(Photo: Ben Solomon/ESPN Images)
ESPN 30 for 30 aired a premiere of No Mas, an hour-long film that dives deeper into the unforgettable rematch between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran in November 1980.
Duran had handed Leonard the first loss of his career just five months earlier in Montreal, but wound up calling it quits in the eighth round of the highly anticipated rematch in New Orleans.
Duran vows that he never actually uttered those words of No Mas.
Per ESPN.com, the legend goes that Duran told the referee “no mas” (which translates to “no more” in English), but the film reveals that it wasn’t Duran who muttered the infamous phrase.
All along the Panamanian superstar has maintained that painful stomach cramps led to his surrender, but director Eric Drath and Leonard himself discuss some of the other possible reasons for Duran’s decision and embark on a journey for closure.
“From his mouth, he never actually said ‘no mas.’ The actual words ‘no mas,” Duran’s son Robin, who served as his translator on the screening panel, said. “He waved his hands and the referee said it. [This film is the] first time he sees the referee saying that, he actually thought it was Ray Arcel (one of Duran’s trainers) who said no mas.”
“It’s very hard for a fighter to speak with a mouthpiece on. He just waved his hand and this [is the] first time he sees the referee saying that he said no mas.”
Regardless who uttered the legendary phrase, it was Duran’s motivation to quit the fight and the mental toll that decision had taken on both him and Leonard through the years that led filmmaker Eric Drath to pursue the project.
The film leaves a sense that Leonard didn’t exactly leave Panama with the answers he was looking for, despite him saying otherwise on camera. After viewing the movie for the first time at the New York screening, he vowed that he was satisfied with the outcome.
“I would accept that as 100 percent closure,” Leonard said. “The man is saying what he honestly feels is the truth and I take it for what it’s worth. Did it bother me? Yes, it bothered me for awhile, for a number of years I should say. Put it this way, when I finally surrendered and said that I was an alcoholic, my life is better. We all have to surrender at some point to make things better. So I do accept what he said.”
“What was shown on that screen was the truth, as far as I’m concerned. Roberto, I hated the son of a bitch back in the day but I love you now.”