How big of a deal was Leonard-Duran III?

I can remember thinking this was silly at the time. Because i was a real folower of boxing i think in the grand sceme of things real boxing folk were in the minority since both were mainstream names bigger than the real title holders of the day. sure duran beat barkley but there was a sence that this was some kind of one off throw back result, duran was a wild card at the time you just couldnt bet on him regardless of what he had been. roberto only won by SD against iran and it was experience that won him that fight anyway.
at the time i remember thinking that both had taken time out and were basicly relaunching themselves in another era without paying their dues. it was like both hoodwinked a champion each to get titles then met in some nostalgic showdown that played no part in the curent sceme of things. it would be like robinson and turpin duking it in the 1960's at a new weight division.

 

I remember it well. That performance against Barkley had the boxing world all abuzz and several insiders were choosing Duran based on Leonard-Hearns II. Many felt that he had been burning for a decade trying to get revenge and now he was surging up again for his third comeback.

No one seemed to notice his legs of stone.

 

If I remember rightly this fight opened up The Mirage, so Steve Wynn sold the fight big. But you could sense something was wrong because Duran was joking with Leonard, and this was picked up at the time.

Plus Duran looked soft come fight time.

 

I can remember it receiving a fair amount of attention, and at the age of 15, my friends and I were very interested in seeing the match.. The bout didn't quite live up to the hype, but both men were in great shape and sported a reasonable performance... I'll never forget that one uppercut that Leonard landed, and how the crowd went wild... After the fight, one of the commentators mentioned that, that shot could have very easily ended the fight...But it didn't.... Duran was later interviewed and said in his native language, which was translated, " Ray Leonard is not a man who will retire Roberto Duran.." He was right...

 

It was a GREAT deal prior to the bout.......... BUT!!! The event fizzled.......... Duran looked cautious and Leonard was unwilling to engage.......... A pissy PPV for 1989....

MR.BILLatsch:roll:

 

This was a SUPERFIGHT & the biggest load of crap ever, i should know as i was there & weighed in $800 towards leonards swag bag. Everything was promised & ****-all delivered.

It was'nt Leonards uppercut, Both threw huge righthands in the 11th & Duran's split Leonards eye open, Gil Clancy said if it had landed a few inches lower we'd have a new champion tonight.

It was the only time that Leonard actually engaged during the whole fight & that was down to the fact that the crowd were all screaming BULL**** BULL**** & all the high rollers & celebs were walking out thus prompting Leonard to quit his safety first antics & seeing that he'd promised a war during all the promo build up. I've unfinished biz with Duran (Mean scowl from Leonard) I'll not run, i'll be right there in his face. After that puch splt his eye open leonard just went into warp speed reverse & duran just trundled after him. Leonard was finished in Vegas after this grab the money & run fiasco.

 

Duran was far over-the-hill when he met Leonard in 1989. It was really no big deal. Astounding is that Duran was still fighting successfully on the world class level at that very advanced stage of his career. Basically, any of Duran's successes after 1980 are just additional evidence of how great Duran was when he was in his prime (1973 - 1978 ).

Not many people realize that when Duran won his biggest victory of all -- defeating SRL in 1980 -- Duran was already past his peak. That tells us just how high the prime Duran must rate on the all-time great, pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch ratings.

 

In recent years this fight is diminished by Duran fans, but at the time Ray just came off of taking a beating from Hearns in the rematch where he was knocked down 2 times and Duran had just come from the war with Iran Barkley and winning the middleweight title at 37 years old. So people gave Duran a chance Ray was 33 and Duran 38 at fighttime, not exactly really old guys-Duran was the age of Mosley now and Ray same as Floyd, but after Ray outboxed Duran and won every round, Duran fans backed off and said what does this mean? But at the time I think it proved that the rematch in 1980 was no fluke. Once Ray moved and fought his fight he would beat Duran 10/10 times. It was significant stylistically.

 

That pretty much sums it up. Both unwilling to really engage in the third fight as they did so in the first. The first fight is so much better than the third.

 

Another pure BULL**** post from you MAG,

Your sweetheart ran like the ****in dog he is & fled into the night with Steve Wynn's millions of $$$$$$ & the BOO'S ringing in his ears.

He never fought in Vegas again as no casino would ever shell out the big $$$$$$$$$$ again to be ripped off by your hero. Hence he had to go to MSG & when he did he had his arse handed to him by Norris in front off a crowd of 4/5000. Everybody was wise too Leonard after that Mirage con-job

 

Ray only fought two more times after Duran so he really didn't have the chance to fight in Vegas after that. Norris in 91 at MSG and then Camacho, where he fought Camacho in 1997 or 1998 I forget where that was. Ray didn't just run he effectively outboxed Duran and at one point landed a tremendous right hand punch with Duran took very well. In a way it is a good thing that Ray had a tough fight with Hearns previous to Duran in 1989, since that convinced Ray to fight his fight. Had he somehow been able to knockout Hearns, he would have gone into the Duran fight thinking he was this big puncher and that is what Duran likes. A guy who fights with him and gives him the range. Ray didn't do that and won easily. But before that fight people gave Duran a chance to win. I didn't. I thought Ray would use the ring and outbox in a 12 round decision.

 

I wanted a Leonard-Nunn fight. Have no idea why it never came off. Two speedsters, not to mention arrogant speedsters

Well, that arrogance would come off of Leonard once he was on the recieving end of a Terry Norris left hook. Terry ruined Ray and then my OTHER favorite fighter-Camacho came in to clean up on the leftovers

Who says boxing is dead?

 

Norris did a number on Ray regardless of excuse. The Camacho fight didn't matter, it seems like Terry really beat up Ray where anyone would have beaten Ray the night Camacho did 6 years later. Ray did not deserve to beat anyone in 1997 when he fought Camacho. This was 1997 and he had not had one win in the 1990's, only a onesided beaten to Norris over 6 years before. His last win was 8 years or so before Camacho.
As far as Nunn/Leonard in 1989. Ray didn't want it. He wanted to fight the guys he knew like Hearns and Duran. I think he figured a loss to Duran or Hearns wouldn't matter since he beat both of them before, so losing to them was just like a tradeoff, and they were his contemporaries. But if he lost to Nunn it would have proved much more. He couldn't take that chance.

Also he knew the style of Duran and Hearns and knew what to expect from them and that helped him in those fights. Nunn would have been a guy he never fought before who was fast and prime. After Leonard fought Hearns in the rematch and Duran in the rubbermatch, no many in boxing productions wanted to see him fight his old buddies from the 80's again. HBO didn't want Hearns/Leonard 3 since they said he already fought him and what would it prove?? Merchant directly asked him about Nunn after the Duran fight and said no one wants to see you fight Hearns a 3rd time but why not a young guy like Michael Nunn, which got Ray upset and said Michael Nunn is not known yet or something like that. I think that ended a match with Hearns sort of. HBO didn't want it.

So Leonard moved on and in 1991 fought Norris and lost at 154, and Hearns fought Virgil Hill and won in 1991.

 

One of the fights that turned me off boxing for quite a while.

Everyone wanted to see this fight 10 years earlier.