Editing Sugar Ray Leonard (section)

====Leonard vs. Durán III – Uno Más====
{{main|Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán III}}
On December 7, 1989, Leonard defended the title against Roberto Durán, who was the reigning WBC Middleweight Champion. Durán was guaranteed $7.6 million, and Leonard's arrangement guaranteed him over $13 million.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/27/sports/leonard-and-duran-in-rematch-in-november.html |title=Leonard and Duran in Rematch in November |work=The New York Times |date=July 27, 1989 |access-date=December 7, 2021 |first=Phil |last=Berger}}</ref>

For the Durán fight, Leonard cut his entourage from twenty-one to six. Dave Jacobs was one of the people let go, leaving Correa as the sole trainer. Correa was instructed not to spare the whip. "For the first time in a long time, I allowed someone to push me", Leonard said.

The fight took place at the new [[The Mirage|Mirage]] Hotel in Las Vegas. Leonard used constant lateral movement and won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision over a listless Durán. The scores were 120–110, 119–109, and 116–111. In a fight that many considered to be very boring, both fighters were booed often by the fans, and many left the arena before the decision was announced. Pat Putnam of ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' wrote, "Leonard gave them artistic perfection when they wanted heated battle, and they booed lustily. Most fight fans would not spend a dime to watch [[Van Gogh]] paint [[Sunflowers (series of paintings)|Sunflowers]], but they would fill Yankee Stadium to see him cut off his ear."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Pat |last=Putnam |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1989/12/18/one-for-the-ages-sugar-ray-leonard-33-beat-roberto-duran-38-in-a-fight-dedicated-to-posterity |title=One For the Ages |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=December 18, 1989 |access-date=December 7, 2021}}</ref> Although Leonard dominated the fight, he suffered several cuts. His lower lip was cut from a headbutt in the fourth round, his left eye was cut in the eleventh round, and his right eye was cut in the twelfth round. The cuts required a total of 60 stitches.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tKExAAAAIBAJ&pg=4916,1838498|title=Leonard pleased despite stitches |work=[[The Item]] |date=December 9, 1989 |access-date=April 2, 2018 |via=news.google.com}}</ref>

In August 1990, Leonard relinquished the WBC super-middleweight title, saying that he was under the weight for the division.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=August 28, 1990 |location=Molline, Illinois |title=Sugar Ray relinquishes WBC crown |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/666047619/ |work=The Rock Island Argus |access-date=October 15, 2021 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He then offered Hearns a third fight, but Hearns said he could no longer make the weight and moved up to the light heavyweight division.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/08/sports/boxing-leonard-has-norris-at-hand-but-hearns-on-the-mind.html |title=BOXING; Leonard Has Norris at Hand, but Hearns on the Mind |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 8, 1991 |access-date=December 7, 2021 |first=Phil |last=Berger}}</ref>