Boxing masterclass? - Sugar Ray Leonard

100% correct. But that's conveniently forgotten by some posters on this site....
And personally I love Duran .

 

Yes. Imagine if the decision had gone Leonard's way in Montreal - those same fans would be demanding a rematch in FOUR months!

 

The book on Duran (much like in Tyson’s early career) was to keep him in the ring as often as possible and to get his next fight on the docket as soon as possible after each fight.

Then, all of a sudden, he needs MORE time off.

The five months is actually the longest layoff of his entire career to this point — but he’d had some of his best performances coming off some of his longer layoffs (which were usually about four months), including DeJesus III and the first Leonard fight.

If Duran turned down the rematch, his team was scared that he’d just keep eating and drinking and, who knows, maybe need to be forklifted to the ring at 300 pounds. They thought he’d end up fighting a nobody and losing because of lack of preparation from an even longer layoff.

He’d been a world champion for years — he KNEW there was going to be another fight coming up … he couldn’t just hold onto the belt forever and not defend it. This wasn’t the day of twice-a-year championship fights. If he didn’t fight Leonard in November, he’d have had to be back in the ring in December or January in a title fight anyway … and what sort of shape would he have been with an extra month or two to party?

Leonard was going to fight Pipino Cuevas for the WBA if Duran turned down the record payday. That would have left Don King looking for a marketable opponent for Duran’s next fight (coming off the Leonard win) and the only two names of any consequence who could generate decent paydays were Thomas Hearns and Wilfred Benitez … and the odds of Duran beating either (whatever shape he came into the ring in) are low.

So what’s better? Make $100K and lose to Randy Shields in an ill-prepared make-time defense? Or get his ass back in the gym and hope he gets himself ready for Leonard and pockets $7M?