Awesome fight.Duran controlled most of the early rounds staggering Leonard in rounds 2 and 4.Leonard came back strong to win most of the middle rounds with eye-catching combinations.Rounds 10-12 were evenly fought with a slight egde going to Duran.Round 13 was the most exciting round of the fight, Duran hurt Leonard on three different occasions in the round but Leonard cointinued to land combinations and hurt Duran also.Round 14 was clearly Duran's also as he hurt Leonard along the ropes.Leonard won round 15 convicingly partly because Duran didn't throw as many punches as in other rounds.
Round 1 Leonard Round 2 Duran Round 3 Duran Round 4 Duran Round 5 Leonard Round 6 Leonard Round 7 Leonard Round 8 Duran Round 9 Leonard Round 10 Duran Round 11 Duran Round 12 Even Round 13 Duran Round 14 Duran Round 15 Leonard 144-142 Roberto Duran.
My final score was a bit wider for Duran, but that's an interesting round by round to say the least. The way I saw it, Duran basically dominated the first 10-12 rounds (Leonard winning maybe 3 clear, with a couple close ones) with Leonard coming on toward the end while Duran seemed content to coast it out.
They were good rounds because Leonard decided to let his hands go and unleash, while Duran was clearly not in the same mode as he was early on, but had to keep himself in the fight. I'll rewatch a bit of it later, that is what I recall from it.
Duran beat the crap out of Leonard in round 13.I actually thought it was the middle rounds where he got a bit lay,Leonard was by far the more active fighter in the rounds he won.
I haven't watched it for a while, but I have long thought it is the best win by any fighter since 1960 (at least), even better than Ali-Foreman because Duran and Leonard were significantly higher quality fighters than George. Duran was nothing short of phenomenal, and Leonard would have beaten most of the great welterweights of history that night IMO. They were both superb and it was a tremendous fight, really really high level stuff. I have always and will always say: I can't stand the widespread misconception that "if Leonard boxed he would've won". On so many levels that is just BS. The choice was not Leonard's whether to box or brawl, Duran dictated that fight, it was he who was in control and he who decided how the fight went, Leonard had no choice but to fight like a demon in close proximity to avoid oblivion! Duran was on top of him all night, Leonard could not change that fight. The best performance I've ever seen.
one of the best fights i have seen i remember watching it some time at night so i cant remember much but an amazing fight none the less
Great fight, i had something very similar to your score 144-142 Duran. However, as i remember it, Duran thought he'd won the fight after the 13th and was somewhat inactive during round 14&15, while Leonard was digging deep to pull out a victory. A true champion's battle,even if it was a losing one.
There was some stuff by Leonard that looked like it landed but actually didn't. Just need to watch the slow motion replays.
Leonard fought the wrong fight, contrary to what others might say. The whole media thought he would box as did his trainer, Angelo Dundee. He had the ability to move more and he didn't. Leonard elected to stand and trade punches and told the media he'd do it before the first bell rang. They all thought he was crazy as it was the wrong option when it came to his best chance of winning. Duran's office was inside and trading punches to prove what machismo was all about. I thought Duran won based on his effective aggressiveness, variety, defense, and his clear edge in eye catching power shots inside and mid-range.
Duran was a master at rolling punches and taking power out of shots that landed. Great performance from Roberto this night in a great, great fight!
Leonard said after the fight that Duran was really tough to his cleanly. Parcially landed blows with the impact sucked right out of them by Duran's superb head movement.
Yep. Best example comes in one of the later rounds when Leonard goes for the bolo uppercut and a follow-up left-right. Looks like they land and the crowd cheer, but in between rounds they slow it down and it turns out that the uppercut was blocked, one of the others was ducked and the other one had all the steam taken out of it and only clipped a pivoting Duran.