If Duran Didn't have "Cramps" as he claimed. Would Leonard have completely taken over? Could Duran have stormed back in the late rounds? How was the scoring up to the eight round, compared to the first fight?
I just wanna forget the bout ever happened!! Kidding, i dont know, maybe wouldve just carried on how it was most prob.
Leonard wins a comfortable decision. Duran was rather clueless when Leonard boxed and there was nothing he could do about it, which is why he quit. I had the fight 5-2 when Duran pulled a Zelenoff and he was losing the 8th as well, meaning he had to come back from 6-2.
How did the judges have it? I know that one only had Leonard 1 point ahead. In my eyes Leonard seemed to be pretty well in control, but he wasn't outclassing Duran by any means. I think he would have won, though.
I thought he had Duran under complete control. Even if it was somewhat close on the cards, it was in similar fashion to Clay-Liston: it was easily in control of the boxer and nothing the slugger could do about it.
No, but it is fair to say he elected to fight a different fight and there was nothing Duran could do about it. And that is no knock on Duran, Leonard was an all time great fighter who was quite a bit bigger than Roberto. Now that is overcomeable, but if you realise that despite being bigger, Sugar had twice the handspeed and a ton of power, it becomes obvious how admireable Duran's earlier victory was even if Leonard fought a stupid fight and lost by only one or two points.
spot on. leonard was very strong and could punch. Look at the tommy hearns fight. credit must be given to duran for outhustling leonard first time around. I am sick of hearing about how duran could,'t handle movement. if he had of been in shape, duran would of slowed leonard down and made the rematch more even. its not possible for a boxer to keep up that amount of movement for 15 rounds. he would of had to stand his ground sometime or another leonard was not the first fighter to show duran movement. ken buchanan was lovely boxer and mover. duran chopped him down. edwin viruet was another who he chopped down
i believe the scorecards were near even. if it were not for what ever suspicious events occurred he could have likely won. did leonard just diffuse him mentally? was he suffering from something physical that was so insurmontable? did he party too hard after his victory over the same fighter and not take him seriously the second time aroud? was he just being a prima donna? i ask a lot of questions but only one guy really knows?
While Leonard was winning, he wasn't dominating the rounds. I'm a massive fan of boxers who move, work behind the jab, and throw combinations. But Leonard wasn't busy enough to be totally dominating Duran. His jab wasn't being shooting out on a regular basis and his flurries were few and far between. He was more focused on keeping away from Duran, thus fighting a very defensive fight with a low punch volume. Leonard's movement was the key. If I was being critical, it would because he wasn't busy enough. It was this very reason why some rounds were close. While you can't knock Leonard for not letting off heavy artillery often, his jab was scarce throughout the fight.