Sugar Ray Leonard: More to famous ‘No Mas’ fight vs. Roberto Duran

BEVERLY HILLS — Roberto Duran was drinking coffee inside the swanky SLS Hotel one morning last month when a man who approached the table held up an index finger.

“One more fight,’’ Sugar Ray Leonard said.

“Mucho dinero,’’ Duran replied with a laugh.

But then Leonard waved his hands in the air like a boxing referee stopping a fight.

“No more fights,’’ he said, either missing the punchline or sparing Duran a jab almost three decades after their famous rematch, known as the “No Mas’’ fight. Duran, from Panama, uttered those words when he quit at the end of the eighth round.

Sugar Ray Leonard, left, and Roberto Duran had three brutal fights but now greet each other with a hug. (Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USAT)

The events of that 1980 bout are addressed in a new documentary called “I am Duran,’’ which will be available by digital download starting Tuesday. The boxers who fought each other three times as welterweights united to promote the film, with the help of a translator.

Leonard, 63, speaks little Spanish. Duran, 67, speaks little English. But the one-time rivals communicated their regard for each other despite the language barrier.

They greeted each other with a hug.

Shortly after Leonard sat down, Duran wanted to know how many children he had.

“Four,’’ Leonard said, holding up four fingers.

And Duran?

“Nine,’’ he said with delight through translator.

Leonard smiled.

“I never thought I would love Duran,’’ he said, and when asked how long it took to let go of the animosity, he replied, “A thousand years.’’

Inside the hotel cafe, the two men joked and laughed, but the discussion grew more serious when talk turned to the “No Mas’’ fight. It took place Nov. 25, 1980, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans five months after Duran beat Leonard by unanimous decision in their first fight.

After the fight, Leonard said, he almost had his own “no mas’’ moment.

“I thought about retiring,’’ he said, noting that Duran had hit him so hard that Leonard’s jaw shifted during the fight.

Leonard smiled and pointed to his teeth.

“These aren’t my real teeth,’’ he said.

Then he turned to Duran and repeated the disclosure.

Duran laughed.

Leonard also said he needed 60 stiches in 1989 after their third and final fight, widely considered a lackluster 12-round affair that Leonard won by unanimous decision. Leonard showed how Duran had repeatedly head-butted him that night.

“Like a bull,’’ Duran said.

Duran turned serious when the subject turned to him quitting the "No Mas" fight, a shocking development for a boxer who had been known for his toughness and “Hands of Stone.’’

“Por que?’’ Leonard said.

Why? Why did Duran quit that night?

Duran said he partied too much after winning the first fight and came into the rematch weak and ill-prepared because he was forced to lose about 40 pounds to make weight.

Leonard said he recalled seeing the look in Duran’s eyes that night when the Panamanian boxer left the Louisiana Superdome after the fight.

“I saw his pain,’’ Leonard said.

Said Duran, “Yeah, it hurt me.’’

Leonard also suggested there is more to the story.

“And I think this documentary will reveal that,’’ he said.

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