Fight of the Week #1: Roberto Duran - Ray Leonard I

When you look at the first two rounds of this fight.
The margins each round was won was so far apart.
For example if Leonard won the first round 10-9 then Duran had to of been given 10 - 8 in both round 2 and 3 because he hurt Leonard and beat him for good portions of both rounds.
Nothing happened in round 1 IMO that significant to go one way or another. A classic feeling out round.
So you can give those marginal rounds to fighter A or B. But then to keep it in touch you have to give those big, clear dominating rounds a 10-8 on a regular basis. Even with no knockdown.
The points are built into the system. I don't understand why judges don't use them.

 

I did give both round 2 and 3 10-8 for Duran. I have a hard time scoring the first round for Leonard - though you are right that not much occurred.

 

Cheers, appreciate it. You and i are exactly the same thru 6 rounds. I scored 7 for Leonard but after watching a second time believe it should have been even or maybe slightly Duran which would take me to a 2 or 3 point difference. We have 8, 9 and 10 the same as well. So if i go with even for 7 we are identical thru 10 rounds.

I went even in 11 as well where you went Duran and we split the last 4 slightly different excepting 15. It's a tough gig to score.

Your controversial round would be 14 which pretty much everyone gives to SRL. That would take you back to a couple of points difference.

 

Ive always thought of this fight as overrated. too much grabbing

Looking at the locker rooms I noticed that Leonard was not the well muscled fighter of late 1981 who bested Hearns

 

There were so many close rounds.
Even on this viewing I could have easily given my three even rounds to Leonard, which would make the score 8-7 Duran. And there were two of my Duran rounds (8 and 11 I think) which I thought were extremely marginal and could be even, which would therefore push the result to 7-6-2 Leonard.

Round 14 : I think that was a round where the commentators went crazy for Leonard near the end but Duran had been nailing Leonard and hurting him throughout. I'll have another look.

 

I think the fight was great but it is very overrated, especially in terms of the alleged technical skills on display.
I thought both men were pretty much wide open for a lot of the fight. There was some excellent body punching from both men but the total skill on display, relative to the alleged abilities and reputations of the fighters, was minimal.

 

Brawl in Montréal

1. Duran 10-9 (Duran 10-9)
2. Duran 20-18 (Duran 10-9)
3. Duran 30-27 (Duran 10-9)
4. Duran 39-37 (Leonard 10-9)
5. Duran 49-46 (Duran 10-9)
6. Duran 58-56 (Leonard 10-9)
7. Duran 68-65 (Duran 10-9)
8. Duran 77-75 (Leonard 10-9)
9. Duran 87-84 (Duran 10-9)
10. Duran 96-94 (Leonard 10-9)
11. Duran 105-104 (Leonard 10-9)
12. Duran 115-114 (Even 10-9)
13. Duran 125-123 (Duran 10-9)
14. Duran 134-133 (Leonard 10-9)
15. Duran 144-142 (Duran 10-9)

 

"Sugar" Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran I (June 20, 1980) (15 Rounds for the WBC Welterweight Title)

Round 1: 10-9 Leonard (Good round for Leonard)
Round 2: 10-9 Duran (Great round for Duran, insanity. what a fight!)
Round 3: 10-9 Duran (Leonard fought back better this round, Duran punishing Ray's body)
Round 4: 10-9 Duran (Leonard starts well, Duran rocks him with a huge right & takes over, Ray comes on to late)
Round 5: 10-9 Leonard (Ray got the better of Duran at his own game this round)
Round 6: 10-9 Leonard (Good close round, Leonard more eye catching edges it)
Round 7: 10-9 Leonard (Razor close round, even till the last 30 seconds with Ray's accurate jab being the edge)
Round 8: 10-9 Duran (Big right hand at the end of the round wins it)
Round 9: 10-9 Duran (Looked like Ray took the round off)
Round 10: 10-9 Duran (Duran took command in this round, Ray closed better)
Round 11: 10-9 Leonard (Fantastic round with how tired both men are, Padilla is starting to **** me off)
Round 12: 10-9 Duran (Good round for Duran, Ray landed the best shot of the round)
Round 13: 10-9 Leonard (Holy **** what a round, Leonard was losing most of it, dug down so deep, what a fight)
Round 14: 10-9 Duran (could go either way, Ray fought tooth & nail, but Duran hurt Ray)
Round 15: 10-9 Leonard (Duran hardly fought)

My Score: 143-142 Duran

Official Scores: (146-144 Duran) (148-147 Leonard) (145-144 Leonard)
Winner: By Unanimous Decision to win the Welterweight Championship of the World, Roberto Duran.

The pride and machismo of Leonard cost him this fight. I can't figure out what Angelo was telling Ray in the corner between rounds. You would think Dundee would be telling Ray "it ain't working kid!" "time to get on the move and pop that jab!" after the 4th round when they were down 3-1. No way Angelo believed they were winning the fight at that point, tough lesson to learn for the young phenom. Even though I scored it for Duran today, this fight was in no way a convincing or clear win for Roberto imo. The 14th was so close you can easily say Ray won it and then it's 143-142 Leonard, but great fight better than I remember either way and I watch it every couple years. Not a smart gameplan by Leonard, and it cost him. Of course we all know what happens in the rematch.

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I scored this fight again a little over a year ago, this was my score. It's the first time in all my times scoring this match that I scored it for Duran. I'll edit this post with my new score.

Round 1: 10-9 Leonard
Round 2: 10-9 Duran
Round 3: 10-9 Duran
Round 4: 10-9 Duran
Round 5: 10-9 Leonard
Round 6: 10-9 Leonard
Round 7: 10-9 Leonard
Round 8: 10-9 Duran
Round 9: 10-9 Duran
Round 10: 10-9 Duran
Round 11: 10-9 Duran
Round 12: 10-9 Duran
Round 13: 10-9 Duran
Round 14: 10-9 Leonard
Round 15: 10-9 Leonard

My Score: (144-141 Duran)

 

interesting scenario. I like things like this. What ifs. One or two fights different in many fighters careers and there would be a different story. Take out one of the fab 4 and how would the fab 3 be. Each one of the fab 4 was needed to make it. That is what is interesting. You cannot eliminate any of them or you have a completely different era. Or put a great fighter into another era. Sonny Liston in 1986. Larry Holmes today. I don't think you could have a SRR today though. How would a guy have that many fights in today's boxing. Jake Lamotta in today's middleweight? Vs. GGG?

 

Oh geez, that was a complete oversight on my part. Clear round for Leonard

I actually scored it for Leonard on my card now that I look but wrote down Duran here. Thanks for catching that for me.

 

Agree. Leonard had his Moments but the majority was putting his head down and throwing flurry arm punches on the inside. The older I get and more I understand boxing duran becomes more and more impressive to me

 

Did a full commentary of the brawl on youtube.

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Will give it a listen mate