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

While we disagree on how much that punch in round 2 kept his head in the clouds as he said, but his punch output certainly took a dip for 2 rounds after that punch. That's neither here nor there, but you said one paragraph which I do agree with and had also been saying previously. I think that punch in round 2 shook his confidence in there. He likely hadn't been hurt that bad as a pro, and likely as we gathered by their pre-fight comments, weren't really worried about his power. Once he got hurt, that did get him a little scared and made him react to feints for the entire fight after. Also, if you get a little scared during a fight, sometimes that can manifest itself in different ways. Sometimes you might run more and try and avoid exchanges. Other times it makes you go into dog fight mode and aren't really trying to come up with a new strat mid fight... you're trying to survive. Who's to say, but I agree with your theory that the punch, whether it affected him as much as he said, it certainly messed with his confidence level from there on.

 

Agree, I thought all the even rounds were a bit odd. I also have SRL winning round 1. Close, and not a lot happens but if I gave it to somebody it would be SRL.

 

Exactly how it see this fight. It was more competitive than it was razor close.

 

Interesting? I gave the 5th to Leonard. I also felt it was the first round that he seemed to settle in. Perhaps that factored in to my scoring, but not sure. 2 of the 3 judges also scored 5 even with the 3rd to Leonard. I think I gave 5-7 to Leonard without scrolling up and had it even after 7, before I felt Duran reasserted himself taking control before kind of coasting the final 2-3?rounds. I never felt like there was a point where he was not in control of this fight.

 

Well, after being knocked down twice with left hooks in the first, being beaten severely about the body and head for 4 rds, Duran begins to comeback. He hurts Cuevas in the 5th and the fight is a savage give and take affair until Duran hurts Pipino and finishes him off in the tenth. The fight was so raw and feral both retire after. Duran has secured his spot on boxing's Olympus and Cuevas covered himself in glory defending his title 14 times successfully with 13 KOs.
Meanwhile, Leonard moves up after the Duran loss and beats KALULE for the 154 pnd title. Benitez beats Hope and in a unification fight Benitez trains hard this time and wins a unanimous decision. Leonard immediately retires from boxing and never returns.
Meanwhile back in Detroit, Hearns, after being crushed in 2 by Pipino the TERROR, moves up to full middleweight. He beats Singletary and Scypion by decision but his power is oddly low. In a brutal fight for the USBA MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, he is beaten up and stopped in 7 by rampaging left-hander Frank "The Animal" Fletcher. Hearns tries to rebound against Hamsho but is beaten by 10 rd decision.
As Hearns slides into a journeyman role, Emmanuel Stewart, never one to hand around a losing fighter kicks him out of Kronk. Tommy's life is now a series of fights in which he trains infrequently. Wins some, loses some. His personal life is even worse as he has gotten pregnant the sister of his new friend White Boy Rick. Tommy, addicted to crack, becomes White Boy RICKS enforcer. When Rick is busted, "Hit man" Hearns falls with him and both are now serving life sentences.
Meanwhile, without the famous welters to fight, Marv Marv Hagler in 84 rises to challenge MICHAEL SPINKS. The Spinks Jinx is heard and Hagler is 1 punch KO'd in the 3rd round.
38 years later, a new boxing book comes out called "Four Kings: The Junior-Lightweight division and Its 4 Titlists Limon, Chacon, Navarratte and BOZA-Edwards."

 

Not sure about this post, but this book certainly needs to be written!

 

Edit: my post disappeared oh well. Interesting take on Duran’s mid range work and I would agree. The thing that stood out to me was, Duran’s feint. SRL froze and flinched every time early even prior to getting caught in rd 2. He did seem to adapt to it later in the fight, where it would still freeze Leonard but not necessarily making him flinch or back off like earlier.

 

I had half the fight scored even. In that bout there wasnt that much clean punching. The clean punches that landed were mostly Duran's. Leonard was missing so much from point blank range. The effect of the punches was no contest. Duran was hurting him. Ray had a great chin and he needed all of it.

Duran 6 to Leonard 3. 6 even. It was a rough fight. The infighting was quality when Ray wasnt holding on.

 

Effective agression
Defense
Clean punching
Ring Generalship
Damage done

Duran swept every category. Leonard won respect and showed who he was inside.

Red Smith said the "The Boy became a man and the man became a legend."

 

6 even rounds! That seemed to be the theme in this fight with the judges as well (4-5-10). I only scored one but I can see how some were very close.

 

There was alot of wrestling and mauling. It is uncommon to have 6 in one fight but this one did.

 

Hi fellas, I watched the fight on my old VHS for a bit of a nostalgia trip yesterday and I had Duran winning by 9 rounds to 6 but I could have scored it 8-6 with one even.

Its one of those fights that really shows the weaknesses in the ten point must system as I believe Duran won more clear rounds than Leonard but as the rules say each round is scored 10-9 even if one is super close while another is a clear winning round.

My Dad's best mate who was UK amateur lightweight champion and a guy who had about 10 pro fights here in Australia actually thought Leonard won the fight ( then again Dad's mate was a bit biased as he related to stand up boxers with good jabs like Sugar Ray ).

I still think you are underestimating how hurt Leonard was in round two Kev. His legs were rubberised and he was in the dream room. From personal experience sparring I can state ( not that I am Sugar Ray Leonard hahaha ) that it takes a good ten minutes to start to feel normal again after being buzzed like that.

Good thread n nice to review an old classic from my youth, I was a fourteen year old Duran fanatic n watched the fight live on Aussie network television.

Cheers All.

 

After that hook by Duran Ray started to flinch on every feint Roberto offered. He didn't get himself together till about rd 5. That was the 1st round I gave Leonard.