No Mas: 40 Years Later, What Really Happened?

[elmersalsa]

It was a Tuesday night of November 25th, 1980 at The Superdome in New Orleans, LA. The anticipated rematch between the greats Roberto Duran of Panama, who was the defending WBC World Welterweight Champion, against Sugar Ray Leonard of Palmer Park, MD, who was the former champion in which Duran took his crown 5 months earlier.

I want people in this forum to talk and study what really happened on that night when in the middle of the 8th round, The Hands of Stone abruptly quit. Duran quit? That was the question that any boxing fan who ever saw him before that would have never imagine he would do something like that. Quit in a fight? It was unthinkable in many people's view.

I was 12 years old when that happened. And when Duran whupped Sugar Ray in the first fight, I thought that he was INVINCIBLE. NOBODY, absolutely nobody, I thought, could beat Roberto Duran! I had my chest on high. He was my pride and joy. Sugar Ray was also a favorite of mine, especially when he beat Wilfred Benitez of Puerto Rico in a masterful contest that went 15 rounds. But, Duran and Muhammad Ali were my first heroes of boxing.

And ironically, both of them lost in the same year 1980. So, 3 of my favorite boxers lost in 1980. A year that I probably never forget.

Sugar Ray loses to Duran.
Ali loses to the great Larry Holmes. It hurt, but I later understood that he was 38 years old and over the hill for a long time.
And now, Duran quits to Sugar Ray.
And the next month, John Lennon got shot and killed. This was too much for a 12-year old to bear.

The events of 1980 will never escape my mind. Especially, the No Mas fight. And why? Why to me it hurt so much. Back when it happened, I was teased in school the next day. I was hurt and embarrassed that my hero did quit. For many years I watch this fight more than any other fight that I got on tape and I always look for answers. I still remember where I was when it happened. It was like if your dad has died. It was like if your first girlfriend quits to you and goes out with the enemy, breaking my heart. For years, I had these painful feelings. How Sugar Ray faked the bolo punch and hit Duran in the face with the left jab and running around the ring like a rabbit in which Duran could not catch him.

It was a great strategy by Leonard. He was not only a GENIUS inside the ring, but also outside of it. He studied Duran. He did his homework. Duran didn't. Duran should have known better. And it hurts. It hurts that it was not Sugar Ray's fault but Duran's. Until this day, "The No Mas" hurt me more than Duran ever felt about it.

And is the year 2020, and still nobody knows. No matter what, nobody will know what happened on that night in New Orleans on November 25th, 1980.

Well, I got over it.

But, What really happened?

[DrDuke]

I'd say, Duran was just too undisciplined after the first fight. He had to take more time for preparation, but probably his overconfidence led to not giving much f*ck and not demanding on a longer time for preparation. In the result he struggled more with cutting weight instead of a propaer preparation to the bout. He literally gave away this fight even before it started. Duran wasn't the same after the Leonard win. It was a tough fight. Tough bouts take it away from you. But also Duran harmed his shape after it. Together these things became factors of causing a decline.

Leonard's honorable loss to Duran is more important for his legacy than his win over an out of shape version of Duran.

[Onetimeonly]

You were teased in school that your hero lost to your other hero? In Panama?

[Counter-puncher]

You were teased in school that your hero lost to your other hero? In Panama?

Panama has always had schizophrenic elements to its identity

[Onetimeonly]

Long story short, Elmer was mocked in school.

[Jaywheel]

And judging by the length of the post, he’s clearly “over” it.

[elmersalsa]

You were teased in school that your hero lost to your other hero? In Panama?

Nah, bro. It was Middletown, OH.

[elmersalsa]

You were teased in school that your hero lost to your other hero? In Panama?

Sugar Ray was my Mercedes Benz.
Duran was my Rolls Royce.

Understand?

[Onetimeonly]

Got it, you hate Mercedes.

[Counter-puncher]

[AntonioMartin]

. I still remember where I was when it happened. It was like if your dad has died. It was like if your first girlfriend quits to you and goes out with the enemy, breaking my heart.

A bit like I felt when Wilfredo Gomez lost to Salvador Sanchez shortly after I turned nine.

But I was over it a month later

[elmersalsa]

Got it, you hate Mercedes.

No, I don't hate Mercedes.

I just wish that Roberto Duran would have prepared himself like he did in the first fight.

[Onetimeonly]

Got it, you hate Mercedes.

No, I don't hate Mercedes.

I just wish that Roberto Duran would have prepared himself like he did in the first fight.

Of course, your love for Leonard makes that logical.

[Wee Tommy]

Duran quit. That’s all that happened. It’s been said he was needing a shite. That he was undertrained and embarrassed by Leonard’s clowning. He quit. End of. I don’t even hold it against him. I’m just happy he was a fighter and his fights entertained me.

[Onetimeonly]

You still remember where you were? Cc in Middletown Ohio?

[elmersalsa]

You still remember where you were? Cc in Middletown Ohio?

Yes, Middletown, OH. The fight was on a Tuesday night. I saw the replay on ABC on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day was the next day.

Howard Cossell interviewed both fighters. Sugar Ray was in Los Angeles ABC studios with Cossell. And Duran and his doctor and also his interpreter were in the ABC studios in Miami. Remember that?

[Perseus]

What happened?

For the FIRST time in his career Duran had an opponent grow so confident in the ring said opponent started taunting him.
SRL was starting to dominate the fight which had never happened to Duran previously, he had a loss in a tough fight but had never been dominated or beat up.
For the first time Duran was looking at defeat and a likely 7+ rounds of getting beat up.
Roberto visibly enjoyed beating up opponents in the ring but when the day came for Roberto to take a beating he didn't have the sack for it and quit in the middle of a round before taking much of a beating.
That is what happened.

The excuses are just ridiculous
We see out of shape(and/or weight drained) boxers who are clearly losing the fight stay in that ring until the final bell or the ref stops it all the time.
There is no intelligent reason for not expecting Duran to do the same.

[Flump]

My take is Duran was just frustrated. Leonard changed his tactics and Duran couldn't adapt.

Sort of like a kid turning up for an exam, he knows he hasn't revised properly, then a few pages in thinks to himself, what's the point and leaves the room and goes home.

[Duran1970]

What happened?

For the FIRST time in his career Duran had an opponent grow so confident in the ring said opponent started taunting him.
SRL was starting to dominate the fight which had never happened to Duran previously, he had a loss in a tough fight but had never been dominated or beat up.
For the first time Duran was looking at defeat and a likely 7+ rounds of getting beat up.
Roberto visibly enjoyed beating up opponents in the ring but when the day came for Roberto to take a beating he didn't have the sack for it and quit in the middle of a round before taking much of a beating.
That is what happened.

The excuses are just ridiculous
We see out of shape(and/or weight drained) boxers who are clearly losing the fight stay in that ring until the final bell or the ref stops it all the time.
There is no intelligent reason for not expecting Duran to do the same.

Ray was not " dominating" and certainly not "beating up" Duran

[elmersalsa]

You are exactly right Duran1970. People blow up things out of proportion.

That Sugar Ray was beating Duran and giving him a boxing lesson. I did not see any of that. All I saw was that a man was very uncomfortable in his surroundings and then quit.

But, that Duran was getting a whupping? That's hogwash.

[Tuan_Jim]

Why is this result so mysterious to people? Duran hadn't prepared like he did the first time, couldn't win, was being mocked and quit in a rage.

[bwu]

I'd say, Duran was just too undisciplined after the first fight. He had to take more time for preparation, but probably his overconfidence led to not giving much f*ck and not demanding on a longer time for preparation. In the result he struggled more with cutting weight instead of a propaer preparation to the bout. He literally gave away this fight even before it started. Duran wasn't the same after the Leonard win. It was a tough fight. Tough bouts take it away from you. But also Duran harmed his shape after it. Together these things became factors of causing a decline.

Leonard's honorable loss to Duran is more important for his legacy than his win over an out of shape version of Duran.

You’re not going to get a better explanation than this one. I might add however, that while Leonard’s legacy is better as a result of the first fight, making Duran quit in the second fight was monumental.

[Perseus]

lol at anyone trying to say SRL had not taken over that fight.

After 5 solid, competitive rounds SRL took over the fight from the 6th to the conclusion., he had found the timing and range and was getting more dominant with each round.
In the 6th he was frustrating Duran with movement, had his jab working, some of which were just touching Roberto, some were solid, when Duran would attempt to get him to the ropes SRL hit him with hard lefts on the way in and got in some clean hard rights during the round a wide round for SRL.
The 7th was a dominant SRL round. He was doing the same things he did in the previous round but was starting to make it look easy, hitting Duran seemingly at will, a little more often and had grown confident enough to start the showboating.
In the 8th round SRL stopped the taunting, not one shuffle, sticking out his chin or any other such activity. It was all business but it was more of the same pattern as the previous two rounds until Roberto quit.
The events of each round had gotten repetitive with SRL starting to land a few more clean, solid punches each round and Duran didn't know what to do.
What did Roberto know?
He knew there were a lot of rounds left and SRL was just going to continue hitting him for the rest of the fight.

Duran....who visibly enjoyed beating up opponents..........had realized this was not going to be his day and he just could not take what he was ok with dishing out to others.
No one had ever done this to Roberto and after just a few rounds of it he couldn't take it.
Rather than deal with his bad day in the ring he just quit.
That is what is you saw.

[Ambling Alp II]

Yep. That is pretty much what happened. Better fighter won. Quitting like that instead of at least trying will always tarnish his legacy.
superb performance by Leonard which almost always gets overlooked.

[elmersalsa]

Yep. That is pretty much what happened. Better fighter won. Quitting like that instead of at least trying will always tarnish his legacy.
superb performance by Leonard which almost always gets overlooked.

I don't think he was the better fighter. He caught a Duran in a bad night, which was a beautifully created strategy.