Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran (3rd meeting)
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Jabs | Leonard | Duran |
---|---|---|
Landed | 118 | 33 |
Thrown | 211 | 393 |
Percent | 56% | 8% |
Power Punches | Leonard | Duran |
Landed | 109 | 51 |
Thrown | 227 | 195 |
Percent | 48% | 26% |
Total Punches | Leonard | Duran |
Landed | 227 | 84 |
Thrown | 438 | 588 |
Percent | 52% | 14% |
Roberto Duran 158 lbs lost to Ray Leonard 160 lbs by UD in round 12 of 12
- Date: 1989-12-07
- Location: Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
- Referee: Richard Steele
- Judge: Joe Cortez 111-116
1 9102 9103 9104 1095 1096 9107 9108 8109 91010 91011 10912 109 - Judge: Bob Logist 110-120
1 10102 9103 9104 9105 9106 9107 9108 9109 91010 91011 91012 1010 - Judge: Jerry Roth 109-119
1 9102 9103 9104 9105 9106 9107 9108 9109 91010 91011 91012 109
- Unofficial AP scorecard: 118-111 Leonard
- Unofficial HBO Judge Harold Lederman: 120-106 Leonard
- WBC Super Middleweight Championship (2nd defense by Leonard)
- Fight Poster
- Program Cover
- Photo 1, Photo 2
- See also: Leonard vs. Duran I
- See also: Leonard vs. Duran II
Notes
- On July 26, 1989, a press conference was held to officially announce the fight. The press was told that the site and the date had not yet been determined, but there were three possibilities: Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on November 2, Trump Plaza in Atlantic City on November 30 and The Mirage in Las Vegas during the first week of December.
- It was announced on July 31 that the fight would take place at The Mirage. The $630 million hotel and casino opened on November 22, 1989, and was the first new resort on the Las Vegas Strip in fifteen years. Steve Wynn, the owner of The Mirage, originally scheduled the opening for December 26, but the date was moved up when he landed the fight.
- Mike Trainer, Leonard's attorney and the fight's co-promoter, said The Mirage and Trump Plaza offered site fees in excess of $8 million. "The money was about the same. It came down to intangibles," Trainer said. "Ray liked the idea of opening this new hotel."
- Trainer's Victory Promotions and Bob Arum's Top Rank promoted the fight.
- The match was billed as "Uno Mas," meaning "one more" in Spanish. It was a reference to the second fight between Leonard and Duran, the "No Mas" fight, in which Duran quit.
- Leonard was the WBC Super Middleweight Champion, and Duran was the WBC Middleweight Champion.
- Leonard and Duran had a contracted weight limit of 162 pounds.
- The fight was shown live on closed circuit television at approximately 1,200 locations and on pay-per-view, which was available to an estimated 13 million homes in the United States.
- HBO paid $3 million for the delayed rights.
- A sellout crowd of 16,305 produced a gate of $9 million. Ticket prices were $800, $600, $500, $300, $200 and $100.
- Leonard made at least $15 million and Duran $7.6 million. Leonard's purse from this fight made him the first boxer to earn over $100 million in his career.
- There were seven minutes of fireworks before the fight started.
- Leonard was a 9 to 5 favorite.
- The fight was held in an outdoor arena. It was a chilly night, and Leonard's seconds wrapped a blanket around him between rounds.
- Leonard suffered three cuts during the fight: A headbutt in the fourth round cut his lower lip (it required 10 stitches), a right in the 11th cut his right eyebrow (it required 30 stitches) and a left in the 12th cut his left eyelid (it required 20 stitches).
- Pat Putnam of Sports Illustrated reported:
- Leonard's fight plan could have been devised by Sun Tzu, who wrote the bible of military strategy, The Art of War, in 500 B.C. His tactics were textbook perfect, the sort, as Leonard said after his lopsided victory, "that you try to teach young fighters." The 12-round bout had all the beauty of a bullfight, but without the expected horror of the kill.
- Still, the fans didn't like it; Leonard gave them artistic perfection when they wanted heated battle, and they booed lustily. Most fight fans would not spend a dime to watch Van Gogh paint Sunflowers, but they would fill Yankee Stadium to see him cut off his ear.
- Only in the 11th round, after thoroughly dominating the bewildered Duran, did Leonard give the fans what they asked for: blood. His own. In the last 30 seconds of the round, he met Duran toe-to-toe. Both men fired right hands; Duran's chopped the gash over Leonard's left eye. Moving quickly away, Leonard thought, To hell with that. His mouth already was bleeding from a butt in the fourth round. Very late in the final round, a Duran hook sliced the flesh on Leonard's right eyebrow.
- That finished a high-percentage night for Duran, who landed only 84 of 588 punches, but opened cuts with two of those. In contrast, Leonard landed 227 of 438 punches. His unceasing lateral movement kept Duran in a constant state of befuddlement. His attacks came behind a merciless jab; his combinations were swift and had a mean purity. For one last time Sugar Ray Leonard gave the world Sugar Ray Leonard. The judges' cards read 119-109, 120-110, 116-111, all for Leonard.
Articles
- "Uno Mas" Associated Press, July 27, 1989
- "Vegas' Mirage will stage third Leonard-Duran III" Gainesville Sun, August 1, 1989
- "LEONARD-DURAN BOUT MAY BE BOXING'S RICHEST" By Lee Benson, Desert News, December 7, 1989
- "Leonard Wins With Unanimous 12-Round Decision" By Ed Schuyler Jr., Associated Press, December 8, 1989
- "No mess for Leonard this time around" By Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press, December 8, 1989
- "Leonard Sarisfied With Performance" By Ed Schuyler Jr., Associated Press, December 9, 1989
- "One For The Ages" By Pat Putnam, Sports Illustrated, December 18, 1989