Duran fined $7500

Press, 28 November 1980, Page 26

Duran fined $7500

NZPA'-Reuter New Orleans The Louisiana State Athletic Commission fined Roberto Duran $7500 yesterday for not performing up to par in the unsuccessful defence of his World Boxing Council welterweight title on Wednesday against Sugar Ray Leonard. The fine was collected last night and the Athletic Com-' mission released Duran’s estimated $8 million purse,: said the commissioner, Mr Otis Guichet. "He was saying he had cramps,” Mr Guichet said. ( “But if he had cramps, they never asked for any doctors. The fans felt like they were jilted.” Duran quit suddenly in the eighth round, relinquishing the crown he had taken from Leonard five months earlier. “1 thought it was a very

tunusual performance for a fighter to give his title away,” said Mr Emile Bruno, The Athletic Council chairman, after the unanimous decision to fine Duran. Mr Guichet, who collected the fine, said the commission believed it was an adequate penalty for non- : performance. “How much is enough? The boy was humiliated it looked to me. He wasn’t the usual arrogant Duran. He was mild as a kitten in the office. “We couldn’t suspend him because he said he wasn’t going to fight anymore,” Mr Guichet said. When the fight suddenly ended, Duran was trailing Leonard by only .two points on the scorecards of the judges, Mike Jacobs, of Britain, and Jean Deswert, of Belgium, and by one point on the card of the Welsh [judge, James Brimmel.