Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán, billed as "The Brawl in Montreal", was a welterweight professional boxing match contested between WBC, The Ring and lineal champion Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán. The bout took place on June 20, 1980 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada. Durán defeated Leonard via unanimous decision.

The Brawl in Montreal
DateJune 20, 1980
VenueOlympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada
Title(s) on the lineWBC, The Ring and lineal welterweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer Ray Leonard Roberto Durán
Nickname "Sugar" "Manos de Piedra"
Hometown Palmer Park, Maryland, U.S. Panama City, Panama
Purse $9,000,000 $1,500,000
Pre-fight record 27–0 71–1
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight 145 lb (66 kg) 146 lb (66 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBC, The Ring and lineal
welterweight champion
Result
Durán defeats Leonard by unanimous decision

Background

On May 9, 1980, the highly anticipated fight between the undefeated reigning WBC champion "Sugar" Ray Leonard and former undisputed lightweight champion and the-then number-one ranked welterweight contender Roberto Durán was announced. The bout, which was to take place a little over a month after its official announcement on June 20, would take place at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, the site where Leonard had captured the Olympic gold medal four years prior.[1] Going into the fight, both Leonard and Durán were two of the top fighters in the sport, Leonard was perfect 27–0 and had captured the WBC welteweight title the previous December after knocking out future hall-of-famer Wilfred Benítez and then made a successful first defense against Dave Boy Green in March 1980. Durán had recently completed a six-year run as lightweight champion before moving up to welterweight where he compiled an 8–0 record before facing Leonard. The fight was set to be the highest grossing in boxing history[2] and both Leonard and Durán were to make the biggest paydays in their careers at $9 million and $1.5 million respectively.[3]

Just prior to the bout, both Leonard and Durán would receive health scares. Durán underwent a two-hour heart exam and after his EKG revealed an abnormality in his heartbeat, a cardiologist was called in and determined that the abnormality was common in a well-trained athlete and Durán was cleared to fight. Leonard, meanwhile, claimed that he had been stricken by a "virus", though his trainer stated "If he had a virus, it wasn't that bad or I would have heard of it."[4]

The fight

In a hard-fought, back-and-forth contest that went the full 15 rounds, Durán was the aggressor often throughout the fight was able to earn a close unanimous decision victory. Durán would both land and throw more punches for a 35% success rate, while Leonard, who abandoned his usual slick boxing style and went toe-to-toe with Durán, landed 273 of 753 for a 36% rate. Whilst, Leonard would make adjustments late in the fight, Durán had built a large enough lead by that point in the fight. When the decision was announced, Durán was incorrectly announced as a winner by majority decision as one judge's scorecard was erroneously tabulated as a 147–147 draw, however the mistake was discover a Durán would win on all three scorecards with scores of 145–144, 148–147 and 146–144.[5]

Fight card
Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Notes
Welterweight 147 lbs. Roberto Durán def. Ray Leonard (c) UD 15/15 Note 1
Light middleweight 154 lbs. Roger Leonard def. Clyde Gray SD 10/10
Heavyweight 200+ lbs. Trevor Berbick def. John Tate KO 9/10
Middleweight 160 lbs. Fernand Marcotte vs. Eddie Melo D 10/10
Lightweight 135 lbs. Gaétan Hart def. Cleveland Denny TKO 10/10

^Note 1 For WBC, The Ring and lineal Welterweight titles

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References
  1. Leonard Signs for Fight in Montreal, Washington Post article, 1980-05-10 Retrieved on 2020-03-08
  2. Title Bout Is Top Sports Payday, NY Times article, 1980-06-20 Retrieved on 2020-03-08
  3. Sugar Ray Leonard, People Magazine article, 1980-12-29 Retrieved on 2020-03-08
  4. Duran's Heart Has 'A' Rating, Washington Post article, 1980-06-18 Retrieved on 2020-03-08
  5. Remembering Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran I, ESPN article, 2015-06-20 Retrieved on 2020-02-28
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