Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...

vs.

Roberto Durán Roberto Carlos Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held quadruple champion, world championships in four weight classes: Lightweight, welterweight, light middleweigh ...

III, billed as ''Uno Mas'', was a professional boxing match contest held on December 7, 1989, for the WBC super middleweight title.

Background

Reigning WBC super middleweight champion "Sugar" Ray Leonard had made the first successful defense of his title after fighting

Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Detroit, Motor City Cobra", and more famously "the Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and long arms and shoulders al ...

to a draw. After the Hearns fight, Leonard began negotiations for both a third fight with rival

and a potential third fight with Hearns. Whilst a third Hearns fight never came into fruition, Leonard and Duran would reach an agreement to face one another and the fight was announced at a press conference on July 26, 1989, though the venue in which the fight would take place was still in question. Five days later, the then-yet-to-be-opened

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', mean ...

was announced as the venue for the fight. Durán had won the WBC middleweight title after upsetting

Iran Barkley Iran Barkley (; born May 6, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1999. He held triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, including the World Boxing Council, WBC middleweight title from 1988 ...

in his previous fight, though only Leonard's super middleweight was on the line. Leonard and Durán agreed to a catch-weight of 162 pounds, between the middleweight limit of 160 pounds and the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. Initial plans called for both Leonard and Duran's titles to be at stake, but Duran's

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...

Lindell Holmes refused to step aside and insisted on Duran making his next defense against him, resulting in Durán's title not being defended. The fight was billed as "Uno Mas" (one more in Spanish) in reference to Leonard and Duran's second fight against each other in which Duran quit in round eight after apparently telling the referee "No Mas" (no more in Spanish). Leonard was a 9 to 5 favorite.

The fight

In contrast to their first two fights, this was entirely lopsided in Leonard's favor. Using constant movement and counter-punching, Leonard dominated Duran, completely neutralizing Duran's offensive attack. Leonard landed 227 punches, good for 52% of his total thrown punches compared to Duran, who landed a dismal 84 punches at a 14% rate. The fight went the full 12-round distance, with all three judges scoring the fight for Leonard with scores of 120–110, 119–109 and 116–111.

Aftermath

In August 1990, Leonard relinquished the WBC super-middleweight title, saying that he was under the weight for the division. He then offered Hearns a third fight, but Hearns said he could no longer make the weight and moved up to the light heavyweight division.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References