Leonard - Duran 1 - 40 years on.

That is one hell of an article and it 100% concentrates on one of the hottest topics in classics history. He guts it to the nth degree as well which is just brilliant.

I'm shocked i haven't seen this. If he did a story on the rematch and concentrated on Duran's supposed poundage et al i would be in heaven.

 

Glad I read that.

It does concur with my own thoughts on the familiar slogans, repeated whenever the question of how Duran won that bout are raised.

One need only watch the first round to see that Leonard is indeed out-fighting, using lateral evasive movement, using the ring on the defensive and attempting to control the distance - but Duran just closed it; cut off the options and proceeded to continue with that approach for the rest of the bout.

Duran made it his fight.

 

I actually scored it for Leonard when I watched it, but it was by literally one round. The fight could've gone either way

 

Mouth-watering fight. They don't make them like this anymore. And I think Leonard did better than he was given credit for.

 

Was alcohol involved?

 

No, but weed was

 

Must have been.

 

How did you score it?

 

@Nosferatu It was a very close fight people often say Duran beat up Leonard but that's not the case. Leonard cameback in the middle rounds, and also fought on even terms with Duran in the later rounds.

I had it 8-7 for Duran I'll try and find my scorecard so you can compare it with yours.

 

I had it 7-7 going into round 15 and I thought Leonard edged that round.

 

An excellent candidate for the fight of the 80s. Very close exciting fight.

 

NOT a close fight. Here's why. The live UPI report after round ten stated accurately that Duran won NINE of the first ten rounds. Roberto confidently announced that to his corner after the tenth round. The scorecards proved him correct. (Similar scoring took place during Holmes-Norton. After round ten, Arthur Mercante stated that Ken would have to knock out Larry to win. Mercante was also right.)

SRL's late rally was meaningless after round ten, because he needed to knock Duran out, and nobody could do that on that night. Duran was invincible when in prime condition. Hearns would have been knocked out by Duran in a 1980 WW unification, but Duran tanked in New Orleans after getting paid a tax free eight million.

When you clinch the scoring after eight, nine or ten rounds, then it goes the distance (without knockdowns by the trailing competitor on points scoring), is it really a close fight? (Then Duran also won rounds 11 and 12.)

Mind games. Carlos Palomino entered against Duran prepared to hate him and go to war. Then, Duran screwed Carlos completely up by being friendly, shaking his hand, and asking for Palomino's autograph for his own son. Carlos was completely disarmed. Palomino's weigh in shows Duran beaming broadly with a beverage in his hand. Duran had fun in that one, being the only one aside from Armando Muniz to ever score a KD on Carlos. Then, he'd feint a flinching Palomino into knots, then step back with a wolfish grin.

Ray's trainer Janks Morton did not believe SRL would have any chance of beating Montreal Duran in New Orleans, and I agree. But that's not the Duran who showed up in NOLA. Still, it was anybody's fight on the cards when Duran quit. No matter how good Ray got and no matter what his tactics, he's never beating the Duran of Montreal.

For me, Montreal and Hagler establish Duran forever as the P4P best since Ray Robinson (especially since the Championship Distance no longer exists). Duran was beating a peak Hagler after 13 rounds. Over the modern 12 round limit, Duran would have dethroned MMH. Plus, Roberto was far better over those 13 rounds than SRL later was with a vastly slowed and diminished Hagler at the end of Marv's career.

Duran atoned for Hearns with his win over Barkley, between Iran's wins over Hearns, who Barkley had flattened in three immediately before taking on Roberto.

For the rubber match between Leonard and Duran, Ray was winning when El Cholo ripped open that Wepnerian 60 stitch gash over SRL's left eye with a perfect right at the end of round 11. Over the Championship Distance, Leonard might've been stopped on cuts.

DeJesus III was probably Duran's own peak performance, forever establishing the LW holy trinity of Joe Gans, Benny Leonard and himself.

 

Double post.

 

Anubis summed it up totally. No matter how many times I score the fight I cannot give Duran less than 10 rounds. Watch the film at the end of the fight as the scorecards were about to be read Leonard knew he had lost. I agree with basically everything Anubis wrote.