The no Mas Fight

In their first fight, held on June 20 of that same year in Montreal, Duran had edged Leonard out by a unanimous but extremely close 15-round decision. Each of the judges saw Duran the winner by only one point on that night. That fight earned recognition by many boxing experts as one of the greatest fights ever fought.

The public kept its interest in seeing Duran and Leonard fighting each other, and so a rematch was organized for November 25. Originally, the fight did not have any nicknames attached to it, other than that of being the rematch between these two boxers. But what happened in it changed that, because this was one of the most controversial bouts in history.

Duran tried to work inside and tempt Leonard into a brawl, because on their first fight, Leonard had tried to out-brawl Duran and Duran was able to fight according to plan. But in the second fight, Leonard did not fall into that trap, and he resisted any attempts by Duran to make it into a brawl by moving around the ring[?] and throwing punches from a distance. The bout went pretty much like that round after round. After seven rounds had been completed, Leonard had built a small lead on the judges' scorecards.

Round eight was not the exception to the rule, Duran following Leonard around and trying to turn the bout into a brawl, and Leonard fighting from a distance. With about 17 seconds left in the round, Duran turned his back to the referee, Octavio Meyran[?]. He waved his glove up in the air and said the words No mas! (No More!). Meyran, incredulous, asked him something (presumably if he was sure of what he was doing) and Duran, walking towards his corner, emphatically answered No mas!, No mas!. Meyran then waved the bout over and Leonard became the winner, officially by a technical knockout in round eight, recovering the WBC world Welterweight title that Duran had taken from him in Montreal five months before.

Duran was subsequently seen as an embarrassment in his country of Panama for a very long time. It took about three years (when he beat Davey Moore to win the WBA world Jr. Middleweight title) for his countrymen to 'forgive' him. He went through a period of soul-searching after the Leonard rematch, because many boxing fans seemed to lose their respect for him. Of course, later on, he came back to win two more world titles and re-establish himself as a super-star and legend.

Leonard, on the other hand, went on to become a media super-star for the rest of his career. He went on to unify the Welterweight world championship by defeating WBA world champion Tommy Hearns, and to defeat Marvin Hagler for the world's Middleweight title, and Don LaDonde[?] for the Super-Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight belts. He was, as many have called him, a media darling, making multiple commercials on TV, having his own TV sports channel, and being a boxing broadcaster for HBO and some other channels.

Rumors of why Duran gave up on the night of November 25, 1980, abounded for the next few years. Some have said that he went to a restaurant in New Orleans and ate a large plate of steak a few hours before the fight, which would have affected his stomach and therefore, also his performance. Others said that he drank a drink in his hotel room. This drink he supposedly took was said to be a beverage prepared with various plants and ingredients, because Duran wanted to use it as a witchcraft potion against Leonard. And some have even suggested that the fight could have been fixed. Some have also said that Duran probably felt frustrated at not being able to tempt Leonard into the kind of fight Duran wanted. But the explanation that Duran gave for his action, and the explanation that is generally accepted, is that he was feeling ill with stomach cramps and felt that he could not go on longer.

Leonard is in the International Boxing Hall Of Fame nowadays, and most experts and fans believe that Duran, who fought until 2001, will join him there when time to vote for him is due.

Duran's phrase of No Mas became a household phrase, and can still be heard somewhat frequently around United States and Latin American streets and corners. Accordingly, the fight also became known in boxing's lore as The no Mas Fight.