poster it was he said he saw Duran train live and to him he said Duran " just didn't give a f*** " ... thought that was pretty funny

 

That's on him if he chose not to train because he had already been paid. Anyone with pride would still want to show up to win, and certainly not quit.