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

So, Leonard, Buchanan and De Jesus weren't elite?

Cool story, bro.

 

He quit. Duran is not different than anyone else. He quit for a reason. For a professional fighter to quit, he didn't want something.

 

My point was there are different ways of quitting. Duran just did the ultimate.

 

Ray outclassed him in the rematch. Duran should not have fought him again, and I always said Ray was not elite yet when Duran fought him the first time. He was still a green up and coming champ.. He was on his first or second defense of his first title. DeJesus and Buchanan were not great fighters. That is a big stretch.

 

You just don't seem to be able or willing to grasp the point, here.
Yes - Duran quit for a reason. Alas, neither you nor anyone else (other than Duran) is clear on his reason.
Please stop pretending that you know something that you do not.

 

Ray wasn't elite then... Jesus H. Christ....

 

And, it never ends...

 

Is it possible Duran threw the second fight so he and Leonard would be 1-1 and thus setting up a third fight and of course the big payday that comes with it ??

 

of course not. In June of 1980? Not yet. no. Elite level means they put it all together. That is the only way Duran beat him, he exploited Ray's immaturity and he was smart to do it. Duran could never beat Leonard again. I mean Jesus H. Christ. he made Duran quit in the next fight when he started to land punches after fighting his fight.

 

why didn't he get a third fight? Quitting a fight is not equal to winning the first. Duran is lucky he got a title shot with Benitez a little over a year later, and Benitez easily beat him in relative terms. Duran gets too many excuses. I would not say much on here if I didn't sort of see how the excuses of Duran are being accepted, and they should not. To me he was being outclassed before he quit with Ray. It isn't like he was winning the fight and he quit.

 

Still being a little disingenuous I see bud. Here is a quote YOU posted of Arcel after the fight: Here is

"All that partying after he won in Montreal, and then those midnight snacks even after he was supposed to be back in training," lamented 83-year-old handler Ray Arcel. "His weight got up over 170 and didn't go back down until September. Nevertheless, we had enough training time. That wasn't a problem. By the last 10 days, Duran was fine. He's had to lose a lot of weight many times in his (72-2) career."

Here is. In the above, it certainly didn't seem to be as glowing as the PRE FIGHT comments you posted. Odd. This all makes sense because, as I pointed out in your original thread about this subject, people say anybody number of things before a fight. Who cares, it means next to nothing, as we all know. As I pointed out and you're aware, people say things all the time pre-fight like "I'm in the best shape of my life, no excuses, I'm going to kill this guy in there"... after the fight "yeah I didn't want to say anything or ruin the promotion for this event, but I hurt my knee and couldn't do any road work for 4 weeks prior to the fight". This has literally happened more times than I can count in boxing and mma. Yet, you wanted to totally disregard the obvious of what we know people do and say beforehand, and believe all the glowing reviews verbatim. Then the stuff after the fight, that sheds like on the fact that maybe the camp wasn't quite as good as they claimed beforehand... no no no that will be disregarded. It's a little weird imo. All this stuff should be plainly obvious to you, and I believe it is, but for some reason you prefer to believe Duran was just as good in NO as he was in Montreal, and will post 20 pre fight quotes saying how awesome he looked!!

 

No, that isn't what elite means. Elite is, the amateur pedigree he came to the professionals with and then beating an ATG in Wilfred to gain the title. That is EXACTLY what elite is, and always has been. What you're describing is his peak level. SRL in Montreal was unquestionably elite level. Just you saying he wasn't, tells me how delusional you are about the subject, and we don't need to continue further.

 

The whole thing was a joke. It's 90% Leonard running away from a sluggish Duran who couldn't be bothered to chase him, and then quit for literally no reason. He wasn't injured, he wasn't taking a beating, he wasn't even that far behind (one judge had him ahead!). The idea that a veteran of 70 odd fights suddenly couldn't handle it because Leonard landed a few punches is absurd. Duran came through much harder fights before and after.

 

My idea of elite is different than yours. Elite would be Canelo and GGG, maybe Fury but probably not Wilder. Loma and Pacman and Floyd. Guys who beat other elites and proved they are the cream of the crop. And when Duran went up against those guys after he moved up because the lightweights did not have that regardless of people saying DeJesus and Buchanan are Hearns,Leonard and Benitez level, they really were not.