Duran: was 2nd rd KO loss to Hearns worse than "No Mas" fight?

There isn't any disgrace to get knocked silly from a tremendous right to the jaw by such great puncher like Tommy Hearns. On the other hand, Roberto Duran quitting mysteriously in his second bout with Sugar Ray Leonard can be considered disgraceful.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Which is why I don't buy the "that wasn't part of the code, real men don't taunt, yada yada yada" explanation. What Leonard did was retaliation. Duran knew he was going to be on the wrong end of a long, humiliating evening and probably felt like he was going to continue to be made a laughing stock.

Funny that it's not brought up often, but the 'man-on-the-street' reaction was that it was done to set up a third fight. Guess that went out the window as it didn't happen for ages after. Truth is, any promoter would be risking taking a bath because purses would still be very high and there's a very good chance people wouldn't pay to see a rematch of a fight where a guy quit.

 

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at least Foxy can relate to Duran in one area.

 

If I remember correctly, Duran had been stripped of his WBA Super welterweight Title before he entered the ring against Hearns. (Duran was just coming of dueling with Hagler in his last fight 7 months before).

 

He was.

His mandatory was Mike McCallum, who was a Kronk fighter at the time. Duran was stripped of the belt and instead fought Hearns for much more money.

McCallum was mad at Manny Steward for that and I think that caused him to leave the Kronk. It was personal for him later when he fought Milton McCrory.

 

Both were events the take away from his legacy and make you question his punch resistance above 147 pounds and his resolve when things aren't going his way.

 

All that needs to be said, really.

 

I don't think it questions his punch resistance at all. Certainly not of you're talking about SRL. As for Hearns even with that l don't think it qunstained his punch resistance at least as it pertains to future fights. So might have felt at the time that fighters such as Moore would stop him based on the Hearns fight but certainly not afterwards.

 

"No Mas" will remain a mystery. Everyone has a 'theory'. It stinks to high heaven but that's professional boxing. It has gone down with other strange occurrences in boxing's history. Disgraceful, yes.

 

"No Mas" is possibly the most obvious fixed fight in boxing history.

 

HUH? Fixed? If Duran wanted to make it look like a fix, he takes a dive by getting hit or gets DQ'd
Both are much better than quitting without an injury. It's pretty clear that Duran tried in the early rounds which were close.

 

"No Mas" was much worse considering the general public. Hearns might be worse on one specific section of a boxing forum.

 

Why would he want to make it look like a fix? I guess you meant "look real".

Anyway, that illustrates the point. It is QUITE POSSIBLY the most obvious fix in boxing history, so obvious in fact that people can't imagine it actually being fixed.

 

What was the general preflight consensus at the time on how the bout unfold though? A bit too young to remember it at the time but seeing it on tape with all the build-up to the fight, it seemed that Duran, coming off the Hagler fight,was still backed to do well against a Hearns who in his post Leonard fights, possibly due to hand problems,seemed to be content to use his boxing skills to win rather than the devastating knockout punches that he was more well known for. So while the way that Duran quit against Leonard was shocking and totally unexpected, the fact that I doubt that anyone (probably not even his own supporters) had predicted that Hearns would win in the brutally conclusive way that he did just gives it the edge in terms of shock value.