Put yourself in Sugar Ray leonards Place

[rightsideup]

I do not know about this superstars but what should be haunting him was the first fight, IMHO if SRL did not fight Durans fight the first time he would have won...

Leonard fought Duran's fight because Duran forced him to. People forget that Duran hurt Leonard Badly from the outside in round two so much so it took leonard 2 to three rounds to recover. By infighting Ray may have taken some punishment but was not vulnerable to a knockout combination. I give Leonard enormous credit for his performance in the first fight and think he should as well.

[Awesome-O]

it's hard to box and move when a fighter is all over you like james toney on a cheeseburger.

ppl act like leonard was a dance and mover, but he wasn't. both duran and srl deserve credit for montreal, they both fought great, and srl gets credit for adapting and physicall and mentally defeating duran in new orleans.

[Dynamite76]

In the recent documentary leonard said No Mas haunted him. He was annoyed by the fact that people seem to give him more credit for his courageous effort in the brawl for Montréal than the New Orlean's fight. I know some of our forum member's whose perspective on most topics I agree with have pointed out that montreal was leonard's best performance. My personal thought's are it is right up there and does exceed the no Mas fight.
In Montréal he fought a primed Atg and was stunned in the second round and said it took two rounds to recover. Ray fought his way back and lost a close decision. Duran has no one to blame but himself for No Mas but his management took this fight because it was the highest payday and he was so undisciplined that they thought he would lose to an inferior opponent.

My personal thoughts are montreal, hearns 1 are leonard's best fight's
What do you ThinK?

The reason Ray lost fight 1 was because Roberto got into his head, intimidated him to the point he got messed up, and, amazingly it was still a close fight.Very close.Duran should have come into fight 2 in shape, but probably wasn't motivated to really fight Ray again.But the fact that Ray knew he would come in out of shape says a lot to his Psyche.BTW, Ray's best performance was Hearns I, where he could have won earlier if he had not burned himself out.

[toooooool]

Ive always said NO MAS was a reverse psych ploy that actually might
have worked in Duran's favor..Reason why is because Ray can walk around
and say I am better than Hagler,Hearns,Benitez etc...but he can't say he
is better than Duran because he didn't 'BEAT' Duran...If you halt something
you never get beat..and Duran halted the match..Ray said no mas haunted
him and has even admitted he never got full credit for the win.
As for Rays best win..no doubt it was Hearns 1.

[Anthony342]

That's a load of horsecrap. He didn't halt it, the ref did, because Duran quit, which still makes it a TKO. It was the equivalent of a submission or MMA fighter tapping out verbally.

[toooooool]

That's a load of horsecrap. He didn't halt it, the ref did, because Duran quit, which still makes it a TKO. It was the equivalent of a submission or MMA fighter tapping out verbally.

Duran halted the boxing match..he didn't quit..their is a difference...examples
of quitting would be when Tyson,Delahoya,Liston, and others wouldn't get
off their stools for the next round...because they were beaten up into
submission..Duran halted the boxing match to spite Leonard,not because
he was beaten into submission..This is why Leonard doesn't get credit for
'beating' Duran.

[Anthony342]

Halting is quitting, he just did it mid round, instead of in between rounds. Even Cosell himself said Duran quit and everyone else that has seen that fight besides you.

[BattlingNelson]

Duran halted the boxing match..he didn't quit..their is a difference...examples
of quitting would be when Tyson,Delahoya,Liston, and others wouldn't get
off their stools for the next round...because they were beaten up into
submission..Duran halted the boxing match to spite Leonard,not because
he was beaten into submission..This is why Leonard doesn't get credit for
'beating' Duran.

Durán II was the very defintion of the word "quit". He quit. Not his corner. Not the ref. He turned his back and said "I quit".


As for the topic well I have a hard time saying that Duran I was Leonard's best fight. How can we say that a loss is Leonard's best fight when there's so many great wins on his resume?

I think the best win is Hearns I followed by Hagler, Duran II, Kalule and Benitez.

[toooooool]

Halting is quitting, he just did it mid round, instead of in between rounds. Even Cosell himself said Duran quit and everyone else that has seen that fight besides you.

I think Cosell also QUIT watching boxing after Holmes beat the hell out
of Cobb if im not mistaken....The problem is that the no mas fight was like
a triginometry equation...95% of the people just don't understand...they
prefer the easy 2+2=4 equations...I know i'm right simply because NO MAS
bothers Ray more than Duran...their is the proof...I don't see Paquiao bothered
that Delahaoya didn't get off his stool..

[BattlingNelson]

I think Cosell also QUIT watching boxing after Holmes beat the hell out
of Cobb if im not mistaken....The problem is that the no mas fight was like
a triginometry equation...95% of the people just don't understand...they
prefer the easy 2+2=4 equations...I know i'm right simply because NO MAS
bothers Ray more than Duran...their is the proof...I don't see Paquiao bothered
that Delahaoya didn't get off his stool..

I'll tell you why I think the no mas fight bothers Leonard. Duran had all kinds of excuses ie stomach cramps etc. What Leonard want(ed) to hear is Duran saying that he was so humiliated by Ray's antics that he didn't know what to do with himself. Duran being Duran would never give such an admission to Leonard and Leonard hates it. They both have massive egos.