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

@KuRuPT and @ETM - have you guys actually put up your cards with a round by round? I've done 10 rounds so far and will be keen to see your cards against others in here. I have Duran up by 2 and one round i was leaning to SRL for i put up as even as i wasn't comfortable with where y card was going.

This fight as JC40 said is a great example of the weaknesses of the 10 point must system. Duran has won a couple of rounds big and they are counting the same as a couple SRL had to fight his heart out to edge. I have Duran up by 2 after 10. It's a closer fight in scoring than it is overall if you get my drift.

 

Ok i've got thru the lot. I had to go back and rewatch round 10.

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

Duran 145-144 Leonard

I'm surprised how close this ended up. The feeling was always a comfortable Duran win but when you dig deeper via the scoring means the fight is absolutely close and Duran winning is of course fair imo - he was the better man overall. I can see now why the judges had it reasonably tight.

Footnotes

There is not a chance on mother earth that Duran took it easy in rounds 13 and 14. Leonard came at him HARD in 13 and landed some of his best blows of the fight. He came at Duran with bad intentions. Duran had to go hard at various stages to fend him off somewhat.

I would go so far as to argue Duran didn't switch off at all until the last minute of the fight. I think he was tired and Leonard, somewhat shockingly considering the heavy body blows he had absorbed was coming on in a desperate bid to hold onto his title. The way he dug deep was very very impressive. He started to land a few more clean blows late in the fight.

Duran is a defensive marvel. His anticipation is surreal.

Leonard for all the glitter is as tough as basically anyone. He went balls to the wall and then some.

This fight is grueling.

Technically i would love to see Leonard loop less right hands.

The announcers were ATROCIOUS. They swung like the wind in the early rounds and had no idea. Every time someone was hit solid they assumed they were hurt. They were barely ever right. They'd call someone hurt then boom they'd come back throwing bombs.

Great fight.

Addition - the chins on these two guys are awesome. Duran did stun Leonard a couple of times but he easily survived against one of boxing's great finishers. Leonard did indeed land a few absolute bombs across the course of the fight and Duran barely reacted at all.

A lot of guys would have been taken out by these two on this night.

 

I thought Duran won by 3 points

 

Which is perfectly valid and common. I expected to have about that gap between them tbh.

 

@Unforgiven - keen to see how you score this mate. You definitely haven't got a boot in either camp!!!

 

People are giving this fight to SRL? Hahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha
Bwahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahhahahahahhahaahhahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahhaahhahahahhahahahhaha
People are saying Duran edged it by one point. LoL
hahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahaaaaahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahah

 

The point is that the 10 point must system makes the fight closer on the scorecards than the overall impression of who was winning the fight. I had Duran by 4 points but a one point fight or a draw is also perfectly possible, even if you feel that Duran was winning overall.

 

I know, was just clowning. Last time I watched I had it 9-6.

 

I still think you were right the first time. A 1-4 pt Duran win...anything else and...well you almost have to be trying to score it for someone??? Probably also scored SRL vs Hagler a 6-8 pt SRL win

 

I also scored a couple of close rounds In SRL’s direction TBF...but I am not fond of cards that score 5-6 pt Duran wins any more than I am of draw/SRL cards. I just feel you would almost have to try to give every close round to one of them either way to reach those verdicts. Is it possible I guess? This is partly why I don’t score Philly fighters publicly or argue them because I assume in some cases my biases come to into play as well.

 

From what I recall, Duran swept most of the first ten.

 

Hahahahahahahahaha look forward to your round by round card.

 

I get where you're coming from, in that Duran won more round clearly than Leonard did. But there were at least couple of rounds that Leonard did win outright and a whole bunch of rounds that while razor close, could certainly have been scored for SRL without much issue. Personally, I think Leonard isn't credited enough for his ability to elude a lot of Duran's shots and then fire back with effective shots of his own. Either way, we agree that this was hardly the Duran domination it's made out to be by some posters.

 

Which round were you leaning Leonard, JT?