The Superdome in New Orleans was packed, and the buzz carried across the nation. The 1980s were dawning and Sugar Ray Leonard had some unfinished business to resolve with Roberto Duran, who had beaten him in a brutal fight months earlier.
The Superdome in New Orleans was packed, and the buzz carried across the nation. The 1980s were dawning and Sugar Ray Leonard had some unfinished business to resolve with Roberto Duran, who had beaten him in a brutal fight months earlier.
As the fighters waited in the ring, Ray Charles belted out a stirring version of âAmerica the Beautiful.â If Leonard needed any further motivation â and he didnât â he now carried a country on his back.
âI glanced over at Duran and said, âBoy, youâre in trouble. This is America, baby,ââ Leonard said.
Duran was indeed in trouble, in ways that were unimaginable before the fight. The Panamanian great would go on to quit in the eighth round in what became known as the infamous âNo Masâ fight.