ROBERTO DURAN vs. SUGAR RAY LEONARD (1) CCTV BADK  

Description : Here we have the a vintage official Don King & Top Rank promotions closed circuit poster from that most momentous & historic night in Montreal. This poster was used to advertise the closed circuit showing at the Cincinnati Gardens Arena with future WBA light-welterweight champion Aaron Pryor appearing as a pre-fight screening attraction fighting Carl crowley,

On June 20, 1980, The 24 year old Sugar Ray Leonard returned to the Olympic Stadium in Montreal to defend his title against Roberto Duran before a crowd of 46,317. Duran was now 29 & the former Undisputed World Lightweight Champion, who's record of 71-1 and was the #1 welterweight contender & had been attributed the accolade of the "70's Fighter of the Decade"

It was, from almost the opening salvo, a fight that belonged to Duran. The Panama animal seized the evening and gave it what shape and momentum it had. He took control, attacking and driving Leonard against the ropes, bulling him back, hitting him with lefts and rights to the body as he maneuvered the champion against the ropes from corner to corner. Always moving forward, he mauled and wrestled Leonard, scoring inside with hooks and rights. For three rounds Duran drove at Sugar Ray with a relentless fury, and there were moments when it seemed the fight could not last five. Leonard was being suffocated in violence. Unable to get away, unable to counter and unable to slide away to open up the ring, Leonard seemed almost helpless under the assault. Now and then he got loose and counteredleft-right-left to Duran's bobbing headbut he missed punches and could not work inside, could not jab, could not mount an offense to keep Duran at bay.

Duran was awarded a unanimous decision, although it was mistakenly read as a majority decision in the ring. The scorecard of judge Angelo Poletti was incorrectly added and announced as 147-147. He actually scored it 148-147. In rounds, he had it three for Duran, two for Leonard, and ten even. Sports Illustrated called his scorecard "a monument to indecision." Judges Raymond Baldeyrou and Harry Gibbs scored the fight 146-144 and 145-144, respectively. The Associated Press had it 144-141 for Duran, all these scores are more than a tad generous to Leonard IMO, it was a 10-5 at the very least for Duran who had the fight locked up after 10 rounds of the 15 fought.

One of the greatest victories of all time!

Postage: 10.00 UK Postage... 20.00 International registered.