Leonard vs. Duran--Under Perfect Conditions

All right then! For you, SRL it is!

 

Leonard of New Orleans beats the Duran of Montreal.

 

NO one would have beaten the Duran of Montreal. He was a long time Champion & felt slighted that the young Champion was the superstar. He was at the top of his game and was like a madman possesed. There was no way he was going to be denied that night.

 

Ray would pull off a majority 15 round decision, Shame Duran didn't come into shape for the second fight.

 

For Ray, the "perfect" condition always would have been a rematch, not a first time encounter. As I pointed out when this thread was created over three years ago, SRL reasonably expected that he could hurt Duran after the lethal knockout of Green. By the time he discovered otherwise, he was in the same situation Tunney was in during his opening loss to Greb, figuring out how to defeat his conqueror in a rematch.

Randy Shields claimed that Ray telegraphed his punches, but most fighters are not as defensively skilled as he. Benitez did frustrate him and make him miss often though, then Duran lent further credence to Randy's claims, making SRL miss even more in Montreal. (This is a key difference in why Hearns was able to hurt him where Ray never could. Roberto always saw SRL's punches coming, but not Tommy's.) El Cholo's early stunner proved decisive in the final scoring. Going into New Orleans, Ray knew to respect Duran's power in a way he may not have in Canada.

A pure, true peak for peak pairing was never possible, but for whatever it's worth, I do take the 26 year old Duran of DeJesus III over the 25 year old SRL of Finch via UD in a first time bout on neutral turf. (It must be acknowledged that Ray's detached retina and original retirement deprived us of learning how good he might have ultimately become. Had he remained in continual action, he may have peaked in 1983.)

 

Leonard would win a close but clear unanimous decision.

There were very, very few more complete & skilled fighters than Roberto Duran at his best in boxing history but Sugar Ray Leonard at his best may very well be one of them.
Ray did far, far better in the 1st fight than Duran did in the 2nd fight & thats the versions Id be using because I truly believe that that was the very best of both men.
The movement & speed - particularly the lateral movement - would frustrate Duran, not to the point of quitting but to the point of lunging forward, getting countered & flurried on, I see a 9-6 job in SRLs favour with Ray finishing the stronger in the last 3 rds.

I expect Duran to win the voting tho.

 

Leonard, every time.

 

No he is not.... & even if you believe Duran is a `better` fighter (as opposed to `greater`) then there is definitely nothing simply about it.

 

The best Ive EVER seen Duran is Leonard I, Palomino & Dejesus III, two of those were at WW & the Dejesus fight was Duran`s very last at LW as he couldnt make the weight anymore... he had more than enough fights at WW to become a full 147 lber by the time he fought Leonard.

A WW fight using the Montreal Duran & the New Orleans Leonard is no doubt about it, the best of both men... no need for 140 lbs in this one IMO.

 

Leonard had the perfect game plan in the first fight.....he was trying to win.

Second fight Duran only down 1-2 points when Roberto bailed out.

Best Duran beats best SRL at 147 lbs.

 

Now I take the best version of Duran (Montreal) to win anytime. He was too fired up.

 

Didn't one judge in Montreal have it 145-144 for Duran with like 10 rounds or so even? Leonard seemed to be coming on late but perhaps Duran knew he had put a lot of earlier rounds in the bank.

 

Several here has said that the first fight always is the most significant, but I don't agree. I think the second (and possible subsequent ones) shows which fighter is able to adapt the best.

You will always run the risk of having the wrong gameplan and/or mindset when meeting someone the first time. It's the subsequent fights that shows if the other guy has your number, or if it was a one off - that you can adapt and show that your qualities are superior to the opponent's.

For example, if Holyfield had managed to box his way to a decision win in the rubber match against Bowe, it would have satisfied me that he had learned from the first fight and shown himself to probably have Bowe's number.

 

I agree with this. Duran was a force of nature in Montreal,and he'd win under this thread's scenario too.