The Myth-buster thread ***Duran-Leonard 1 WAS NOT CLOSE***

Naz - Barrera has been dusted now, so we move on.

Hands of Stone vs The Sugar Man

Many people, particulalrly Leonard fans, continually say this was a CLOSE FIGHT, and that Ray fought the WRONG fight. Bull**** on both accounts. Duran drew Leonard into a slugfest, brought the fight up close, and out worked Leonard throughout the fight. Ray wasnt given the chance to fight his fight, and was out-muscled by the lightweight. Duran landed the better, harder shots throughout, and won 10 round to 5 on my card (145-140). Here is my rbr breakdown:

Duran – Leonard rbr

Round 1 – Close round with Duran forcing the action. 1-0 Duran

Round 2 – Duran round, hurts Leonard midway through. Good body shots. 2-0 Duran

Round 3 –Leonard spends 2 of the 3 minutes with his back on the ropes, Duran punishing him on the inside. Ray isn’t boxing the wrong fight, Duran is imposing himself on Ray, pounding the body. 3-0

Round 4 – Ray keeps the distance better for 90 seconds before Duran hits whim with a bomb. works inside. Ray having slightly more success, but the harder punches are coming from Duran on the inside. Much closer round, but still Duran for me. 4-0

Round 5 – Much better work from Leonard. His best round as he outworks Roberto. 4-1

Round 6 – Leonard again not doing enough. The combinations lack the force, and the majority are blocked by Duran on the inside. A couple of good single shots from Ray are nullified by Roberto’s work up close. But i’m feeling generous, Ray nicks the round. 4-2

Round 7 – Two best shots of the round were both left hooks, both scored by Duran. Ray’s body shots are not having as much effect as Duran’s left to the body. Again, the classier work is from Duran. 5-2

Round 8 – Duran misses with a wild right, and what’s this, he does a little dance to Ray! Quiet first 2 and a half minutes with both fighters taking a breather before Duran explodes with a right, driving Ray back. More body work wins him the round. 6-2

Round 9 – Naughty from Duran. Leads with the head and catches ray on the ref’s blind side, clearly bothers ray. But again, Sugar is looking sour as Duran outworks him clearly to win another round. The 135lb man is out-muscling the large Welterweight. 7-2

Round 10 – Duran gets bored of out muscling Ray on the inside, so out-jabs him instead. Boom, big right from Duran, he forces his way inside and works the body. Anyone else see a pattern here? Every time Duran comes in Ray flinches rather than punches. Ray lands a few good shots at the end of the round, but the damage has already been done. 8-2

Round 11- Finally another round for Ray! An absolute peach of a shot catches Duran coming in. An uppercut follows. Good action on the inside, with Leonard definitely getting the better of it. He needs more. Much more. 8-3 Duran

Round 12 – Frustration! After a good previous round, Ray concedes the initiative and allows Duran to outwork him. A left-right-left combo from Duran is the best flurry of the round. The better work on the inside again allow duran to nick the round, and looks very confident going back to his corner. 9-3

It is interesting that after 12 rounds, Ray has been out muscled by the lightweight, and beaten up on the inside. Ray has only won 3 rounds on my card. In comparison, Naz Hamed won 4 rounds on my card against Barrera after 12 (with 1 even), and that is considered a schooling. Can the same be said for this fight?

Round 13 – BOOM, big left from Duran tags Leonard. BOOM, big right tags Leonard! BOOM, another right! Ray is certainly showing his chin, but he is now out and out slugging with Duran. And he is coming off second best. Duran looks as if he lands 80% of his punches in that round. Good flurry at the end of the round by Leonard, but that isn’t enough to cancel out Duran’s good work previously. Great from Roberto. 10-3

Round 14 – Duran waves Leonard towards him at the start of the round, and Ray obliges, tags Duran with a hard shot. Very nip and tuck round, Duran perhaps landing more, but Ray comes on strong for the last 30 seconds, and we see the BOLO PUNCH from Ray. Nice. He even throws it GOING BACKWARDS AND HOLDING DURAN’S HEAD! Bonus points for cheekiness. He is getting beaten up, but still showcases his many talents. Good round for Ray. 10-4

Round 15 – Really good final round, but not for the action. Midway through, Ray throws a flurry of punches, and Duran ducks and weaves past them all. Leonard just can’t hit him! Duran sticks his chin out. ‘Hit me, hit me’, but Leonard cant. Ray does, however, land the better shots in the final stanza to take the round. 10-5

Ray puts his hands in the air to claim victory, which annoys Roberto. ‘**** you. You ****, I beat you, *****!’ he says in broken English.

145-140, 10 rounds to 5 in Duran’s favour. The proof was in Ray’s swollen and dejected face.

When hearing that one of the judges had it a draw, the ESPN commentator says ‘well, he must have showed up late and missed a dozen rounds. It was Duran all by himself and took the fight away from Sugar Ray Leonard.’


Can we dispell this myth once and for all?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SwxhqOpA1M[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZnsDfrnZjY&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT1hknlqzIo&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFt2vePFXHc&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDq2rAP9CfU&feature=relmfu[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u45xvjRSvAk&feature=relmfu[/ame]

Final part can be seen on YouTube.

Lets get everyone's thoughts on this, regardless on the bias commentary on this version in Ray's favour

 

please post a scorecard

I think you are forgetting a little head in turnbuckle moment in which Marco was deducted a point

 

My scorecard was as follows

Rounds Barrera - Naz

Rd 1 10 - 9

rd 2 9 - 10

rd 3 9 - 10

Rd 4 10 - 9

rd 5 10 - 9

rd 6 10 - 9

rd 7 10 - 9

rd 8 9 - 10

rd 9 10 - 9

rd 10 9 - 10

rd 11 10 - 9

rd 12 9 - 9

Total - 115 - 112, 7 rounds to 4 in Barrera's favour, with 1 even

 

Indeed. Marco was utterly superb, he really was. In the build up he was giving it the 'i'll brawl with him', which would have been suicidal against a puncher like Naz. He outboxed Naz, no doubt about it. But I dont think he totally outclassed him in every round (the definition of a schooling, no?)

2 judges had it the same as i did (115-112), as did Ledermen IIRC.

I'm not sure how you can be schooled if you win 4 rounds (1/3 of the fight) against an elite level opponent :huh

 

Morales would have fought fire with fire, which would have played right into Naz's hands. The prince would have knocked him out IMO