SUGAR RAY LENNARD'S BIG 5: ROBERTO DURAN 2

SUGAR RAY LENNARD'S BIG 5: ROBERTO DURAN 2

By 1980, Sugar Ray Leonard was dominant in boxing. And this is not only about his victories in the professional ring. As an amateur, the American played a remarkable 170 matches. In them, he recorded 75 knockouts and lost only 5 times. His achievements are many, but we can easily distinguish the gold medal from the Summer Olympics in Montreal in 1976.

By 1980, in professional boxing, Leonard dominated even more seriously. In his first 27 matches he is unbeaten. Sugar Ray easily knocked out opponents from the US, Great Britain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and more. But in his 28th match, he faced Roberto Duran and lost by decision after 15 rounds. After 5 months, it's time for revenge. The match was billed as a "Super Fight". And there is a reason. He goes down in history as one of the greatest.

The arena is in New Orleans, and the spectators are over 25 thousand. The two boxers will distribute 15 million dollars. Many called Leonard's loss in the previous game controversial and even undeserved. This motivates him further for a rematch.

Until the 7th round, the fight was evenly matched. At the end of it, Sugar Ray lands one of the most memorable punches of his career. After the match, he says: "His eyes became watery!". The short time before the end of the round helps the Panamanian and he survives. There is a short pause, but after that nothing changes in Leonard. He remains hyper-aggressive. Moves constantly and deals a series of hits. Duran turns his back on him, looks at the referee and says: "Enough!" 16 seconds before the end of the round, the referee awards a technical knockout. The challenger is champion again. Judge cards are definitive. In the first 6 rounds, Duran has a slight advantage. But in the 7th and 8th, Leonard showed his best.

After the meeting, Duran justified his withdrawal with stomach cramps. Few believe such an alibi. Even his manager Carlos Eleta stated: “He didn't quit because of stomach cramps. He was just embarrassed. I know it!". Later, the two played a third match. Leonard won it by decision.

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