Why do some of you belittle Duran for losses past his prime to Hearns and others while yoiu excuse Leonard's losses to Norris and Camacho.
I have asked this before. I have especially tried to point this out to Mag. I tried to tell him that in his 30s Leonard didn't win one round against a very good younger fighter in Norris. Yet he bashes Duran in his 30s for losing to all time greats. You should hear his response. Its more of the same. He says that Leonard lost his speed in his 30s. When i tried to point out that film obviously shows that Duran also lost his speed, Mag starts spinning.
We don't excuse anything. Its just Duran's humiliating losses cannot be accepted by his fans, they are mentally or emotionally incapable of admitting his defeat without making up several excuses which to them are deemed valid. Or they get really defensive and attempt to belittle another boxer to take the heat off Duran being questioned.
Duran beat Leonard past his prime and at age 29 plus he's the only one out of the other three kings to beat Leonard(on paper because Tommy did too but got robbed). I'm a fan of Hearns, Leonard, Duran and Hagler and make no excuses for them.(I'm a Norris fan too lol) BTW Hagler is my fav but I've always thought Leonard beat him & Leonard was on point in the rematch against Duran and even if Duran didn't quit SRL would've won anyways. Leonard showed alot of heart to comeback and stop Tommy in a stoppage I still think was legit.
This is getting very boring. The classic has been a joke over the past week. Let's talk about something else.
This is simple. Duran was a champion at 154 when he fought Hearns. Leonard had not been champ for almost 10 years when he fought Camacho and had not had a win in 8 years or a fight in 7. Duran and Hearns fought a unification which was not for Duran's belt. Duran then won a title from Barkley 5 years after he lost to Hearns and he fought 35 times and 17 years after he fought Hearns, Camacho was Leonard's last fight. Also, Duran never knocked out a great fighter. That is fact.