Page 16-Saturday; June 21, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Duran whips Leonard in
welterweight title fight
Roger Leonard wins;
Berbick upsets Tate
I
a
MONTREAL (AP) - Roberto Duran
used his thundering fists to extinguish
the lightning-quick speed of Sugar Ray
Leonard last night and won the WBC
welterweight title with a 15-round split
decision over the previously unbeaten
Olympic champion.
Doran, the man they call "Hands of
Stone," set the tempo right from the
start. He negated Leonard's vaunted
hand and foot speed by feinting with his
head and shoulders and then bulling the
defending champion.
IN GAINING the title on a cool, damp
night, the 29-year-old Panamanian
became only the third man to win both
the lightweight and welterweight
championships. He held the lightweight
crown from 1972 until last year, when
he surrendered it to move up into the
welterweight class..
Now he joins Henry Armstrong and
Barney Ross as the only men to hold
both the light and welter crowns.
Judge Harry Dibbs of Britain scored
it 145-144 for Duran. Judge Ramon
Baldeyrou of France scored it 146-144
for the new champion. Judge Angelo
Poletti of Italy scored it even 147-147.
The Associated Press favored Duran
144-141.
It was billed as the "Brawl in Mon-
treal" and it turned out to be just that,
one of the great fights in welterweight
history. But Duran was in control from
the opening bell.
USING HIS famed "Hands of Stone"
like two pistons, Duran appeared to win
virtually every round and smiled con-
temptuously at his opponent over the
last five rounds.
Duran built a huge lead early and
then held it through the final roundsas
Leonard knew his only hope was a
knockout. But it was not to be. Leonard
took the best Duran had to offer and it
wasn't enough.
When it was over, Leonard smiled
and Duran rasied his hands in a victory
sign.
In an undercard fight, Trevor Ber-
bick, the Canadian heavyweight cham-
pion, knocked out former world cham-
pion John Tate in the ninth round
Friday night and left Tate's fighting
future in doubt.
Berbick rushed out at the beginning
of the ninth round and landed a right
and left to Tate's head. He followed this
with a right to the ear and another right
to the head. Tate stumbled out of the
corner he was in and started across the
ring, with Berbick in pursuit.
BERBICK THREW a left, right and
left to the back of Tate's head and the
former World Boxing Association
champion pitched flat on his face with
his upper body out of the ring.
Tate was counted out at the 22-second
mark as Berbick leaped for joy and
then shouted at Tate, "Get up, get up,
get up." But Big-John couldn't get up
until his handlers helped him and led
him to his corner. The devastating
loss was the second in 22 pro fights for
the 23-year-old Tate. Berbick, 27, who
fought for Jamaica in the 1976 Olympics
and now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
is 15-1-1 in the heavyweight title pic-
ture.
THERE WERE three other 10-
rounders on the card and in the first
one, Cleveland Denny was knocked out
by Gaetan Hart, the Canadian light-
weight champion, and taken uncon-
scious to a hospital.
Hart, 136, of Buckingham, Quebec,
hurt Denny with a right hand in the
final round and then put him down with
a series of head shots. The referee stop-
ped the bout without even beginning a
count with only 12 seconds left.
The 24-year-old Denny, 134, of
Lachine, Quebec, remained in the ring
for several minutes until a stretcher
was called for.
IN A MIDDLEWEIGHT bout, Roger
Leonard, 153, of Palmer Park, Md.,
Sugar Ray's older brother, used a good
jab and a reach advantage to score a
split decision over 33-year-old Clyde
Gray, 154, the Canadian and Common-
wealth welterweight champion from
Lindsay, Ontario.
In an action-packed bout, Ferdinand
Marcotte, 153, of Quebec City, and 19-
year-old Eddy Melo, 154, of Toronto,
battled to a draw. One judge voted for
Melo but the other two called it even
and a fighter must have the nod on at
least two cards to win.
VICTORIOUS ROBERTO DURAN is shown here before the WBC title match
in which he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard. Duran now must defend his new
title against Detroit's Tommy Hearns.
BASEBALL ROUNDUP:
Mariners club Orioles
BALTIMORE (AP) - Ted Cox
clouted a three-run homer with one out
in the ninth inning and Floyd Bannister
pitched a three-hitter, giving the Seat-
tle Mariners a 3-1 victory over the
Baltimore Orioles last night.
Dan Meyer opened the ninth with a
double off the right field wall against
Jim Palmer, 6-4, who went into the in-
ning with a five-hit shutout, and Tom
Paciorek walked.
After both runners advanced on a
sacrifice by Leon Roberts, Cox belted a
shot over the left field fence for his first
homer in 136 at-bats this season.
The victory snapped a five-game
losing streak for the Mariners and a
five-game winning streak for the
Orioles.
The Orioles scored on Benny Ayala's
leadoff homer in the second and Ban-
nister, 4-6, gave up only two more hits
in the game. Four of Ayala's homers
have come in five games against Seat-
tle.
Bannister gave up a two-out triple by
Doug DeCinces in the seventh and an
infield hit by Mark Corey in the eighth.
Baltimore's Eddie Murray had his 16-
game hitting streak halted.
Angels 20, Red Sox 2
BOSTON (AP)-Fred Patek ripped
three home runs and drove in seven
runs to lead a season-high 26-hit assault
and Frank Tanas fired a fice-hitter as
the California Angels crushed the
Boston Red Sox 20-2 last night,
snapping a nine-game losing streak.
In California's second, Larry
Harlow's sacrifice fly produced one run
and Patek's double sent in another.
Tom Donohue then singled in two runs,
stole second and scored on Carney
Lansford's single that chased loser Steve
Renko, 4-1. I
After the Angels erupted for seven
hits in the second inning, Patek
unloaded a three-run shot in the third.
He led off the fifth with his second
homer of the game, and capped his
explosion with a two-run shot in the
eighth.
Patek's 14 total bases and the six
home runs set club records. Every 4
player in the Angels' starting lineup
scored at least one run and had at least
two hits.