Duran Didn't Quit

[FightFit]

Either way my opinion is this the first fight was historic simply amazing duran wins.Second fight duran quit it dont matter if he said no mas or give me mas he quit therefore leonard wins.Third fight leonard wins history states 2-1 leonard. Both HOF both simply amazing both as tough as nails and both have huge fighting hearts.

[Sugarj]

Leonard was running the entire fight and Duran basically said, hey if you don't want to fight then what's the point. I won't ever hold that against him.

And instantaneously made himself appear less macho than any boxer in history who didn't quit when facing an opponent who fought successfully off the back foot.

The strange thing is, a lot of people seem to think that Duran quit in the midst of leonard's clowning. But in actual fact.....that was the round before. Round eight wasn't a terrible round for Duran by any means and neither was it the most fleet footed of Leonard rounds. When Duran started waving his glove, it was a real surprise....nothing in particular provoked the action.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

duran quit,,, plan and simple,

you didnt see chavez quit after 8 with pernell or meldrick when he was getting outclassed

[Panamaniac]

Duran didn't quit..he halted the boxing match..big difference.I'm tired of the
''no-mas" ridiculous statement and I'm gonna enlighten people.Simply put,
Leonard won the match,but he didn't beat Duran.Duran halted the boxing
match out of spite and anger to Leonard,not weakness...

All the semantics, parsing and attemps at sugar-coating is not going to change the fact that Duran laid an egg that night. After being frustrated and realising the futility of chasin' Ray on his bike, he took matters into his own hands and ended the fight his way, rather than risk further humiliation.

The record book shows that Leonard won the the trilogy 2 to 1 and no one can take that away from him. By that same token, history has given a wink and a nod to Duran - not Leonard - who will forever be among the very elite (top 10) in the sport.

Go figure.

[notrecondite]

So someone doesn't mind that Duran quit? I guess they wouldn't have minded if Leonard quit in the first fight, say because Duran was smothering him. "He didn't give me enough room to fight so I quit." And, besides, Leonard won all three fights anyway.

[letsgobrady]

If you had paid top dollar to sit ringside you'd probably feel differently. I know that I felt cheated out of the PPV money that I spent.

i don't care about that i don't feel like any boxer or athlete owes me anything but fighters have always been critcized for quiting so why would anyone think or feel like duran shouldn't

[rightsideup]

So someone doesn't mind that Duran quit? I guess they wouldn't have minded if Leonard quit in the first fight, say because Duran was smothering him. "He didn't give me enough room to fight so I quit." And, besides, Leonard won all three fights anyway.

Leonard lost the first fight but did not disgrace himself. Duran when asked the question if leonard was the best he fought simply said yes. Duran trained liked a demon for the first fight and certainly did not for the second which is his own fault. As our Panamanic mentioned he simply blew the fight and we cheated out of another potential great fight. I think history treats duran better because of the length of his reign at lightweight and fighting hagler at his best plus the win's over moore and barkley. Leonard simply did not accomplish more in his career but comes very close.

[Ray Corso]

You won't find a smarter fighter outside the ring than Leonard! He knew that Duran would want the money and he also knew that Duran had bloated to 185+ and 147 was not easy for Roberto to make. At that stage of his career he did NOT have the working apptitude he had during his lightweight career!
Very simular to when Ali fought Holmes and when he disrobed in the ring everyone was freaking out to see Ali at 217lbs he looked incredible but we soon found out it wasn't done by hard work and correct diets! Duran cheated to make weight and was to heavy come bell time.
You can compare to Dawson having NOITHING in the tank for Andre'
Its easy for fans to degrade and rant about a fighter retiring but the facts remain when you have NOTHING in the tank there isn't a damn thing you can do about.


Go out and run your best time at your best didtance then do it again without proper muscle rest! Your going to stuggle mightly.
When your mind gives in your body follows. If your mind wants to move forward and your out of shape you can react well to your minds wishes but its a matter of time when you'll fail.

I make no excuses for Duran but he failed himself by being out smarter and ofcourse not listening to Arcel & Brown his mentor team.

He QUIT!!! Shame on him for letting himself down and his fans. Ray.

[gatorDelux]

no mas is paart of the legend, the mystique...

[Panamaniac]

Leonard lost the first fight but did not disgrace himself. Duran when asked the question if leonard was the best he fought simply said yes. Duran trained liked a demon for the first fight and certainly did not for the second which is his own fault. As our Panamaniac mentioned he simply blew the fight and we cheated out of another potential great fight. I think history treats duran better because of the length of his reign at lightweight and fighting hagler at his best plus the win's over moore and barkley. Leonard simply did not accomplish more in his career but comes very close.

All the points you made about Duran contributes to his legend. But there's more... The words "Ruberto Duran" is pure magic. Why? Because there's an illusive intangible quality that makes him boxing royalty despite - and some have argued because of - "no más."

The word I'm looking for is mystique (aforementioned by gnhs1133).

As you mentioned, Leonard is no slouch either. The highlighs of his career are the victories over Hagler and Hearns, and his lone defeat at the 'hands of stone.' (he looked better in his loss to Duran than he'll ever look in his victories over him). I'd place Leonard in the top 25 p4p all time.