the brawl in montreal

[IronDanHamza]

I don't know if it was out of character, as much as it was the leonard hadn't really faced a guy yet that he needed to "outbox"

Like what you and others have said, and i agree with, leonard was young, big, fast, and could usually walk thru opponents and hadn't really faced a guy yet he couldn't walk down/thru....

So i don't think it was out of character, just that he never needed to do it before that fight..

Well that's basically the only fight I've ever seen where Leonard has fought that way (the second Duran fight). Maybe also the Hagler fight, in which according to Leonard, he completely changed his gameplan on a weeks notice after getting dropped heavily in sparring.

I've seen him fight like he did in the first Duran fight over and over again.

So I would say it was out of character.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Well that's basically the only fight I've ever seen where Leonard has fought that way (the second Duran fight). Maybe also the Hagler fight, in which according to Leonard, he completely changed his gameplan on a weeks notice after getting dropped heavily in sparring.

I've seen him fight like he did in the first Duran fight over and over again.

So I would say it was out of character.

I thought early in the hearns fight, he fought a duran2 type fight, but then hearns was the superior boxer, and leonard was forced to brawl it out...

but yes, leonard was so good at ****ing guys out, that was his bread n butter

[Ben Bolt]

Overall, the Montreal card on June 20, 1980, is hard to forget.
For good and for bad.

1) The hype before the match. And though Duran had the reputation of an unbeatable machine, we expected him to lose.

2) Big John Tate, just three months after being brutally KO’d by Mike Weaver, was fed a safe comeback opponent. So we believed, but again, he crushed to defeat. We learned the name Trevor Berbick.

3) Rising star Roger Leonard, older brother of Sugar Ray, brought his record to 14-0 by beating tough veteran Clyde Gray.

4) At the time, Duran’s victory had to share headlines with an undercard bout. In their rubber match, Cleveland Denny, a Guyanese residing in Montreal, was KO’d by Gaetan Hart. Denny never regained consciousness and died 16 days later.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Overall, the Montreal card on June 20, 1980, is hard to forget.
For good and for bad.

1) The hype before the match. And though Duran had the reputation of an unbeatable machine, we expected him to lose.

2) Big John Tate, just three months after being brutally KO’d by Mike Weaver, was fed a safe comeback opponent. So we believed, but again, he crushed to defeat. We learned the name Trevor Berbick.

3) Rising star Roger Leonard, older brother of Sugar Ray, brought his record to 14-0 by beating tough veteran Clyde Gray.

4) At the time, Duran’s victory had to share headlines with an undercard bout. In their rubber match, Cleveland Denny, a Guyanese residing in Montreal, was KO’d by Gaetan Hart. Denny never regained consciousness and died 16 days later.

Good stuff

We just were talking about Tate in another thread and why he never got recycled into a meaningful fight after the weaver n berbick fights, even though he continued to fight club fighters for the rest of the 80s

[Ham Porter]

The second fight was Duran not being physically ready due to Leonards management catching Duran not prepared properly

Three months after a purse agreement = not enough time to prepare.

[The Old LefHook]

Three months after a purse agreement = not enough time to prepare.

Duran was prepared. He always ballooned between fights. He was prepared to win the kind of fight they had the first time.

In a fight where he was having the stones beat out of him he would never have quit. Because New Orleans was ridiculous and almost a non-fight, his mind somehow believed everyone would be on his side. He believed everyone was as disgusted as he was. Big mistake. There were few who ever lived, if any fighters who could catch Leonard when he was on the move.

[JimEarl]

We have a lot of discussion on new Orleans but how did the underdog duran win this entertaining fight? Prior to the fight Durans performances at welter were uneven.

Don't know what you mean by uneven. The Palomino was a masterful display of Duran's inside fight. And the Montreal fight won me $20. I could also see that Ray controlled the late rounds when he finally decided to step out of the pocket. So I bet on Ray in the rematch.

[The Old LefHook]

Don't know what you mean by uneven. The Palomino was a masterful display of Duran's inside fight. And the Montreal fight won me $20. I could also see that Ray controlled the late rounds when he finally decided to step out of the pocket. So I bet on Ray in the rematch.

The perfomance destroying Monroe Brooks was not bad either.

[rightsideup]

Don't know what you mean by uneven. The Palomino was a masterful display of Duran's inside fight. And the Montreal fight won me $20. I could also see that Ray controlled the late rounds when he finally decided to step out of the pocket. So I bet on Ray in the rematch.

When I really look back the Gonzalez fight was a poor welterweight performance on Durans fight and although he had masterful performance against palmino it was not a ko

[rightsideup]

I will say the benitez fight, leonard had to push the action and be the aggressor, but he had to due to Wilfredo's style...

But vs a guy like duran, you can't think your gonna stand and trade with that dude... His nickname is "hands of stone". Who in their right mind would trade with a guy known as "hands of stone".

Leonard should have used his boxing skills and speed to outpoint Duran instead of trading.., in the 2nd fight, he did exactly that, and was on his way to a decision till Duran quit..

I somewhat agree with you but dundee was also preaching before Montreal that duran did not carry his power up to welterweight prior to montreal