The Myth that SRL changed his style and beat Duran

[Scott9945]

I can't stand how people think Duran was getting dominated in the rematch.

It reminds me of how people just assume that De La Hoya won every early round against Trinidad. It just isn't true. He was winning, but it wasn't a shutout. That's how he blew the decision by running away in the late rounds.

[ßringer]

I get more annoyed when people think Leonard was some kind of defensive fighter who didn't engage and shyd away from fights.

Leonard was a fighter, through and through.

I hate this myth, as well as the "Duran got dominated in the rematch" myth. Going on personal experience the "Leonard was a runner" myth is mostly espoused by Hagler fans who weren't satisfied with the result of their fight, and the "Duran got dominated in the rematch" myth is mostly thrown about by Leonard fanboys.

I have a hard time fathoming why modern boxing fans make everything an "either or" scenario - Wherein if you're a fan of one fighter, then his rival must be your enemy. It's ****ing stupid and it really makes conversing intelligently about classic rivalries on the internet a fool's errand.

[IronDanHamza]

I hate this myth, as well as the "Duran got dominated in the rematch" myth. Going on personal experience the "Leonard was a runner" myth is mostly espoused by Hagler fans who weren't satisfied with the result of their fight, and the "Duran got dominated in the rematch" myth is mostly thrown about by Leonard fanboys.

I have a hard time fathoming why modern boxing fans make everything an "either or" scenario - Wherein if you're a fan of one fighter, then his rival must be your enemy. It's ****ing stupid and it really makes conversing intelligently about classic rivalries on the internet a fool's errand.

Leonard's hero was Joe Frazier, earlier this year in an interview on Ringside he talked about how when he first started out, he was an out and out brawler. With an identical style to Joe Frazier. Only later did he become a more boxer-puncher style.

The Hagler fight mainly, probably the most fleet footed he'd ever been in his career. Then again, he still engaged with Hagler at times. He talked about in another interview that his plan was to go out there and fight toe to toe with Hagler, but when he got rocked in sparring he decided to change his approach.

It's true though, what you say. Fans these days are a different breed Hell, kids in general are just messed up these days.

[StarshipTrooper]

I have a hard time fathoming why modern boxing fans make everything an "either or" scenario - Wherein if you're a fan of one fighter, then his rival must be your enemy. It's ****ing stupid and it really makes conversing intelligently about classic rivalries on the internet a fool's errand.

It's not just the "either/or" attitude, there's also an "all or nothing" mentality: You either have one-punch power or you can't punch at all; you're either the GOAT or you're a bum; you're either a slick boxer or you're a face-first brawler. Nobody seems to be able distinguish any levels in between two extremes

Poet

[monkey skeleton]

It's not just the "either/or" attitude, there's also an "all or nothing" mentality: You either have one-punch power or you can't punch at all; you're either the GOAT or you're a bum; you're either a slick boxer or you're a face-first brawler. Nobody seems to be able distinguish any levels in between two extremes

Poet

You're either ******ed slow or extremely fast and you either got an iron jaw or a glass jaw are two of the more popular ones I see on NSB

[StarshipTrooper]

You're either ******ed slow or extremely fast and you either got an iron jaw or a glass jaw are two of the more popular ones I see on NSB

You see that one in Tommy Hearns threads all the time ie. Tommy didn't have George Chuvalo's whiskers so he was china-chinned :rolleyes9:

Poet

[Scott9945]

You're either ******ed slow or extremely fast and you either got an iron jaw or a glass jaw are two of the more popular ones I see on NSB

Yeah, the glass jaw label gets badly overused. Many fighters don't have great chins or weak chins. They just have average chins. But the trend is to make everything black/white for convenience.

[taansend]

Well said, lads.

[bojangles1987]

I hate to boil it down to race, but so many people say Leonard was a slick boxer because they saw the Hagler fight, and because he is black they call him a slick defensive fighter. There's no way I will be convinced this isn't the case.

[them_apples]

Leonard never dominated Duran at any point in time.