Did Duran just have Leonards # that night, Or did Sugar just fight the wrong fight?

Okay, but you completely avoided the first paragraph. You claim SRL didn't retreat and use lateral movement. I employ to watch the first round and see if the meshes with your stance. You've seemingly avoided that question totally. Odd, for somebody so convinced of their stance. Hmmmm.

Further, it doesn't matter if you and others don't agree with what SRL said. His word on how HE felt is EXPONENTIONALLY more valuable that your opinion on what he said. In fact, that counts for next to nothing. Further, what SRL perfectly coincides with what we see.

SRL comes out boxing like he normally does. Exactly how he normally does.

He then gets hurt, and claims his head is in the clouds for 3-4 rounds after. He takes another brutal right hand in the 3 that stunned him again. Took more brutal body shots for the next 4 rounds.

THEN as the fight wears on, about round 8-9, SRL starts to move a little more and box a little more. Coinciding with when his head might have come out of the cloud as he said. Odd, that after his head cleared, he went back to boxing more like the did in round 1. Yet, his word, and visual corroborating evidence is worth less than what you and others think about what SRL was feeling? LMAO. Thanks for the laugh man

 

Incorrect, you said he didn't retreat. You said against the strong tough fighters he retreated and used lateral movement. This is EXACTLY what he did in round 1 vs. Duran. Why do you keep acting like you're making a point? You are only proving my point. You said he didn't retreat against Duran, but that is blatantly false. Did you count the times he retreated in round one? Should take long

 

Dundee's strategy is commented on during the actual fight. Kevin mentions one reference where they say they wanted Duran out of their by the first 4 rounds. Another part the commentators mention conversation with Angelo where they say they DON'T want SRL backing up with Duran. He wants SRL to control the ring. They comment on this because that is what Dundee said pre fight. He said, Duran is a heel to toe fighter, you don't back up with those type of fighters. That is when they are at their best. So he said, I have the bigger guy, the faster guy, the stronger guy and the taller guy. We're going to control the center of the ring and KO the smaller duran. That was the plan pre fight

 

I showed through very clear examples exactly what I meant. If you watch those clips and insist that Leonard used the same approach against Duran, you are either dishonest or blind.

 

Leonard was more elusive against Davey Boy Green, and Davey Boy Green was worse at cutting off the ring than Duran.

 

Both statements are correct.

 

Question, if somebody is better at cutting of the ring, won't the opponent look like he's moving less than in other fights where the foe wasn't as adept at cutting of the ring?

 

Hypothetically, all other things being equal, sure. I hope you're not still trying to falsely insinuate that this explains why Leonard clearly moved much, much less throughout his fight against Duran than against Green and others...

 

Yeah KuRuPT, SRL definitely went in there planning to go at it with Duran. Sometimes pre fight comments can be a smokescreen but with everything said both before and after things match up.

I'm not convinced Dundee wanted to totally forego the jab and slug quite as enthusiastically but once Duran had his way in the early rounds their hands were tied anyway.

I must add that this fight was in no way a flogging or overly one sided, it was competitive even if there could only be one winner. Cards in here over the years were usually between the extremes of 10-5 and 8-7. 9-6 or 8-6-1 was close to the average i reckon.

Both fighters did themselves proud, SRL showing heart, grit and determination a lot thought he did not have and Duran finally getting full recognition for what a great fighter he truly was. The fight overall is a boxing triumph.

 

And the church say "Amen". I thought Leonard won the last couple rounds though Duran definitely won the fight.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard's ability to efffectively dance is not determined by his opponents capabilities, it's just he has more space to move when they have figurative cement in their shoes.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard doesn't get cut off, he just moves less when an opponent gets in his way.

 

Duran was not better than Leonard, he just fought the right fight.

 

Leonard didn't bite on feints and move into powershots that rattled his brain for several rounds, it was part of his reckless aggressive strategy to overreact defensively.

 

Leonard wanted to fight in the phone booth, he was intentionally missing punches from range so Duran could slip inside.