S.R. Leoanrd vs Roberto Duran

[pinkpanther]

To suggest that Duran did not have a chance of beating Sugar Ray is simply flat wrong, the fact is, he was not past his prome but his preparation for the fight was terrible. He began training very late and was surounded by a lot of blood suckers who gave him bad advice, he was on duretics 72 hours before the weight in an attempt to make weight and spent all night on the toilet. He did not eat for 48 hours prior to weight in to try and shed yet more, I doubt there has ever been a fighter that has lost so much weight in the space of 72 hours prior to a world championship fight.

He was so hungry after weight in that he proceeded to gorge on two-three steak dinners. As a consequence he was in no shape to fight Sugar Ray who was in the best condition of his life.

If Duran had prepared for the second fight as he did the 1st then he would have had a shot at winning.

[dansweeney]

sugar ray never fought anybody unless the odds were in his favor at the time, duran and especially hagler, look at how godam big the ring was, it was huge so he could run the whole dam time, he was the original runner, and when he finally slowed down he took mad beatings at the end of his career because the speed was 90% of his game, hearns kicked his ass in the rematch, lalonde beat on him, and his two comebacks were disastrous

[wmute]

Leonard proved he wasn't scared of Duran

Just a quick footnote

this is how great duran was. people expected Leonard, a natural welterweight, to be scared of a natural lightweight (who also, started his pro career at 17 under 120, and started fighting at lightweight when 20).

Now, he was dirty as hell, I usually like slicksters more than pressure fighters... but that's an achievement

To answer the initial question: yes he was past his prime after 72 fights, fought with his style

[Silencio]

Duran is my favorite fighter of all time so I admit I am biased, however facts are stubborn things biased or not so here goes. Someone earlier implied that Duran did not beat up Leonard in the first fight. Wrong. I saw the fight closed circuit at the time, and even Leonards manager knew it was over after about the third round when Duran was having his way and hurting Leonard. After the fight I remember Leonard went on a well deserved vacation with his wife and was contemplating quitting boxing because his body, ribs hurt so much from Duran's punches. This Duran, a natural LIGHTWEIGHT fighting at WELTERWEIGHT at 30 years old. People forget that at the time, before the first fight many were saying Duran was past his prime. There was even a rumor that that Duran had heart problems. Well he wasn't. He beat the crap out of Leonard for 15 rounds and didn't let up. Leonard too fought like the champion he was and is, and I respect him very much. The fight was close only on the cards.

Don't confuse the Duran in the second fight or third with Duran of the first fight. Duran beat Leonard. Duran was hardly marked at all after the first fight, and Leonard was swollen all over, all you need to do is see the tape of the fight.

And as for Duran never being the same again after the second fight, well for God's sake he only knocked out highly regarded Davey Moore at Junior Middle for the title when everyone thought he would be killed. He then very nearly took a decision from Marvin Hagler!!! Duran was ahead I believe after 13 rounds. This is back when Hagler was a machine. Then at 37 years old after almost being decapitated by Hearns, he beats the man who beat the man, the awesome Iran Barkley in the fight of the year.

He continued to fight and entertain until he was 50. To judge Duran by his disgrace against Leonard II is unfair. Look at his whole career. The greatest Lightweight ever, and a little guy turning into a giant killer later in his great career.

That's why you often hear the word Legendary next to Duran's name, not Leonards.

[SweetScience]

Duran was past his prime but he did beat Leonard in the first fight. Duran is a top 5 P4P fighter of all time and as many know best lightweight EVA!

[muay]

Exactamundo, Silencio.

He was invincible at 135...went up and did some more damage at 147, 154...in a warpath that has the likes of Moore & Barkley on the gutter when everyone thought he was already past his prime.

[SonnyG8R]

Duran is my favorite fighter of all time so I admit I am biased, however facts are stubborn things biased or not so here goes. Someone earlier implied that Duran did not beat up Leonard in the first fight. Wrong. I saw the fight closed circuit at the time, and even Leonards manager knew it was over after about the third round when Duran was having his way and hurting Leonard. After the fight I remember Leonard went on a well deserved vacation with his wife and was contemplating quitting boxing because his body, ribs hurt so much from Duran's punches. This Duran, a natural LIGHTWEIGHT fighting at WELTERWEIGHT at 30 years old. People forget that at the time, before the first fight many were saying Duran was past his prime. There was even a rumor that that Duran had heart problems. Well he wasn't. He beat the crap out of Leonard for 15 rounds and didn't let up. Leonard too fought like the champion he was and is, and I respect him very much. The fight was close only on the cards.

Don't confuse the Duran in the second fight or third with Duran of the first fight. Duran beat Leonard. Duran was hardly marked at all after the first fight, and Leonard was swollen all over, all you need to do is see the tape of the fight.

And as for Duran never being the same again after the second fight, well for God's sake he only knocked out highly regarded Davey Moore at Junior Middle for the title when everyone thought he would be killed. He then very nearly took a decision from Marvin Hagler!!! Duran was ahead I believe after 13 rounds. This is back when Hagler was a machine. Then at 37 years old after almost being decapitated by Hearns, he beats the man who beat the man, the awesome Iran Barkley in the fight of the year.

He continued to fight and entertain until he was 50. To judge Duran by his disgrace against Leonard II is unfair. Look at his whole career. The greatest Lightweight ever, and a little guy turning into a giant killer later in his great career.

That's why you often hear the word Legendary next to Duran's name, not Leonards.

I also saw the first (and second) Leonard/Duran fight on closed Circuit tv and I must disagree with the assertion that Duran beat the crap out of Ray for 15 rounds. The fight I saw went back and forth, and that was with leonard standing toe to toe with Duran. I think Leonard proved to a lot of people that night that he was more than just the pitty pat runner that his critics claimed he was.

I whole heartedly agree with the assertion that Duran was the greatest lightweight ever. And an all time p4p great. He also had the impressive victory over Barkley which came well after the second leonard fight. On the other hand he lost to Benitez, Hearns and Hagler, all of whom Ray defeated.

And I can't disagree strongly enough with the suggestion that Duran "continued to fight and entertain until he was 50." What the heck was so entertaining about watching an old, fat, and slow duran fight tomato cans in Mississippi and West ******ia?

[Swifty]

IMO Duran was the greatest at 135. Not to say that, he would beat SRL everytime. Im another Duran fan so I'm going with Duran, but I can see SRL out-boxing Duran too.
Btw, those saying Duran completely pounded SRL in the first fight are WRONG. It was a war, and Duran walked away with a well-deserved UD, though it could have gone SRL way aswell.

[Soundtraveler]

Had Sugar Ray fought his kind of fight in the 1st meeting with Duran he would have won that one easily. He wanted to prove to everyone - including Duran - that they were all wrong when conventional wisdom said he was going to run from Duran - he didn't - instead he went toe to toe fighting Durans' style of fighting and almost won it anyway!

In the second fight, he showed the world AND Duran that he was a far better boxer with way faster footwork and Duran couldn't lay a glove on him, Duran got so frustrated he just quit....

[chase]

the first fight duran beat srl easy, and the second duran walked:? thats just duran, you never knew what duran was going to turn up, roberto duran in his prime beat a srl in is prime, so all this crap about srl being the better boxer is just crap.duran was a light wieght, he moved up to fight srl. and beat him he did : and the 3rd fight was allways going to be poor two old men