The Myth About Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran

He did admit it was his intent to get Duran in a situation where he would have to sweat off q busload of weight.

 

The rematch wasn't signed on June 21st. Ray Leonard initially retired. Leonard has acknowledged he knew about Duran's weight fluctuations. It's no mystery. It was also Duran's fault for partying to that degree. He was a professional and he is responsible for his performance.

When it comes to Duran quitting the way he did its a legitimate reason why he stopped fighting. He wasn't getting hit much, that's why many have been baffled about why he said No Mas.

A physically healthy Duran could face Leonard 100 times and he would not be stopped once. With that said Ray came into New Orleans smarter, determined, in peak condition. The best version of Duran would of had alot of trouble with Ray in New Orleans.

The bottom line is Duran f..ked up Leonard did what he was supposed to do Ray won the fight. Anyone who tells me they can't see a difference in Duran from Montreal to New Orleans must be getting their cocaine from the same guy Ray got his from.
It bothers Leonard that he never beat the man at his best today more than No Mas haunts Duran.

 

Fair enough. I only believe the Montreal version of Duran would have a chance of beating Leonard who as I said before was younger, naturally bigger, and one of the best welters of all time. Duran was a lesser version in the rematch and Ray was better in the rematch at least partly because he gained experience from the first fight. The expected result happened - Leonard won.

 

I never understood excuses in boxing as far as anyone accepting them. Especially from a man as great as Duran who knew boxing. Making an excuse does not matter much, and I am sure other guys can make excuses also as Ray has one for Duran 1. Hearns has one for Leonard one. Hearns said something about his legs being weak for Hagler. Leonard in Hearns 2 said he was not there mentally.. When do we believe the excuse or not? It always comes with a loss. I think Ray had that greatness to apply movement and make Duran deal with his speed, and he did.. Ray found ways to beat Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler. He was great, but he was a manipulator but that helped him, and he learned from Duran. Yet he was the most versatile fighter of the fab 4 or 5 if we count Benitez probably since he beat them all. Too bad he couldn't keep fighting and fight Pryor and Curry and Hagler and maybe even fight McCallum, but I think those 4 greats he fought took it out of him mentally and that is what he had. Obviously it took a lot to beat all those guys. He needed a few years to get the motivation and mentality to fight Hagler.

 

I think you've had the cart ahead of the horse the whole thread CT.

I don't recall Leonard thrusting forth any such excuses. As a matter of fact i believe his reaction for some time after the fight was that he thought he won.

Angelo Dundee was the one running around saying Leonard fought to Duran's strengths.

I believe the info on Duran's shenanigans came from one of my previous posts. Bob Arum was the one that alerted us to them.It was many years later that Ray started to talk about playing into Duran's hands.

Bob Arum promoted the “Brawl in Montreal,” which took macho barbs to unheard of heights. Duran abused Leonard psychologically at the time, and Leonard couldn’t handle it. Duran wanted a war, and was willing to go to any degree to make sure he got his war.

Leonard played right into his hands.

Some years later, Angelo Dundee, Leonard’s Hall of Fame trainer, would say, “Leonard got out-psyched.”

Duran knew how to do it.

As the story goes, Duran would see Leonard and his then-wife, Juanita, out in public walking on the streets in Montreal leading up to the fight and yell at Juanita, “I kill your husband. I kill your husband.”

But Arum tells another story.

“It went beyond that,” the Hall of Fame promoter recently recalled. “The papers and the magazines, the media covering the fight watered that down a little. Duran had psychologically out-psyched Leonard. They were in two different hotels in Montreal and Duran had a spy who watched Juanita each time she left the hotel.

“Duran would get a call to hurry to a car that was waiting. He would have the car drive up next to Juanita and say things like, ‘I f— you after I beat your husband.’ That drove Leonard crazy. Leonard knew to beat Duran was to out box him. That fight became a slugfest, and you don’t really want to do that with a Roberto Duran.

“That caused Leonard to lose that fight. That just drove Ray crazy. It’s why he fought Duran the way he did during their first fight. Ray had to box to win that fight, and he knew it. And that’s what he did in the rematch and their third fight. But Duran, he just had a way of getting under his opponent’s skin. He’d do things that really pissed off guys.

“Ask Ray, he’ll tell you.”

 

Yet no one says ‘Roberto should have wanted to beat Leonard fighting his best style, he should know that it cheapens his win to goad Leonard into fighting Duran’s fight on his terms rather than to try to solve Ray using his best tactics,’ lol.

 

I don’t think I realized how close this fight actually was on the cards. If Duran had actually been in real shape, could he have still won given the changes in style Leonard made?

 

It was similar to Liston—Ali but with less action. The fans got robbed in each fight and both were competitive.

 

Very true. I've also admired Duran for years but,as you say,he has no one else to blame.

 

Leonard has always had a keen eye for catching rivals at just the right time so it wouldnt surprise me.

I'm sure it's no coincidence

nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ray humiliate Duran in front of all his fans and sending him home with a bag over his head

In fact, I think I'll go watch it again

 

I agree with everyone that said Duran was at fault if he wasn't in top shape. It's also his fault if he was in top shape. Either way, Ray was going to win that fight.

I think Duran quit because Ray was making him look foolish, not because he was out of shape or scared to lose or anything else. I always sort of equate it to Tyson biting Holy's ear - both guys were looking for a way out, and that ring was the last place on earth they wanted to be.

 

Both Duran and Leonard were feeling 7 Up.

 

I am the same.

 

You honestly think Duran would celebrate the same, eat the same, drink the same, party the same after beating Wellington as he did after beating THE Sugar Ray Leonard?