Duran from the first fight v Leonard from the second!!!

JamieC said:

Duran, he beat himself in teh second as much as anything, Leonard was brilliant but Duran over Leonard was one of the best performances from a p4p great, he'd beat anyone on that day

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I guess quitting could be interpreted as beating yourself...

Disagree with your post generally. Leonard was beating the hell out of Duran by the end of the first fight. If he'd moved more in the first fight rather than engaged, he could have come on strong to take a clear decision.

It would always be competitive.

chatty said:

Beating the hell out him is a bit strong, he won the last 2-3 rounds but they we're still close.

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I felt that in the second half of the fight Leonard was getting to Duran more than the converse. He never looked like stopping Duran, but Leonard looked the stronger at the close.

Personally, I feel there's a tendency to oversell Duran and ignore how tight most of the rounds were. Even though I believe Duran clearly won the first bout, it was a closely contested battle. The second fight was competitive too, but the difference was that Leonard was giving Duran when he was at his most dangerous.

I've never bought into the argument that Duran was massively undertrained second time out. He was less intense and Ray was less macho, so between the two factors it changed the pace of the fight. I also believe Ray had figured out Duran's rhythm between offence and defence, and expect he'd have started really tagging Roberto's body in the middle rounds to grind him out.

The two were just a great styles match-up for competitive fights. I disregard the third fight.

Vano-irons said:

I think people get confused more with the second fight. With what happened, it's easy to think Ray was kicking Duran's arse, but Roberto was well in the fight when he walked out of the ring. I could see people scoring it 4-3 going into the 8th.

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Probably not as confused as someone who says the first fight wasn't close

Nonetheless, there's a reason Duran walked out, and it wasn't because Ray wasn't taking him seriously, IMO.

Vano-irons said:

:lol: I said it wasn't close on the cards pretty much every round was close and competitive, with Duran edging most of them.

I do think there was only going to be one winner in the second fight, but I had it closer than most going into the 8th

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I agree with your scorecard in the two fights actually, which is also one of the reasons I don't believe that Duran was out-of-shape. Maybe not in the shape he was in back in Montreal, but still.