Duran Had A Party In His Dressing Room After The 2nd Leonard Fight

I love WANTON

 

For what it’s worth, I’ve read interviews where Duran denied that he was partying after the fight. Think I transcribed and posted one last year.

 

And in all of the numerous contemporary interviews, anyone in the world who commented on Duran (including several unaffiliated reporters, Brown, Arcel, Eleta, Duran’s wide, and Duran himself) claimed that he had an excellent training camp and was close to weight a week out from the fight. That’s why Brown and Arcel were so completely shocked that he quit that they couldn’t even come up with any excuses until months later.

 

You also provided direct quotes where they said he hadn't made it down to weight and it was work to get him to train. He was still off the mark a week before the fight and Brown comments that it's been a little more of a struggle to motivate him... but that he'd get down in time and be fine by fight time. So I'm not sure why continually say that there was no issue in his camp and all the reviews were rave reviews about his camp... when that simply isn't true. Even by your own articles you posted in the thread about the fight and lead up to it. Some were good, but they weren't all glowing and the key one illustrates they were having trouble motivating him to train this time and thus the weight was coming off slower. You also have comments from them saying he gained like 35 pounds in between fights, which doesn't sound like a good way to start ones camp to me. Who knows though, so much speculation and wildly different facts presented.

 

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/duran-leonard-rematch-timeline.616387/

They gave plenty of glowing reviews. It is impossible for any objective person to read all of the quotes I compiled and view them as anything other than Duran and his trainers indicating that he was perfectly fine and well prepared. They said that he was sharp physically and mentally—even more so than the first fight, where Duran had some well-known health problems going into the fight. He looked amazing during his public workouts and sparring sessions in New Orleans in the weeks before the fight. Brown and Arden
explained that there was nothing unusual or atypical about the amount of weight he had to take off or the time that he had to do so. I’m not sure if something went wrong the week of the fight but he was by all accounts completely on target well in advance of the fight. Hence, his people were initially at a complete loss when it came to explaining his stunning and shameful surrender.

 

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/duran-explains-why-he-quit-april-1981-ring-interview.594341/

 

They admitted those things!! The difference is that they claimed that he got up to around 170 between the fights (not 190-200 like in the tall tales) and that after a slow start he ended up having a great camp. Plenty members of the public watched him and as far as I can tell not a single person in the entire world had anything negative to say about Duran’s progress or conditioning.

It takes quite an imagination and conspiratorial thinking to believe that everyone who saw or commented on Duran’s progress in the months up to the fight—Brown, Arcel, Duran, Duran’s wife, random reporters, and whatever countless boxers and members of the public who watched his public training sessions in New Orleans—all proactively, repeatedly lied about his camp or kept their mouths shut in some weird scheme to hide the truth from Leonard and his camp (even while people like Ray Leonard’s brother actually attended some of Duran’s public preflight workouts).

 

Most of my info is from the book Hands of Stone. What are y'all's thoughts on that and it's general veracity?

 

it means the story came out as a logical excuse if he lost. Benitez never trained.

 

The fight looks like a fix.
Or at least Duran seemed to have no more motivation to win than he did to lose, and perhaps even more motivation to lose. Based on his actions.
I don't really care too much because we'll never ever know the truth.
I know it was disgraceful and it stinks. And we have to blame Duran for that.

 

Why the hell would Duran throw the fight? I don't believe all these stories of massive weight fluctuation as well. IMO he was getting out boxed and was frustrated and plain ass quit!

 

exactly. Duran gets excuses for his losses no one in the history of boxing does.

 

A fix where he says no mas? Duran would not do that. If Duran could have won he would have destroyed Leonard. We know the truth. Ray outboxed Duran and made it look easy and when Ray started to land to the body and head Duran quit.

 

Let's make it clear it's not like Duran didn't show he had heart but on that occasion he quit plain and simple.