As Sugar Ray Leonard celebrated winning a gold medal and his newfound stardom at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Roberto Dur\u00e1n was home in Panam\u00e1, preparing to fight a non-title bout well above the limit for his WBA lightweight title. Dur\u00e1n was in his fourth year as a world champion and widely recognized as one of the sport\u2019s most brutal operators.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it wasn\u2019t a systemic shock when Dur\u00e1n beat Leonard the first time they met, in June 1980. Everyone knew Leonard was relatively inexperienced and that Dur\u00e1n was incredibly dangerous. When the fight ended up a huge success in front of a substantial Montreal crowd, a rematch was right for all involved.<\/p>\n
Leonard specifically wanted a quick rematch, confirming his competitive drive. In fact, Dur\u00e1n had to gut out the victory in their first fight, and though it was a great accomplishment, it was damn close. That part usually gets forgotten. Dur\u00e1n returned to Panam\u00e1 a bonafide national hero and celebrated as such, and Leonard went immediately back to work. Leonard\u2019s decision to go right back at Dur\u00e1n actually cost him Dave Jacobs, a trainer who\u2019d been with him since the amateurs and wanted Leonard to fight a few tune-ups.<\/p>\n
At 72-1, Dur\u00e1n experienced boxing at some of its highest levels already. Set aside the hyperbole about him being an animal, or a beast, or some kind of mindless, brainless warrior who understood nothing but violence, because the Panamanian was more like a mad scientist in the ring. He didn\u2019t like when writers called him a “street fighter” because he knew that suggested he was crude or ruled by aggression, and a paint-by-numbers brawler couldn\u2019t have out-fought Leonard the first time.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why entering camp 30 pounds overweight was Dur\u00e1n\u2019s first huge mistake. He battled the scale for years while forcing his body to make 135 pounds, but he did indeed make the lightweight limit consistently, going 12-0 with 11 KOs in his title defenses over six years. He also apparently developed a few bad habits around weigh-in time.<\/p>\n
When Dur\u00e1n essentially skipped over the junior welterweight division and took on Leonard at welterweight the first time, it temporarily eliminated his weight struggle as well as tickled the old-school pundits who had visions of Henry Armstrong and Barney Ross. Dur\u00e1n\u2019s behavior around the first Leonard fight might have been the first sign of his unraveling, however.<\/p>\n
Both fighters professed to hate the other, but like much of his outward antics, Leonard\u2019s vitriol was for show. He later claimed to be genuinely confused when Dur\u00e1n and Dur\u00e1n\u2019s wife gave him and his wife the middle finger, for instance. And in retrospect, Dur\u00e1n committed the sin of pushing away Leonard after the fight, when opponents typically wipe the slate clean and embrace. Leonard later said that cut right through him.<\/p>\n
Dur\u00e1n ultimately spent too much of his training camp making weight, struggled at the weigh-in anyway and then gorged himself afterward. For his part, Leonard comfortably made the weight because he arrived in camp already in shape and had Angelo Dundee join camp earlier than usual so they could strategize. At the press conferences in the weeks before the rematch, Leonard, the slight favorite, wore a fake beard and mocked Dur\u00e1n\u2019s accent. He hated Dur\u00e1n for real this time, he told reporters. Easily making weight was like drawing first blood.<\/p>\n
The Superdome in New Orleans was supposed to be full, or at least near-full at about 75,000, on the heels of the first fight\u2019s popularity. Instead only about 25,000 spectators showed up. Even so, Leonard scored another potent blow as he grinned through a rendition of “America the Beautiful” by Ray Charles, the man after whom he was named.<\/p>\n
Only a few months had passed since the first fight, but things had changed Nov. 25, 1980.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time, instead of leaving a wake-up call for Round 5, as [Leonard] had in the first fight, he immediately moved out to the middle of the ring and landed the first punch, a left that caught Duran,\u201d wrote The Ring\u2019s editor Bert Sugar. \u201cAfter a brief moment when both tried out tentative left jabs, Duran put on one of his patented bullrushes, but Leonard, instead of standing in harm\u2019s way and taking stick, moved quickly backwards, out of reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard circled when Dur\u00e1n tried to push the fight, even stunning Dur\u00e1n briefly in Round 2. Then Leonard began to awaken his own ghosts. He wound up punches like Kid Gavil\u00e1n and Kid Chocolate and popped his jab on the move like his idol Muhammad Ali. Dur\u00e1n had to scrape and tear for minimal success in Round 3.<\/p>\n
If Leonard had simply ran or retreated, then Dur\u00e1n could easily convince himself that he was winning rounds. But Leonard continually beat him to the punch, kept him on the end of his jab and caught Dur\u00e1n coming in. Dur\u00e1n strongarmed Leonard to the ropes a few times in Rounds 5 and 6, and got the worst of it as often as not.<\/p>\n
Round 7 paved the way for the end as halfway through, Leonard began sticking his chin out at Dur\u00e1n and bobbing his head back and forth. It was a hollow gesture at first, and Leonard upped the ante when he threw in an “Ali Shuffle.” When Dur\u00e1n got him to the ropes, Leonard out-brawled him and connected with several dizzying shots. Dur\u00e1n could only wave his glove at Leonard dismissively when the bell rang.<\/p>\n
A hard jab stuck in Dur\u00e1n\u2019s chest in Round 8. Then Leonard moved upstairs with his jab and made sure his movement had Dur\u00e1n reaching. Duran got close enough to land a few cuffing shots, but it\u2019s just that Leonard was ready and caught him first and last. Leonard led Dur\u00e1n around the ring, landed a few more long-range shots before pushing his head down in the clinch. When the fight resumed, Dur\u00e1n infamously did what so few expected him to ever do: he derisively waved his gloves and turned away, clearly quitting.<\/p>\n
Different excuses flowed like wine and Dur\u00e1n promptly retired in his dressing room. Writers analyzed the history of “machismo” in Latino culture on the heels of the great Dur\u00e1n inexplicably quitting in a winnable fight. Worse, the phrase “No m\u00e1s,” which Dur\u00e1n since claimed to have never said, entered the American lexicon and stuck to him for decades. His career spiraled over the next few years, which was the fall before the redemption.<\/p>\n
The overall culture of ending fights early rather than late is ever-evolving, but quitting still isn\u2019t exactly acceptable in boxing. Sometimes a fighter quits and a serious injury is later discovered, and there\u2019s no way to know in real time. Dur\u00e1n\u2019s gesture could have opened a nuanced discussion about when it\u2019s acceptable to quit, and instead it quickly became cruel mockery.<\/p>\n
Apart from anything Dur\u00e1n did to himself, quitting robbed Leonard of his victory. Leonard entered the fight with a better plan, executed the plan and frustrated one of the best fighters in the world to the point of giving up. He taunted the monster and lived. That should have been the story.<\/p>\n
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