Why did Duran quit in the rematch against Leonard?

Duran's team was drooling over the $ he was getting. From what I understand it was about $10 million. Leonard had gotten much more in the 1st fight. Again their fault. Duran's team.

 

Agreed.

 

I don’t think it’s that different except that Ray openly acknowledges it.

If Mike Tyson wanted to beat everybody at their best, he wouldn’t have tried to intimidate them … a guy who walks into the ring afraid isn’t at his best.

Hell, Duran himself wouldn’t have tried to agitate Leonard before the first fight and encouraged Ray to box and move so he could beat Ray with Ray fighting the best possible style to win.

If LaMotta wanted fair fights, he would not have habitually fought welterweights in the high 140s or low 150s (probably weighing in with their clothes on) while he came in over the middleweight limit (often at 164/5 … basically welter vs. super middle).

If every champion had this mindset, there would never be negotiations over ring size, glove size, hell even PED testing because every champion would concede every point and say ‘but I wanted to fight him at his best.’

In short, it’s poppycock. Every fighter wants whatever edge they can get (hence so many being caught using PEDs).

 

Duran was not in good shape mentally or physically because he blew up in weight and partied to much. Leonard and Duran both knew it, and then Leonard showed his lack of class by clowning him. But, Duran was the better fighter even though Leonard had figured out away to win by deception and bribery.

Duran decided to deny him the win and figured he would train better and smash Leonard again in the rematch. He misjudged the blowback and it hurt his spirit so much he almost retired. He then refocused and became a legend once again at the upper weights.

The rematch did not happen immediately and we all lost out on a great trilogy that Duran would have won.. But, as another poster mentioned, it is good it happened the way it did - as in a way it enhanced Duran. Leonard is still angry about it and will never get full credit for beating Duran. He is still haunted by it.

It is funny....Duran got the last laugh after all.

 

No. What your talking about is different. I'm talking about being physically prepared.
Hell if you can intimidate an opponent that is fair game but you want a rival especially to be at their best so they wouldn't have an excuse after. Now Ray's fans want to get the horse back in the barn but he's already out.

 

Great as always ETM!!!!!!!!!

 

It was a bad thing that Duran did. Let's not make quitting out to be a victory. Leonard didn't cover himself in glory either. He didn't exactly burn up the canvas that nite and he played a part in the horrible nite it was for boxing. Unless they came to see a track meet.
I do agree in the big picture Duran cameback and redeemed himself in victory and even courage in defeat.

 

Leonard most certainly received plenty of glory in the aftermath. It's only many years later that people want to make it look like some sort of negative. Duran was the one covered in shame and no small amount of it.

Lets not make winning out to be a loss.

 

If you want to face a guy at his best you don’t want him frozen with fear. The line you’re drawing is arbitrary — “if a guy is ‘less than his best’ for one reason you want to say the guy who beat him deserves less credit,” but you also say ‘it’s OK if you intimidate him into being less than his best.’

Ray Leonard had zero to do with Duran being out of shape or having a less than ideal camp. Duran is the one who behaved unprofessionally and showed no discipline. Are we supposed to believe if the fight was made for December he’d have stopped partying earlier? What’s the basis for that? Between late June and September, when the fight was originally announced, he gained however much weight and the fight was not til late November.

And given how long Roberto was lightweight champion, surely he grasped that he was going to have to step in the ring at some point to defend the welterweight title, regardless of who the opponent was. He should have taken a month or so to gorge and party and then stop all that and at least begun running and hitting the gym if only to be ready for a defense (regardless of opponent) that surely would need to happen by year’s end.

You’re also glomming onto one thing Leonard said while ignoring a fact: Leonard went to Hawaii immediately after the first fight for a couple of weeks and called Mike Trainer (his attorney/advisor/negotiator) and said ‘Get me Duran again ASAP.’ How how much weight do you think Roberto put on in two weeks? Ray wanted the rematch almost immediately, so he obviously didn’t just wait til he heard Duran was fat and partying to decide he wanted to fight Duran again as soon as possible.

And kindly knock off the ‘Ray’s fans’ bit — I’m a Leonard fan but Duran is my favorite fighter. You can like both (and Hearns and Benitez and Hagler also). Liking (or not liking) a particular fighter doesn’t mean one’s opinions are less valid. If you believe in your position, you can articulate it without being dismissive of those who disagree.

 

No Mas

 

Nope. You can't do it. You can type an essay if you want. You cannot equate the two. Giving a guy a hard stare or intimidating him is not the same as wanting to face a fighter in less that top physical condition.

Your rant seems to gloss over the fact I put the responsibility on Duran several times in my original post. Leonard admits calculating his part in this yet you don't accept it. You also gloss over Leonard saying he was retiring immediately after the bout. He may have told Trainer he wanted a rematch in Hawai but do you want to believe the bout was signed two week after June 20th? He was probably 160lbs two days after the fight.


Come on man. Be serious please.

 

Isn't that exactly what I had typed in my first sentence? Let me quote myself..."Duran quitting was a bad thing, let's not make it out to be a victory"

What i said in my last sentence is about redeeming himself from that shame...did he not? Its part of the Duran story. I find it inspirational that he came back won two titles. Duran suffered plenty.

Yes Leonard received glory. He won fight fair and square as I already stated. He's a great fighter, not my cup of tea for reasons already explained.

 

Leonard called Trainer from Hawaii and said “I want Duran again ASAP.”

That’s a statement of intent that makes it clear he wanted this immediately and did not wait til Duran got fat. Leonard just likes to sound calculating.

 

That doesn't mean they signed it. He could have changed his mind every other day.

 

I didn’t say it was signed then.

I’m saying Leonard did not wait 2-3 months and say ‘I hear Duran has gotten fat, let’s make him fight real quick.’ He decided for himself within 2 weeks of the first fight that he wanted Duran as soon as it could be put together. It wasn’t some diabolical plot.

As I’ve posted before, the book on Duran was always ‘get him back in the ring AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE’ after a fight, not ‘let’s wait 9 months or a year to give him time to party and then train.’ The layoff of 5 months was the LONGEST IN YEARS for him … which equates to more time to get ready for his next fight if he acted like a professional and used it as such.

Also worth noting, Duran had trouble getting his weight down for the FIRST FIGHT. He had to do a crash diet during camp to make weight.

Any way you cut it, it’s an excuse for quitting.