Did Roberto Duran do the right thing in his "NO MAS fight?"?

Question

I've revisited Leonard - Duran 2 a lot recently and I've noticed more than ever the rage building up in Duran during the course of the fight.

It was a close fight; Leonard was winning but that could have changed had the fight continued past the 8th round.

Duran was known for his rage-feuled will power. Leonard, in provoking Duran, may have been pushing Duran into a Mike Tyson psycotic state.

Duran turned his back on Leonard, took a nasty kidney shot but ignored it. He said "I want no more of this clown." in his native laguage.

Duran may have been ready to do something crazy. Maybe he stopped himself. Maybe he wasn't wrong.

Answer 1

I agree with Jo s... Duran was FAT! Leonard himself said that he called his people to make the fight happen as soon as possible after watching a spanish video showing duran over 200 lbs!! He knew he would have a big advantage if the fight was scheduled as SOON as possible. Leonard in fact is proud of this!!! In a way he was trying to get back at Duran for insulting him the first fight, but I think its cowardly not to want to fight someone at their best.

      So Duran not being in his best shape ( he had to take soo many diuretic pills to cut the enormous amount of weight)  said "no mas".. He basically did not want Leonard making him look stupid when he clearly knew that at his very best it would a much tougher fight for Leonard. All people care about are the outcomes of fights, and Duran had too much pride to let Leonard fool himself and others into thinking he beat Duran at his best... I guess you have to be a fighter to understand. But I just find it unfair that people judge him so much when he spent almost all his training trying to loose weight and not on being a finely tuned machine ready to go like Leonard was.

Answer 2

Sounds like he got paid to take a fall.

Answer 3

*laughs*

No.  He just couldn't take what he dished out in the first fight.

Answer 4

when was this fight and where is it available for viewing?

Answer 5

After beating Leonard the first fight, Duran was practically crowned King of Panama. He did nothing but party for months and then had to crash about 50 pounds in a couple of weeks to get ready for the fight. He was way too out of shape to be fighting.

Answer 6

Duran was a great fighter no matter what he did in that fight.  Leonard outclassed him in one fight and it hurt Duran most as the way his countrymen viewed him.  Duran redeemed himself with all his fights after the Leonard fight.  

If Duran had to do it over again he should have just fought his fight and got it over with but shouldn't have stopped fighting.  

As for the way I look at Duran he overall is rated way ahead of Leonard pound for pound.  He showed Leonard how a great fighter fights the first time they fought.