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

yeah if not the most important the second most important fight of his career, and he quits and is not in shape? Nonsense.

 

I thought Duran or his trainer said he had craps and needed bathroom break or so I read. Now there was a party in his dressing room?

 

There seems to be a few excuses going around with Duran. In the third fight he said Ray fought like a sissy. He always made excuses when he lost..

 

Leonard was ahead, and was ripping Duran with body punches an uppercuts. I think Duran quit before he would be stopped. Yes, he always made excuses when he lost.

 

I was planning to make a thread one day compiling the different conflicting versions of the stories that emerged after the fact, but it would probably be a waste of time.

 

I saw the same thing. Ray was starting to hit Duran to the body and Duran at that point knew it would get tougher.

 

The Duran fans would not accept it. He was a great fighter, but when he lost he always had an excuse even when he was beaten soundly in ways out of shape or not would not have mattered. He knew the fights were title fights and against other legends and he said he did not train. Of course they were excuses. But it helps his ego and his reputation maybe. I don't think the excuses are close to believable. Not at all. Ridiculous.

 

That would depend on the objective(s) of the exercise.

The best source of information is the fight itself, in which Duran is clearly not the same fighter he was in Montreal.

The fight, captured on film and unchanged, saves one from the need to obsess about ‘before’ and/or ‘after’ the fact statements made in regards to what happened. In turn, whether or not various statements conflict (despite the good chance that there would be a bulk of shared opinion) becomes relatively unimportant.

 

That's a fair point but it's very hard to tell the extent to which Duran was a different fighter in New Orleans because Leonard fought like a completely different fighter himself. It's also hard for people who know the outcomes of the fights and who've heard the excuses and post-fight commentary to look at the film without being strongly influenced by hindsight bias.

 

If he was not the same physically and mentally as Montreal, it was his fault. It should take nothing away from Leonard or lessen the significance of his win in any way.

There were four months to get ready between the two Leonard fights.

Apparently, Duran lacked the hunger and discipline to prepare in a professional manner for the second Leonard fight. Then, he quit during the fight.

Discipline is an important factor in Professional boxing and Duran, at times, was sorely lacking in this department.

It counts against his legacy.

A good example of a fighter being forced into a quick rematch where he handled the situation like a true professional is Frankie Randall in the second Chavez fight. He performed just as well as the first fight and didn't go off the rails beween the two fights in any way. And there was only a little over three months between the two fights. Duran had four months and one week between the two Leonard fights

 

Have I claimed otherwise?

Leonard won. It's up to the individual, as to how one wants to interpret that win and/or respond to others' views on the same.

This^ isn't a true reflection of the facts. Nothing was cast in stone, in respect to the rematch, until the match was made. Duran had as much time to prepare, as there was between the fight being made and the date that had been set for the fight itself.

This might well be the case and we don't really know why Duran quit, but you're as entitled to your opinion, as I am to mine.

This^ really doesn't relate to the main thrust of the discussion; but, again, have I claimed otherwise?

 

It presents a degree of challenge, because it's a case of viewing and assessing aspects with fine lines. But it's not as difficult as you might think, if you watch both fights side-by-side. I don't think bias comes into it. If one can't be honest with oneself then they shouldn't bother to perform the visual analysis in the first place.

In doing this, people may be somewhat surprised, as to how similar the two fights are, in terms of where the actual fighting is done, during the first 5 rounds, i.e. in close-up exchanges

Having done this myself, I tend to resist the idea that Leonard's tactics in the second fight were as big a factor as some claim. The amendment he makes is evident, and of course the difference played its part, but the question for me is to what extent?

In the first fight, it opens with Duran attempting to engage in what would typify a lot of in-fighting exchanges. Indeed, Leonard is being evasive and playing the out-boxer in the first round, with Duran’s first attempt at trapping him in a corner being avoided by Leonard, as he uses lateral movement to take a horseshoe path out of trouble. Then back to using the left jab.

Another attempt of Duran’s is thwarted by Leonard skipping to the side; spinning away from the ropes. Duran closes the distance two more times with Leonard defending/tying him up. A final attempt sees Leonard skip out of range. The point I take from this is that, whilst Leonard did take a more offensive stance in the first fight, seeking to manage distance more tightly and initiating exchanges himself, he was by no means a sitting target for Duran. However, the speed at which Duran was covering ground, to get into Leonard's chest, meant the bulk of the punching was going to occur at close-range, either way.


In the first-round of the second fight, Leonard is out-boxer again, but is staying too far out of range to land even his own punches, for a lot of the time. Much like the first fight, it is Duran, in the main, who is tracking Leonard and seeking to initiate the exchanges. Duran’s first attempt to close the distance sees Leonard stay well out of the way.

Duran's second attempt is slightly closer at initiating an exchange and then Leonard himself initiates a close exchange, much like he did in the first fight. So this is contrary to the idea of him being the complete stick and mover. So, round-1 of New Orleans looks quite like the first round of the Brawl in Montreal. Where there is a difference is in the volume of action. There is less happening in the opening round of the rematch than that of the first fight. Whether this is down to Leonard's approach or Duran's slower foot speed is not clear at this stage.


There is of course a significant departure between the two bouts, in relation to their respective second rounds. Duran, in the first fight, lands a solid shot, approximately midway through the round, which I think alters the complexion of the entire fight from then on. In New Orleans, Leonard is still the out-boxer but the second round is where, from my perspective, it can be seen that Duran is notably slower. This, despite Duran still being able to catch up with Leonard to force some action.

Moreover, I see almost zero head movement, in contrast to Montreal Duran, who was almost perpetual motion. There is also a distinct lack of ferocity in Duran, even when he has Leonard right in front of him and up close. These to me are big signs that we're looking at a different Duran.

The above is just a brief example of how I view the initial couple of rounds of the respective contests, but I trust this gives you some idea as to how I view and discern between aspects of each of the bouts. There is obviously much more that could be said but, ultimately and for whatever reason, I think Duran's performance was impaired.

I am not all that concerned with the whys and the wherefores of his below par performance. It's been written about forever and, as to where the blame lies, it doesn't really matter. That's just the way Duran turned up. We can't even be sure that this is why he decided to quit, but it seems reasonable to suggest, with all the known opinions from various sources, that he'd done himself a mischief, physically, during the period since the first fight, and that this influenced both his ability to compete and the decision he subsequently took, later in New Orleans.