If Duran had remained at welter

The correct prounounciation of his name in his native panamanian barrio is hobaihtoe dooran.

 

Agree.

 

His trainers said he could still make Lightweight but wouldn't work at it.

 

Duran fought Leonard on June 20. Two-and-a-half months later, he acknowledged the Nov. 25 date -- basically about halfway between the first and second fight he confirmed the date of the rematch.

That means he had basically as much time to lose the weight as he took to gain it, however much weight that actually was (if he gained 40 pounds between June 20 and Sept. 10, that's an enormous level of gluttony).

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19800911&id=GVtOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wu4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5800,4215626&hl=en

I'd have to say Duran has been since the first moment I saw him in a ring my favorite fighter of all time. But if they made the rematch for January or March, he's probably have partied up until the moment he had to get back in the gym. Maybe he'd be draining down from 200 pounds instead of 180, which would have made it worse.

He simply lacked the discipline to rededicate himself.

 

Good post.

I laugh when I still read excuses like Leonard's "head games" made Duran fight a rematch too quickly and thus Duran was unprepared.

For example, Frankie Randall had to fight a rematch against JC Chavez 3 months and one week after the first fight, and he performed just as well.

Nobody was saying, "Poor Frankie, look how fast they made him get back in the ring against Chavez."

 

This "Duran forced into a rematch to soon" has become canon because people don't want to accept the result.

Duran fought turnaround fights quite often. In fact, much like Mike Tyson you can read accounts of Duran's inner circle that say they needed to always try to get him back in the ring as quickly as possible because of his tendency to blow up between fights -- yet in this case it's "he needs more time because he gains weight between fights."

But no one seems to dispute this fact -- Leonard was in Hawaii like a week after the first fight and started running on the beach and studying the film and called his guy Mike Trainer and said "I want the rematch. Make it happen ASAP." No way the rematch could have been put together so quickly if Trainer took that call and said, "I think I'll wait a couple months so Duran gets fat." The FACT is, negotiations started before Duran could have gained significant weight. HE chose not to stay in shape, he could have stopped partying after a few weeks and gotten back in the gym as he obviously knew the rematch was being discussed (he even confirmed the Nov. 25 fight was going to happen in September and SAYS HE HAS ALREADY BEGUN TRAINING -- his words).

So 82 days have elapsed between Fight 1 and Duran saying he is already in training for a Nov. 25 rematch. That leaves him 76 days until Fight 2 takes place.

So he had as much time to get ready for the rematch as he did to get fat and happy after the first fight. And he had to know it was coming as negotiations had to begin before that.

 

Excellent post.

 

He was just too inconsistent at that time to put together a dominant run. A Kirkland Laing would have shown up anyhow. Since he was practically a WW (he weighed in at 149,5 without having to make 147) he quite possibly could have, just as in real life.

If Duran had gotten a fight with Benitez and/or Hearns at 147, it would likely have ended more or less the same.

 

When you win the biggest fight of your career and beat Boxing's premier star, you celebrate a bit harder.

 

If Roberto stayed at welterweight, eventually Hearns, McCrory, or Curry would've gotten him. Maybe Starling.

 

To the Duran fans. Roberto was very well trained and focused for the Montreal fight. He was the underdog and undersized and he took it to Ray and won. His lack of discipline cost him the rematch because he was greedy and excessive after the first fight. He has no one to blame but himself.

To the Leonard fans. Your guy had one shot at a prime Duran and he got his ass kicked throughly. Ray won the rematch, but everybody knows Duran was fat and never the same.

That sums that up.

 

So crafty knowing Duran wouldn't train in the 6 months he had to prepare.

 

If he stayed around welterweight, then he could have had fights with Pryor, Arguello, Mancini, Curry, Starling, McCallum, Mugabi, and Julian Jackson. He possibly could have fought young JCC, or Whitaker. Probably as much opportunity to build his name off of that crew as he did by moving up like he did.

 

Did Randall have a history of eating himself out of shape between fights because Duran did?

 

What previous history, before New Orleans, did he have?