SPORTSCLOPEDIA 56: JUNE 20, 1980 - ROBERTO DURAN FIGHTS SUGAR RAY LEONARD IN THEIR FIRST MEETING
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 20 Jun 2023
June 20, 1980. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán was billed as The Brawl in Montreal. Leonard was the WBC and The Ring champion while Duran was the former undisputed lightweight champion. The bout took place on June 20, 1980 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada attended by 46,317 fans. Durán defeated Leonard via unanimous decision. The referee was Filipino legend Carlos Padilla Jr. Leonard was a 9 to 5 favorite to win their first bout.
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It was an exciting tooth and nail fight that lasted the full 15 rounds. In most of the fight, Durán was the attacker and he won a close unanimous decision victory. Durán averaged 60 thrown punches per round and 21 connects, while Leonard averaged 50 thrown punches and 18 connects.
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When the decision was announced, Durán was erroneously announced as the winner by majority decision as one judge's scorecard was mistakenly tallied as a 147–147 draw, however the mistake was corrected and Durán won on all three scorecards by unanimous decision, 145–144, 148–147 and 146–144.
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The fight was Leonard's return to Montreal, Canada, the site of his Olympic Gold Medal victory in 1976. Duran earned $1.5 million, which is his biggest payday ever, while Leonard reportedly made between $7.5 million and $10 million, so far the biggest money ever collected for a boxing fight.
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As early as 2018, the Denver Nuggets had seen a potential in Nikola Jokic and expected him to grow into a franchise player. But when they drafted the Serbian center in 2014, they were not thinking that his progress would be so fast.
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When the Nuggets drafted in 2014, Jokic was not the team's top choice and they selected another center, Jusuf Nurkic from Bosnia as the 16th pick. Twenty-five picks later, Denver this time selected Jokic. Nurkic played in the NBA immediately, while Jokic stayed in Europe for another year.
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Nurkic played very well as a rookie, and the Nuggets were planning to form a twin tower combination with him and Jokic. But injuries hounded Nurkic in his sophomore year, and coach Mike Malone made Jokic the starting center. Jokic kept on improving, while Nurkic was traded to Portland, and the Nuggets sped up their scheme of developing Jokic. The rest is history. Nuggets won their first ever NBA title after reaching the finals for the first time.
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