Roberto Duran in 1979

[goose 5]

Anyone remember if Duran and Cuevas were in negotiations for a title bout in 1979 ? I remember Leonard was earmarked as a challenger to Benitez as early as the spring of 1979 but it seems a Duran-Cuevas winner would have been in a great position to demand a big payday against the winner, not to mention that a Duran-Cuevas bout would have been very lucrative in itself.

[Expug]

I don’t recall any talk of them fighting.
Unfortunately, the wbc -wba groups were able to prevent a number of interesting bouts.
Cuevas-Palomino, Arguello-Duran on and on.

[elmersalsa]

Roberto Duran relinquished the lightweight crown in February 1979. Almost 7 years as the boss of the lightweights with 12 title defenses, 11 of them won by knockout.

I wanted to see the fight with Pipino Cuevas then after he beat Carlos Palomino at Madison Square Garden in June 1979.

I think that the fight with Pipino would have had lots of fireworks while it lasted.

[goose 5]

It's odd to consider that Duran had no title fights from January 1978 until June 1980. Different era.

[Joson]

As early as fall 1979, everyone was talking about the eventuality of Duran vs Leonard. The suspense was building-up even before Sugar Ray beat Benitez for the title later that year. But I don't remember any talk about Cuevas-Duran at that point in time.

[Ambling Alp II]

It's odd to consider that Duran had no title fights from January 1978 until June 1980. Different era.

Yep. "Only" 2 titles at each weight class instead of 4. And you could have an important non-title fight that people cared about.

[goose 5]

I found an April 8, 1979 newspaper article: "NBC dreaming of Duran-Cuevas." Also, an article from the same time saying Hearns' management turned down a title fight with Cuevas in Detroit.

[Ambling Alp II]

Good digging. Sounds like Hearn's team didn't think he was ready for Cuevas yet. He certainly would eventually be.