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I did not know that a champion like Duran could be stripped for postponing a rematch, many fighters have postponed without the threat of being stripped of their titles, Sugar Ray Leonard must have mystical powers buddy, his camp must have immense power in boxing.

 

I don’t know about stripped — never heard that one before — but he would have forfeited his guaranteed purse (largest ever for a non-heavyweight … maybe at the time largest ever for anyone, I forget, but like $7.5M iirc and it would have gone bye-bye for good. Ray would have fought Pipino next for the WBA instead and it seems doubtful Leonard would then contract to fight Duran after that. Why? How could you count on him showing up and fighting? His only excuse would be, ‘Well, I didn’t take my job seriously and train properly, so even though I made weight I figured I wouldn’t be at my best so I just chose not to fight.’

Furthermore, in addition to forfeiting the money he’d have surely been sued by the promotion and by the venue and had his license pulled … you can’t just pull out of a fight because you think you could have been in better shape.

That’s not to mention a likely class-acton lawsuit by people who bought tickets, spent money traveling, got hotel rooms, etc., for a fight that didn’t happen for no good reason.

The parties suing would probably ask for, and likely get, either an injunction preventing Duran from fighting again until the lawsuit was settled, or short of that have his purses held in escrow (meaning he wouldn’t collect a penny) against any judgment that might be rendered against him if he fought again.

(Keep in mind the promotion would lose millions by him canceling for no good reason and would have a good chance of prevailing in court.)

Now maybe he could fight in Panama (which might not recognize any U.S. court order) against some lower contender for relative chump change, but don’t fool yourself and think Duran (a) didn’t want that massive purse and (b) that he would want to have his career derailed by an expensive and possibly ruinous lawsuit (he’d have to pay lawyers and such).

But if you want to get past all that, let’s say he fakes an injury or gets a doctor to say he’s got a bellyache or whatever and the fight has to be postponed and that holds off the lawsuit … Ray still goes straight to Pipino (when the offer was made to Duran it was ‘we want to fight this year, if Roberto isn’t interested then we’ll forget him and fight Cuevas’) and bypasses Duran. And guess what: Roberto still has to defend his title. And while the purse would pale in comparison, the biggest payday Duran could get outside of Leonard would be this up-and-coming kid from Detroit named Thomas Hearns.

So any way you cut it, Duran had to go through with that fight or face pretty dire financial and career consequences. You simply cannot pull out of a mega-fight right before the date on the basis of ‘I didn’t train as hard as I should have, I let myself get fat, I made weight but I don’t think I’m at my best.’ Hell, most every fighter in history had to go through hardships training at some point. But they still fought because they’re fighters and that’s how they make a living.

(Not to mention, Ray had to run through the French Quarter on the morning of the fight to make weight for a same-day weigh-in, so it’s not like he didn’t also have some ‘excuse’ … he just didn’t have to use it.)

 

Greed can be a fighters worst enemy, ask Marvelous Marvin Hagler. The fighters who knew when to get out were the wisest, to sacrifice your dignity for a dollar, sad ending.

 

i've got Arcel saying well after the fight Duran was fine.

 

I wouldn't say Hagler sacrificed his dignity for a dollar by a long shot. He'd been ko'ing people and was still rated quite highly and top of the tree....like Larry Holmes when fading. He was a huge favorite over SRL and it was a fight he'd desired for many years. The money was simply the cherry on top.

 

I take the view that if a fighter steps into the squared circle on fight night then they are fit to fight, excuses are just that excuses.

 

Dont quote me but I think Larry Holmes excuse for getting knocked out by Tyson was because his hand got caught in the ropes and he blamed Tyson and also said had that not happened he would have won the fight. Gee Larry, I wonder why your right hand got caught in the ropes in the first place? Think it might have been because you were already out on your feet?

 

Hardly any…except for Vinny Pazienza’s classic “I was coming down from a caffeine high” of course. Poor lad.

 

Well, if one wants to continue farting through silk pyjamas all night…

 

Legacy don’t buy groceries.

 

Proven (during the fight) injury. And it's reversed in the rematch.

There are no other excuses that are acceptable, especially outside the ring issues. There isn't a fighter alive that doesn't have bad camps, bad relationships, legal problems etc.

 

That’s a great one. Up there with Kermit Cintron’s “I got messed up by the fumes from Sergio Martinez’s hairspray” and George Foreman’s “I was about to knock Ali out but I got distracted by my friend in the audience rooting for Ali”

 

Yeah I saw that too, but what would he say, I put a guy in the ring that wasn't ready? He made weight for that fight, and that was all.

 

While you are right, then don't expect to be hailed as great, a fighters own fault for greed if he loses, I don't want to hear excuses or claims that the fighter who lost like Marvelous Marvin Hagler won. the judges say he lost, an opinion like yours or mine does not matter on the ring record. A smart intelligent fighter has a good shrewd manager who puts money away for his fighter from each fight so that when their fighter retires he does not have to worry about that Bag Of Groceries to come back and look like a Complete Fool. If I were a great fighter and knew when to walk away like a winner and a great legacy, I would have with all my earnings salted away for that rainy day or to later enjoy without the desperate need to return, only to get beat by someone who could have not carried my Jockstrap in my heyday. Practical Thinking.