Duran V leonard 1 - was duran the better fighter or did leonard fight the wrong fight

Duran was the better man

 

love duran and p4p i have him above srl but h2h srl beats him..he proved that by making a great account of himself in the first fight (brawling with duran is a tough thing), outboxing him in the second....and well the 3rd doesn't really matter

 

I think its a bit of both tbh, Leonard did fight far too flat footed but Duran fought the fight of his life too, Leonard did employ movement in stages of the fight once Duran was getting the better of him but Duran quickly cut off the ring & got the fight back to a flat footed war. I`m not convinced at all that prime Duran always beats prime Leonard, I think they`d always swap fights because both guys were amongst the best & most complete fighters in history.

I think the Leonard of the 2nd fight vs Duran of the 1st fight would be a very close decision type fight, these guys were as good as they have ever came & to say any of these guys would always beat the other is madness IMO.... Leonard will always have the size, speed & movement advantage over Duran though but if Duran comes in at his best then it could go either way.

I rank Duran as the greater fighter overall in their careers (I rank both top 10) but as far as which fighter is better, I`ve never really been able to answer that in all honesty.

 

Leonard's inside fighting gets completely underrated. He was competitive against one of the best inside fighters at his peak. No shame in losing that. Wish the second fight was as suspenseful but Ray did avenge the defeat.

 

I voted for the second option. I remember thinking that Duran hurting Leonard so early stung his pride and he didn't want to be seen to be running away after that so he fought much more flat-footed than he might have otherwise.

 

I voted for the second option but I agree with Bill to an extent.It's only because we take Ray's amazing versatility for granted that we can talk about a guy who was so capable of fighting different ways.
But this performance is every bit as important to the positive side of Ray's legacy as say,the Benitez win.I wouldn't change it for anything.He was still brilliant that night.
It's just that Cholo is a bit better fighting in that particular style.No shame for Ray in that.

 

Did Barney Ross fight the wrong fight against Armstrong?

 

Ray fought the wrong fight. Ray won easily and Duran quit when Ray started to land in rounds 7 and 8. And the fact Ray fought the wrong fight he won easily in the rematch and then many years later in 1989 when he was diminished his style still beat Duran easily when age affected Ray's style more than Durans. And Duran lost to Benitez easily just a year and a half after Montreal and to Hearns easily. Duran fought great when he had someone fight his fight. Barkley in 1989 fought his fight as is the only way Barkley can fight. Duran could beat anyone who fought him.

 

This argument is where people get upset by my opinions, but these threads keep going up. And I do not think Duran is better than Ray. He never beat the opposition Ray did. Ray beat Hearns,Hagler,Benitez, guys Duran lost to and 2 of them he lost easily to as he did to Ray in the rematch. Saying Duran is better than Ray is fine but Duran has to have beaten the greats Ray did. I am not sure why Duran has a different standard for being great or when he lost than other people. Other people lose and they lose. Duran loses he says he was out of shape everytime he lost to a great and people say yeah that is why he lost. If Duran made up the excuse Rafael Marquez made the other night he lost, people would say now we know why Duran lost it was fish. Marquez or any other fighter say that and it is an excuse, as it would be for Duran. It is easy to make the excuses and hard to beat Hearns,Benitez,Hagler and Leonard.

 

SRL fought a dumb fight. When he fought the right fight he won easily making Duran quit.

 

As Bill said, a little bit of both. Duran was magnificent, imposing his will on Leonard, who was not prepared for that type of onslaught.
On the other hand, Leonard tried to prove a point against Duran, and in part he succeeded, although he lost the fight as a result.

 

Ray fought wrong. You don't win a rematch with a guy quitting to not prove that!!! Simple!

 

Duran so overrated!!! besided beating ray who fought wrong he lost to everyone else!!!!

 

never in the history of the sport has a man given as many excuses as Duran for losing!