Report: Duran in great shape the week before Leonard-Duran II

" Juan, Tendre otro " says Duran

 

One look at how Duran is built in the first fight. ( superbly conditioned and cut ) compared to second fight ( smooth body lacking the muscle tone of the first fight ) tells me a very different story.
The first fight represented a finely tuned physique brought on from months of hard training.
The second fight represented a physique that was more consumed with losing fat than building up to peak conditioning which is why he looked so much smoother and lacked the muscularity of the first fight.

 

I cant speak for Brown and Arcel. Might be some psychological warfare going on there because Leonard pressed for a quick rematch date knowing Duran was out partying. From what I've read thru the yrs since Duran spent this entire camp losing weight instead of training for a fight. That's the power 8 mil has over management. Mike Trainor was on Leonard's payroll for very good reason
Just look at how there built and how they start the fight and you can see the difference yourself

 

Or maybe it's just way simpler than that .. Maybe he just wanted to party and spend the money and didn't want to/care to properly prepare for the fight …. When this was brought up before, another poster, can't remember off hand said that he watched Duran in camp train and his opinion was that Duran looked like he really didn't even give a sh**. Take it for what it is but SRL does this whole BS smoke and mirrors 30 for 30 looking for the reason, when he already knew the answer and is why he was working on the rematch ASAP

 

Duran was actually suffering from a 2 month partying binge. He looked soft in the rematch.

 

As a relatively neutral and ignorant observer on the Duran/Leonard thing, my initial thoughts:

The guys who say Duran was out of shape will have to explain these articles. They've explained them as psychological warfare against Leonard. That makes a lot of sense, since Duran's trainers are not going to admit to the press that their fighter is a fat guy who's facing an uphill battle against Leonard.

The guys who say Duran was in shape would have to explain Duran's softer physique. This is important because it's a lot easier to lie to the press, than to fake your body composition. I'm very curious about theories on this.

Interesting thread so far.

 

I suppose one angle would be to explain Duran's physique differences between the fights as self-deception by fans, who already know the outcome, and see what they want to see.

That could be tested by taking footage from both fights, putting the TV on mute, and showing the footage to somebody who's never seen either fight. And then asking them whether Duran looks softer in one of them.

 

I dont why Duran's supporters can't except the fact that he lost the rematch . Harry Greb fought Gene Tunney five times and was able to beat him once . That's still a hell of an accomplishment. It's okay

 

I can't call to mind many examples of trainers systematically misleading reporters off the top of my head. I think Dundee was in the habit of telling the press all sorts of nonsense about Ali being in great shape during his later career. Emanuel Steward would talk up Klitschko a bit. Duva's weird display with Golota punching a heavy bag with shorts on always struck me as being for the cameras, but I'm not willing to stake much on that one.

However, I would almost expect trainers to lie to the press about their fighter's preparedness. This is a big money matchup, and it's the trainers' job to give their man a psychological edge over the opponent. It's also their job to promote the fight, or at least not interfere with the fight's promotion. We also know that fighters won't always be honest with their fans. (They're always in the best shape of their lives. They will make all sorts of excuses for their losses. etc.) Heck, the biggest question right now in the heavyweight division is whether Tyson Fury is scamming us about being ready for Wilder.

Given all that, I doubt that a trainer would tell a reporter, "Oh, yeah, Duran's a giant ball of lard right now. Leonard's gonna kill him. The fight's a joke, frankly -- all Leonard has to do is dance for a few rounds and Duran will quit. Boy, all those paying customers are in for a disappointing show..."

I exaggerate for effect. But you see my point.