Leonard-Duran II: What Say You?

[4truth]

It's in Leonard's book if you want to read about it. Leonard waited for Duran to party himself into poor condition, which didn't take long, then Leonard offered Duran financial incentive to take the rematch without time to train himself back to peak condition.

Duran was probably in good enough condition to be competitive against most but against SRL he was simply embarrassing himself and it wasn't going to get any better as the fight wore on.

[bojangles1987]

It's definitely a false myth that developed over the years that Leonard was beating Duran easily and that's why Duran quit. It's just not at all what happened. IIRC I had Leonard winning when Duran quit, but it was a close fight and nowhere near over. I think it was a difference of a couple rounds.

And really, that's why Duran quitting is such a shocking black mark on his record that people always hold against him. If he was getting dominated for 8 rounds, people would understand him quitting.

Leonard was more cautious, Duran was still winning rounds. Leonard started showboating which may give people the impression that he was totally in control? And maybe Leonard would have taken control in the second half to win easily. We don't know, because Duran quit. What we actually saw was a close fight that didn't have the energy of the first fight because Leonard was so cautious and Duran, like OP said, just did not have the same fire.

[TonyGe]

He was underprepared and
he knew it. When Leonard started taunting him he knew he would not win the fight and continuing would make him look foolish. Better to quit and end the fight on his terms than to continue and be humiliated by a man that he did not like on a personal level. I think that's where his mind was at. What is really remarkable is he went on and survived that decision. Not only did he survive it, it added to his mystique.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Some good points man, a lot of people who haven’t watched the fight will assume Leonard was dominating when in reality it was a very competitive fight. I had Leonard up 5-2 but I think you could easily I have it 4-3. Duran definitely won 2 of the first 6 rounds going from memory.

I’m more of the opinion that the combination of anger, frustration, resentment, bitterness etc all got the better of Duran during the 8th round. After 6 and 7 you could see SRL was beginning to pull away, the jab was becoming a weapon and his fluid movement was causing Duran more and more issues which possibly supports the stories about being underprepared. At this point I think it all just got the better of him, he mentally broke which is reflected in his post fight comments about him immediately retiring.

I thought a couple of the rounds might’ve gone either way, but it was definitely close overall. I didn’t think either fighter was necessarily pulling away. Perhaps if the fight continued, Leonard would’ve opened up the margin. We’ll never know, of course; as we’ve seen with innumerable fights, contests have a way of going back and forth.

It appeared to me Duran wasn’t into it from the start. He could’ve simply lost more drive as the fight wore on — or he could’ve simply been ill, as he later claimed. But it appears clear to me that Roberto was easily in the fight, and was by no means outclassed. Round seven was very showy from Ray, but he didn’t continue that approach in the eighth. I didn’t see any reason why Duran should’ve felt discouraged, much less humiliated.

[The plunger man]

Lol There was no robbery. Duran won. The first fight was a classic — very close, and the scores reflected it.

Leonard is arguably second only to Robinson as greatest welterweight of all-time. Yet, a natural lightweight gave him all he could handle. Ray, the much larger natural fighter, was on his bike in the second fight.

one question do you fight to your advantages or to your opponents ? Leonard brawled and lost a razor thin decision in a fight that really could have been scored a draw ...in the 2nd fight he used footwork , speed and lateral movement and stayed away from the ropes and Durán just could not get him where he wanted.
If Durán never quit he would have lost a wide decision because Leonard figured him out and was already up midway.
Duran could not win that fight

[CubanGuyNYC]

I’ve also seen that numerous times , Duran had his moments for sure but the big difference than the 1st fight was leonard was slightly in front on the cards.
In the 1st fight leonard never really got into the fight till after the 5th round so Duran I think knew it was going to be a long night for him.
We already saw in the 1st fight leonard come on strong in the championship rounds and win the last 3 rounds.
I just believe Duran could not get leonard where he wanted in that 2nd fight and was in my eyes getting more and more frustrated.
Durans personality is like a pressure cooker and if you keep turning up the heat it bubbles over.
I think it was just a build up of things and Duran just flipped.
It was the 7th round that infuriated him and I think that ray leonard found durans Achilles heel.....and Duran is one of my top fighters too.

Leonard fought completely differently in the second encounter. He moved a lot more, and went into showboat-mode in the seventh. But in the eighth round, he reverted to the same strategy he utilized earlier in the fight. I just didn’t see any reason for Duran to lose his cool. Even the antics in the seventh seemed innocuous to me — at least now, after so many years.

[GhostofDempsey]

Duran was given short notice that he was to rematch Leonard. He had to lose 30+ pounds in two months. This, after abusing his body and partying very hard. The original rematch was anticipated in January or February of the following year. Leonard's people got wind of his condition and pushed the rematch early, and Duran's manager screwed him over by accepting a November date.

[CubanGuyNYC]

It's in Leonard's book if you want to read about it. Leonard waited for Duran to party himself into poor condition, which didn't take long, then Leonard offered Duran financial incentive to take the rematch without time to train himself back to peak condition.

Duran was probably in good enough condition to be competitive against most but against SRL he was simply embarrassing himself and it wasn't going to get any better as the fight wore on.

Yes, I’m aware. The rematch took place several months after the initial bout, so I imagine the offer was made some time after the the first fight, not immediately thereafter.

I’ve said it many times now: Duran did not embarrass himself — except by his actions at the end. I thought the fight was very close by any standard, and actually had Duran up 4-2 going into the seventh. Had everything gone as expected, I would’ve had the fight 4-4. We never got that far.

[BoloShot]

ray was robbed in the first fight so this was payback.

ray was always the better boxer and fighter

You're so puerile it's just laughable. Your comment and the way it's written in particular is representative of what the minds of the trashiest low IQ people spew out with no thought.

[BoloShot]

He was underprepared and
he knew it. When Leonard started taunting him he knew he would not win the fight and continuing would make him look foolish. Better to quit and end the fight on his terms than to continue and be humiliated by a man that he did not like on a personal level. I think that's where his mind was at. What is really remarkable is he went on and survived that decision. Not only did he survive it, it added to his mystique.

Only because he's a great like Roberto Duran was always going to be called and redeemed himself more than enough throughout the rest of his career.