Duran - Leonard rematch timeline

All right. Here's a timeline I threw together from newspaper articles describing the lead up to the rematch. Each date represents the publication date of the newspaper being cited. Of course none of these articles give any indication that Duran had put on more weight than normal, was having a tougher camp than usual, or that he looked flabby, flat, or in bad shape. If anyone can identify any actual contemporaneous sources indicating otherwise, I would be glad to revise this timeline to include them. Until then, I'm calling BS on the myths about: (a) Duran blowing up to 190-200+; and (b) Leonard finding out and shrewdly rushing the rematch to take advantage of that. Pardon any typos.

7/4/1980: A couple weeks after the fight, Leonard, in Hawaii, says that he wants an immediate rematch, possibly in January or February.

7/19/1980: Leonard claims that he landed the cleaner punches in the first fight and says that he wants to get Duran as soon as possible, while he’s still recuperating. Wants to fight him that year but if that doesn’t work he wants to fight the Hearns/Cuevas winner in October or November and then fight Duran after that.

7/30/1980: Article mentions that they are in talks for a rematch but stalled over money (because Duran wants the lion’s share).

8/12/1980: Leonard explains that he wants to fight in November. Says that he wants to fight Duran but he also wants to fight Hearns.

8/24/1980: Duran’s manager Carlos Eleta says that Duran will be fighting Leonard again in November.

9/10/1980: Duran says that he will give Leonard a rematch on 11/25 and he’s already begun training for the Leonard fight.

9/10/1980 (different article): Carlos Eleta reports that Duran currently weights 164.5 pounds.

9/26/1980: Carlos Eleta: Duran has been training in upstate New York for the past two weeks while we finish negotiations for a fight later this year. He has lost 10 pounds already and will not have trouble making weight.

10/14/1980: Duran and Leonard do a confrontational pre-fight luncheon with trash-talking.

10/18/1980: Article discusses that Duran has been training at Grossingers, in NYC, and a little in Las Vegas.

11/10/1980: Duran begins his New Orleans workouts. Duran: “I feel very, very strong…There’s no way it’s going to go 15 rounds.”

11/11/1980: Duran zipped through his first on-session workout by toying with several sparring partners.

11/14/1980: Duran shortened his sparring session because he says he's close to fighting weight and doesn't want to overdo it.

11/19/1980: Detailed story about how Duran looks amazing in his public workout and sparring. Brutalizes a ranked welterweight sparring partner, Victor Abraham, knocking him out the ring and onto the floor. Also from the article:

“The way Duran is handling Abraham would seem to indicate the 29-year old Panamanian is honed to a very fine edge for next week’s 15-round title defense. Yesterday, Duran put on a two-hour show that left a large audience, including heavyweight champ Larry Holmes, dazzled.

“Roberto is sharp, very sharp,” Arcel said. “I thought he was in great shape when he fought Leonard last time (in June), but he’s probably better right now. […] “The timing of the rematch has worked to our advantage. Usually, you wait a year, maybe two, for a rematch.” In Duran’s case that’s not good. He tends to gain weight, he gets sloppy. This time, the rematch came so soon, he never had a chance to get out of shape. He’s been going at this (fast) pace for three or four weeks now. He’s running farther, working harder than I can remember. […] Duran: “When I come to fight, I train to fight. There is no reason to lock the doors. Everyone knows what I will do. I have no secrets. I don’t need them.”

11/15/1980: “Both fighters had light workouts with no sparring yesterday.” Article talks about how Duran was in a very happy, light-hearted mood and hamming it up for the cameras. Duran: “I wish the fight were today, because I’m ready,” he said after the workout. He said there is no reason why he can’t stay in peak form. However, Ray Arcel, his other trainer, said he was concerned. “He’s in shape and I’m worried sick. We still have 11 days to go, and we have to retain that edge,” he said.

11/23/1980: Freddie Brown says that Duran had lost 20 pounds without complaint. He was down to 149 the week before the fight and planned to be on weight by Monday. Brown says that having the rematch so soon was “a good break for us.”

11/24/1980: “Everything is working perfectly,” Felicidad Duran, the fighter’s wife said as she watched her husband from a second row seat at ringside. “He’s at ease when he knows he’s in his weight. He’s much stronger now than for any other fight. I see it. I feel it. The happiness comes out in the ring.” [….]

“I feel much better for this fight than for the first one,” Duran said, piecing his way through a breakfast of steak and eggs one day last week. […] This time I’m much stronger.” [One of his sparring partners, Don Morgan, agreed he looked better and predicted a mid-rounds knockout]

POSTFIGHT:

11/26/1980): Duran: "I was paralyzed....I couldn't move. I couldn't lift my arms. I felt totally helpless."
[NB: Funny comment from a disappointed fan: "I watched that fight closely and if he had any cramps, they must have been menstrual."]

(11/27/1980): "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."

(11/27/1980): That prompted speculation that Duran’s ravenous hunger, which caused him to balloon to 172 shortly after he wrested the title from Leonard in June, had, alas, done him in. He was slightly over the 147 limit at mid-day Monday, so he fasted until after the noon Tuesday weigh-in, when he came in at 146. Thereafter, Duran put away two steaks and four glasses of orange juice. Perhaps he overate, Arcel admitted, but Duran had been that route before and won.

Then, at 4pm, Duran nibbled again—a small steak and one cup of tea.

“Maybe that could have caused it,” said Arcel. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
[…]
Arcel: “We do everything but watch Roberto go to the bathroom during training. We would know if anything was wrong. And if there was, there is no way I would send a man into the ring in that condition. There was nothing wrong with him physically before the fight. And, mentally, I felt he was as committed as ever to win.”

Dec. 1, 1980: "What Roberto did was terribly stupid but not anything crooked."

 

To each his own. I'd rather trust what numerous reporters, Arcel, Brown, Duran's wife, Duran's manager, Duran's sparring partners, and Duran himself said before the fight.

 

It takes one helluva conspiracy theory to imagine that all of these statements and observations were dishonest lies--not to mention all the people who could've said something about Duran's weight and conditioning but didn't. But like I said, to each his own.