Boxing documentaries are amongst my favorite and I love taking a look at some of the golden ages of boxing with the 80s middle weights era as one of those. The ESPN film on the Leonard-Duran fights was pretty good and examined the reasons why Duran quit the second fight, the famous "No Mas" encounter. Did anyone else catch it? Anyway, I thought they skirted over the most obvious reason why Duran quit, although they alluded to it a number of time. Duran quit because he was losing and, more importantly, being mocked by Leonard, who was frustrating Duran with some great movement and clowning. Anyone who has spent time in Latin American countries knows machismo is strong in many of the males and Duran had it on hyper drive. The USA uses it to great effect against Mexico in soccer and Leonard did it to Duran in New Orleans. The film still brought back great memories of watching boxing in the 80s with my dad, especially how much we loved Ray Leonard and how good that dude was (I think my dad liked Hagler a little more, though.). Duran was a beast, even if he got knocked out in one of the most brutal fashions by another of my favorites in that era, Thomas Hearns. Check it out from about 5:50 when the second round starts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkCrsx3unYI
I have trouble finishing the Holmes/Ali one. Depresses me. The cinematography is beautiful, though. I didn't watch the No Mas film this evening. I'm pissed. I'll keep an eye out for a repeat.
Ali is always a conundrum for me. I love certain parts of him and despise others. His treatment of Frazier was disgraceful, even if it was for psychological effect.
Favorite part was their describing how Ali would taunt fighters throughout a bout by repeatedly exclaiming, "Don't you know I'm God?! You can't whip me! I'm God!" He pulled that shit with Frazier in an early round, and Frazier responded with, "God, you're in the wrong place tonight!" Frazier's pre-fight prayer - "God, help me to kill this man, tonight, as he isn't righteous." epitomized his mindset going into that fight.
Me, too. I admire how he persevered, first as a conscientious objector and secondly, and after his conversion to Islam. I love the human he became after retiring. I don't always like how he handled everything, in between, including Frazier.
Yes, on all those accounts, for me, too. His CO fight was incredibly impressive to me because he stood his grounds for his beliefs without running away and sacrificed his best years for a difficult stand. On the other hand, he held himself up as the defender of the black man in America and then sold out two prominent black figures as subservient Uncle Tom's purely for psychological effect, including one, Frazier, who had been there for him during the dark days of his CO fight. The When We Were Kings documentary about his fight in Zaire is a classic. Probably my second favorite doc to Unforgiveable Blackness. In any event, boxing probably has the most colorful and interesting history of any sport, perhaps, even more than baseball.
My favorite Ray Leonard fight? It's a tie between the savage beating Terry Norris gave him and him making a fool of himself against Hector Camacho.
I take it that hat is not a fan of Mr. Leonard. He was known to dodge a fight or, at least, try to manipulate the situation to his advantage, as he did with Hagler.
I wish they had made him go 15 rounds with Norris. The extra three rounds would have been glorious to watch.
What did you not like about Leonard? The constant retiring? The dicking around with Hagler and other fighters, like waiting 9 years for a rubber match with Duran? His perceived protected status in winning some fights he didn't deserve (Hagler, Hearns II)?
I don't give a shit about the retirements. The rest of the issues you list are part of it. He's also just a lousy, phony human being. I've never talked to anyone who's ever interacted with him who doesn't loathe him. He's a bigger ******* than Pete Rose.
I have heard, in a friend of a friend manner, some similar things. He was fun to watch fight, though.
Every once in a while, I will hit up YouTube for some old fights. Hearns-Hagler usually makes the viewing list.
