and did this fight take something out of them. aged 24/25 leonard was a pro 3 years and 1o months removed from a great win over another great wilfred benitez duran was 28 and year removed from an amazing win over carlos palomino were he showed great defence and attack. he never had as much power at welter but he retained everything else and seemed improved in other areas i dont think you can say that duran was past it or leonard was still raw/inexperienced. though he did show naievity in fighting durans fight both were really close to there best. both were strong at the weight. this fight must have taken something out of them did the retina rob leonard of becoming a better boxer. i reckon the hard fights he had in 1979-1981 would of took something out of him and he would of lost a lot of hunger with all the money he had made
Both bang in their prime imo. The only thing it took out of them was Duran's self control. Physically Durans still had many great years ahead of him but from this point on he seemed rarely to give a ****.
The Cuevas, Duran, & Barkley fights Duran looked a lot like the lightweight Duran. But in other fights he was just going thru the motions. We will never know about the Hearns fight because it was over before the smaller man got inside. Benitez was just a better pure boxer, and the result not unsuspected.
Leonard was just about coming into his prime. The first Duran fight made him even better. The best we ever saw him,imo,was in the first Tommy Hearns fight one year later. Duran was in his prime during his final years as a lightweight. In the first Leonard fight,he was just a little over it. Still awesome though.
