Duran's second No Mas

[oliverfennell]

Obviously it didn't matter anywhere near as much as Leonard II, given it was a low-key fight at the tail-end of his career, but I remember reading Duran taking some stick for quitting against Pat Lawlor, although I didn't see the fight. Officially it was a hand injury butI seem to remember it being suspected that it was just an excuse to get out of a fight he wasn't doing well in.

Did anybody see it and/or have any more info?

[bennie]

I remember watching it at the time on Sky. It was one of those undercard fights to a Tyson headliner (one of the awful Ruddock brawls) and didn't really mean much, even with Duran involved. The Panamanian legend was embarrassingly out of shape, as he usually was between fights, banking on someone who would come to him. Even at his peak, Duran had a real weakness to movers, which is why he goaded Leonard so much before the first fight. Anyway, Lawlor looked in pretty good shape and moved quite well and proved surprisingly effective with the jab, and Duran was too unfit to go chasing. Then he suddenly stopped fighting after an exchange by the ropes, holding his elbow with a look of pain, and that was that.
Duran was so old by that point nobody really cared. Lawlor was later destroyed over here by Joe Calzaghe.

[klompton]

Awful Ruddock brawls? Both Tyson Ruddock fights were very entertaining and good fights. The first fight had an unsatisfactory ending for some (I thought the stoppage was fine) but the second fight had it all. I love those fights.

[My2Sense]

The fight was essentially equivalent to JC Chavez quitting against that Grover fellow. A few people scoffed and said "He quit again", but most people just considered it as sad.

If I'm not mistaken, Lawlor got some kind of title shot off of that fight (was it against Calzaghe??) and lost. He really was just a clubfighter, but the semi-high profile Duran win put him into the big picture very briefly, where he was completely out of his depth. After a bunch of losses he faded away. I believe Duran beat him in a rematch as well, by which time Lawlor was probably just as shot as he was.

[bennie]

The fight was essentially equivalent to JC Chavez quitting against that Grover fellow. A few people scoffed and said "He quit again", but most people just considered it as sad.

If I'm not mistaken, Lawlor got some kind of title shot off of that fight (was it against Calzaghe??) and lost. He really was just a clubfighter, but the semi-high profile Duran win put him into the big picture very briefly, where he was completely out of his depth. After a bunch of losses he faded away. I believe Duran beat him in a rematch as well, by which time Lawlor was probably just as shot as he was.

Yes, some excellent points. To compound the whole debacle, Duran claimed that he had injured the elbow in sparring with an actor who paraded himself as a boxer (badly) around that time and whose name I won't even bother to mention.
It was around this time I began to lose interest in the modern boxing game.

[NumberOneBigDog]

If you are really up on your Tyson history you know that Mike just kept Ruddock around in the later rounds for a work out. He could have him out of there in one round.

[turn2stone]

at the time of the 1st duran fight lawlor was a decent enough fighter. hard working but limited, (and feather fisted)and was coming off a decision victory over the extremely wornout wilfred benitez. so, at one point lawlor was able to brag "im 16-1 and have just defeated benitez and duran". comical but true. i watched the fight on close circuit and yes, duran walked away. simply quit and he was getting out worked.
pretty good undercard with the simon brown-maurice blocker welterweight unification. christ, brown was an under rated monster back then, with lots of great tv fights.

[Jaywheel]

If you are really up on your Tyson history you know that Mike just kept Ruddock around in the later rounds for a work out. He could have him out of there in one round.

Same goes for every Tyson fight that lasted more than one round

[overhand_right]

Obviously it didn't matter anywhere near as much as Leonard II, given it was a low-key fight at the tail-end of his career, but I remember reading Duran taking some stick for quitting against Pat Lawlor, although I didn't see the fight. Officially it was a hand injury butI seem to remember it being suspected that it was just an excuse to get out of a fight he wasn't doing well in.

Did anybody see it and/or have any more info?

He clearly hurt his arm and was visibly in angony, but yes he was also out of shape and struggling with Lawlor. BUT, the injury looked very genuine.

[turn2stone]

i remember it as a sort of arm, shoulder, rib muscle type injury that he claimed. (going off memory here).
seeing he had about another 30 fights and took his beatings like a man, i'll give him the pass here and say the injury was legitimate. if he'd been anywhere close to being in shape it's likely the injury would never have occured.

[overhand_right]

I think he kind of hit Lawlor on the hip and it jarred his arm causing a freak elbow injury. Anyone who has seen Durans acting in the odd TV shows knows he can't act -- and man he looked in pain when he hurt his arm.

[JibJab]

Right before the Duran fight Lawlor got a win over a washed up Wilfred Benitez too. The funny thing is that as old as Duran was in the fight that he quit in with Lawlor he was still able to come back and avenge the loss 9 years later. Funny how when he got in shape but was REALLY OLD and washed up, that version of Duran was still better then Lawlor.

[turn2stone]

Right before the Duran fight Lawlor got a win over a washed up Wilfred Benitez too. The funny thing is that as old as Duran was in the fight that he quit in with Lawlor he was still able to come back and avenge the loss 9 years later. Funny how when he got in shape but was REALLY OLD and washed up, that version of Duran was still better then Lawlor.

the 2nd fight says more about lawlor than it does duran.
lawlor had only 1 defeat and was 27 or 28 years old. there was some upside to his career. 9 years later he was pushing 40 and was strictly an opponent, losing just about every recent fight. lawlor was a washed-up journeyman while duran was a washed-up all time great.

[Syntax Error]

Awful Ruddock brawls? Both Tyson Ruddock fights were very entertaining and good fights. The first fight had an unsatisfactory ending for some (I thought the stoppage was fine) but the second fight had it all. I love those fights.

Tyson -v- Ruddock 1 & 2 may have been entertaining in a bar room brawl or street fight sense, but they were extremely low quality boxing matches.

Tyson & Ruddock just stood in front of each other & detonated hard single shots off each others chins & waited to see the results.

There were barely any real skills exhibited during those 2 fights & that's all the more remarkable when you consider that they were supposed to be the top 2 contenders to champion Evander Holyfield.

[ghoster]

I believe it was a shoulder injury. It wasn't a "No Mas" situation, not at least like the second Leonard fight. He was injured and could not continue.