Word: duran
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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August 2, 1980: Tommy Hearns wants the WBA welterweight championship. He is fighting Pipino Ceuvas, a Roberto Duran-style fighter. A Hearns jab snaps Ceuvas's head back. Again. Again. Again. Ceuvas throws a combination. It misses by a foot...
...Leonard-Duran I. Second round. The fighters are in the center of the ring. Leonard lands a combination to Duran's body and backs off. On the way out, Duran lands a solid left hook to the side of Leonard's head. Leonard fights the next four rounds in a daze...
Leonard's plan, in fact his only chance, is to move, move, move, and get inside, throw some body shots to wear Hearns down and then retreat. Somewhere along the line he's going to get hit, however, and Hearns hits twice as hard as Duran. When Leonard tries to come in, he'll be met by Hearn's left, jab, a powerful accurate weapon. When Leonard is inside, Hearns will hook to the body. On the way out, Leonard will be caught with right hands. At some point, Leonard will have to trade punches with Hearns...
Leonard's other problem is that he can be hit with a good right hand. He has tagged about a dozen times by Duran's right lead in their Montreal fight, and two of these rights almost put Leonard down. And last Thursday Kalule connected repeatedly with his right jab. Hearns's right hand is a middleweight's right. When it connects it invariably stuns. Leonard can be hurt, and he won't be able to avoid the Hearns right for more than a few rounds...
...Hearns lands his powerful rights, another Leonard flaw will come to the surface. When Sugar Ray fought Duran that first time, it became apparent that not only was Leonard losing, but he was intimidated, even scared. Now Leonard is no Kenny Norton--he won't buckle at the first hard body shot--but he does seem to lose heart when things don't go his way. When he sees that he's having trouble reaching Hearns, and when Thomas starts slamming left hooks to the liver, Sugar Ray will wilt...