Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Let's be realistic.

just watch it!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The volume was turned off in the film while Roberto Duran was explaining why he quit half way through the boxing match. At the end of the film, Sugar Ray asked Roberto Duran why he quit and Roberto Duran started to give some explanation and then suddenly the volume was turned off, so the viewers still don't know all the reasons why he quit half way through the boxing match. Up until that point it was a great documentary. Some viewers think Roberto Duran quit half-way through because Sugar Ray was constantly running away from Roberto Duran during the boxing match. Roberto Duran was constantly chasing Sugar Ray around the ring and I think Duran just got sick of it.

In this day and age, when the likes of "Ironed Mike" Tyson (a "great" fighter who never actually fought a Great Fight in his life- especially not against fighters of his era like Burt Cooper or Riddick Bowe or Michael Moorer or George Foreman, to name but four, and whose oft-repeated catchphrase about being "the baddest man on the planet" was actually a line taken from a Comic Book) or Freud Payweather (who's an "undefeated champion" only in his own home, as anyone who's seen the first fight with Marcos Maidana can attest), whose biggest claim to fame is that he ran and ducked and dodged his way through The Flight of the Century against Manny Pacquiao, it's hard to fathom the sheer SHOCK most of us experienced the night Roberto Duran gave up against Ray Leonard. The WHY doesn't much matter; it happened, and it can't be undone. Even today, watching mixed martial artists often surrendering "with dignity" (it's called "tapping out"), it's hard to recapture the feeling one felt when "Manos de Piedra" ("Hands of Stone") turned his back and gave up against a man he'd beaten once and could possibly have beaten again. It's an infamous case, to be sure, but, as the robe of one boxer proudly proclaimed not long ago: FIGHTERS DON'T TAP. Or, as Christian Giudice put it in his excellent bio, HANDS OF STONE: "His heart made promises his knuckles couldn't keep."

"No Más" does a really good job in discussing the first and second boxing matches between Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard. Using the usual combination of archival footage and interviews, the film makers really did a nice job with the story. And, I appreciated seeing Leonard and Duran reunite and discuss their infamous second fight. However, it's also a film that is missing the something that MOST viewers want to see--a real clear answer why Duran literally walked away from the second boxing match right in the middle of it! Yes, Duran apparently told the referee something along the lines of 'No Más' (literally no more or I've had enough) and the fight ended. But then, as in now, there isn't a clear reason why he did this. He was trailing in the fight but not horribly so...and Duran was, according to everyone, one of the greatest fighters in history. So what gives?!? I really don't know--but at least the film did about as good as it could do given Duran's reticence to really discuss that fateful night which, unfortunately, defined his career.

30 for 30: No Mas (2013) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Excellent entry in the series takes a look at the two fights between Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard. The first fight went to Duran but the second one became somewhat legendary after Duran said "No Mas" in the ring, turned his back and quit in the middle of the round. The documentary has a great collection of interviews with the people involved in the fight, those watching it as well as boxing experts who give their theories on what happened that night in New Orleans. NO MAS is certainly a highly entertaining entry in the ESPN series and especially coming from somewhat who wasn't fully aware of the entire situation behind the two fights. The documentary did a very good job at setting up this second fight and why it was so important to Leonard and especially after he had suffered a defeat. The film also does a nice job at looking at the fight from Duran's side, although I'm not sure boxing fans are going to be happy with the words he has to say towards the end of the movie when the two fighters are re-united in Panama to talk about what happened that night. I think the best thing the film does is really sell the sport and show how great it once used to be. Getting to see the boxing clips from the two matches was certainly another major plus and has more action than most boxing matches for a complete year have today.