After the draw with Hearns in June, Ray Leonard signed to fight his arch nemesis Roberto Duran in December. I had softened in my anger towards Ray, and found it easy to vote for him once again because I really couldn’t stand Duran. The fight would christen the new Mirage hotel on the strip in Las Vegas,and was held outdoors in a temporary arena.
I vividly recall it being about seven degrees in south Jersey that December 7th, 1989 evening when I made my way to the Pavilion in Cherry Hill to watch the closed circuit show. I knew Leonard would win this fight easy. Duran had earned this shot by upsetting Iran Barkley in a razor close fight in February, but fighting Ray would be different.
Sugar Ray boxed circles around Duran, and even repeated some of his stuff from 9 years earlier, like the fake bolo, but it rang hollow. Roberto had no answer and the fight was boring as Ray easily outboxed Duran. The only real drama in the fight came when a right hand by Roberto opened a huge gash over Leonard’s eye.
Ray finished the fight with blood gushing from his eyebrow, but the whole night was kind of a dud. I was happy he had won, but it was anything but an exciting night.
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