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 ...

vs.

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 ...

II, billed as ''The Super Fight'', and later popularly known as the ''No Más'' Fight, was a professional boxing match contested on November 25, 1980, for the WBC and ''The Ring'' welterweight championship. It took place at the

Louisiana Superdome Caesars Superdome (originally Louisiana Superdome and formerly Mercedes-Benz Superdome), commonly known as the Superdome, is a domed multi-purpose stadium in the Southern United States, southern United States, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, United States. It was the second of three bouts between the pair. It gained its name from the moment at the end of the eighth round when Durán turned away from Leonard towards the referee and quit by apparently saying, "''No más''" (Spanish for "No more").

Background

and

had first fought on June 20, 1980, in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Leonard was defending the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

(WBC) Welterweight Championship for the second time. Durán was the WBC No. 1 welterweight contender. Leonard abandoned his usual slick boxing style and stood flat-footed with Durán. Durán won the first fight by a narrow but unanimous decision, with scores of 148–147, 145–144, and 146–144.

The fight

The rematch took place November 25, 1980 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Leonard used his superior speed and movement to outbox and befuddle Durán. "The whole fight, I was moving, I was moving", Leonard said. "And ''Voom!'' I snapped his head back with a jab. ''Voom!'' I snapped it back again. He tried to get me against the ropes, I'd pivot, spin off and ''Pow!'' Come under with a punch." In round 7, Leonard started to taunt Durán. Late in the round, winding up his right hand as if to throw a

bolo punch A bolo punch is a punch used in martial arts. The bolo punch is not among the traditional boxing punches (jab, uppercut, Hook (boxing), hook and Cross (boxing), cross). ''Bolo knife, Bolo'' is a Filipino single-edged knife similar to the machete ...

, Leonard snapped out a left jab and caught Durán flush in the face. In the closing seconds of the eighth round, Durán turned his back to Leonard and quit, waving his glove and apparently saying to referee

Octavio Meyran Octavio Meyran Sanchez is a Mexican former boxing referee. During his career Meyran officiated at over twenty-seven world title fights including the No Más fight between Roberto Durán and Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980, Wilfredo Gómez's WBC Feathe ...

, "''No más''" ("No more" in Spanish). Leonard was the winner by a technical knockout (TKO) at 2:44 of round 8, regaining the WBC Welterweight Championship. Leonard led by a small margin of 68–66, 68–66 and 67–66 on the judges scorecards at the time of the TKO.

Aftermath

Durán has said that he never said the words ''No mas'' to anyone following the bout. He blamed the broadcaster

Howard Cosell Howard William Cosell (; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985. Cosell was widel ...

for coming up with it and claiming he said it. He said he was only mumbling to himself "No sigo, no sigo, no sigo", meaning "I'm not carrying on". He has said that he quit because of stomach cramps, which started to bother him in the fifth round. He said the cramps occurred because he took off weight too quickly, then ate too much after the morning weigh-in, but his manager, Carlos Eleta, said Durán always ate that way before a fight. "Durán didn't quit because of stomach cramps", Eleta said. "He quit because he was embarrassed." Leonard claimed credit for having forced Durán to give up, and took great satisfaction in it. "I ''made'' him quit", Leonard said. "To make a man quit, to make Roberto Durán quit, was better than knocking him out." According to Rhiannon Walker, "he explained that his manager, Panamanian businessman Carlos Eleta, made the mistake of scheduling the fight too close after the first fight, not allowing Duran enough time to drop the necessary weight." Durán's stature in his home country of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

took a dramatic dive after the fight. The immediate reaction was shock, followed by anger. Within hours, commercials featuring Durán (in both Panama and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

) were ordered off the air. On June 16, 1983, Durán's 32nd birthday, he knocked out undefeated Davey Moore in the eighth round to win the WBA Junior Middleweight Championship. In Panama, there was rejoicing in the streets. Leonard and Durán fought a third and final time on December 7, 1989 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

with Leonard retaining the WBC Super Middleweight Championship in a lopsided, 12-round unanimous decision.

Media

The fight - along with the Leonard/Durán rivalry in the 1980s - was highlighted in the ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series und ...

'' episode ''No Más'' from 2013. Both the first fight between Duran and Leonard and this bout are featured prominently in ''

Hands of Stone ''Hands of Stone'' is a 2016 biographical film, biographical sports film about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Durán. It is directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz. It stars Édgar Ramírez, Robert De Niro, Usher (m ...

'', a 2016 biopic about Duran.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts: *

Carlos DeLeon Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

defeat

Marvin Camel Marvin Camel (born December 24, 1951) is a Native American former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1990. He was the first cruiserweight world champion, having held the WBC title in 1980 and the IBF title from 1983 to 1984. He was ...

via majority decision to win the WBC Cruiserweight championship. * Mark Holmes defeat Bruce Calloway via TKO at 1:35 of the 5th round. *Sugar Ray Leonard's brother

Roger Leonard Roger Leonard (born July 21, 1953) is a retired professional boxer from Palmer Park, Maryland. He is the older brother of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, whom he introduced to boxing. Career Amateur career Nicknamed "The Dodger," Leonard ha ...

defeat Melvin Dennis via a unanimous decision. *

Jerry Celestine Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * Jerry (play), a 1914 American play ...

knocked out

Pablo Ramos Pablo Ramos Sánchez (Yacuiba, Bolivia; January 25, 1937 - Yacuiba, Bolivia; September 24, 2021) was a Bolivian economist, writer, Rector (academia), rector and university professor. He was the last Prefect (interim) of La Paz Department (Bolivi ...

at 2:23 of the 9th round. *

Melvin Paul Melvin is a masculine given name and surname, likely a variant of Melville and a descendant of the French surname de Maleuin and the later Melwin. It may alternatively be spelled as Melvyn or, in Welsh, Melfyn and the name Melivinia or Melva may b ...

won in his professional debut by stopping Chubby Johnson at 2:39 of the 3rd round.

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duran, Leonard II 1980 in boxing 1980s in New Orleans 1980 in sports in Louisiana November 1980 sports events in the United States Boxing in New Orleans Boxing matches in the United States Leonard II Durán II Boxing on ABC Boxing on ITV Caesars Superdome Nicknamed sporting events

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

Welterweight championship matches