‘<i> No Mas</i> ‘ Talking--It’s Time to Fight : Boxing: Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran get down to business in Las Vegas tonight. Predictions of the outcome vary.

In years gone by, Roberto Duran fought with barely harnessed fury. More often than not, he beat opponents with a matchless force of will as much as by the impact of his punches. And a case can be made, too, for Sugar Ray Leonard as one of boxing’s most courageous, indomitable figures. Examples: His dramatic, behind-on-points TKO of Tommy Hearns in 1981, and his battling out of trouble a half dozen times in his 1987 victory over Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

But this is 1989, and the books have been long closed on what was.

Some teachers of the art of self-defense believe that the winner of tonight’s 12-round matchup at the Mirage Hotel between 33-year-old Sugar Ray Leonard and 38-year-old Roberto Duran will be more craftsman than attacker, more technician than brawler.

Angelo Dundee, fired as Leonard’s trainer two years ago, thinks that Leonard, a 2-1 favorite, will win a technical fight tonight.

“It’s going to be an interesting fight, but not a blood-sweat-tears fight like their last two,” he said. “I like Ray by a decision. The winner will be the guy who keeps his emotions in check, and I think that’s going to be Ray.”

But another professor of the sweet science, 90-year-old Ray Arcel, thinks Duran is going to pull this one off.

“I’m favoring Duran,” said Arcel, once Duran’s trainer. “Leonard has been knocked down too many times lately (three times in his last two bouts), and that has to affect Ray mentally. I’ve seen it so many times over the years--boxers are not superhumans. At some point, they begin to lose a little bit of confidence and start having thoughts like, ‘Can I take it. . . . What am I doing here?’

“Duran isn’t what he was, but he’s a different kind of guy, an exception to the rule. I worked with Roberto for 10 years, and I know how badly he wants to win this one.”

When Duran (85-7) and Leonard (35-1-1) did this the first time, in June 1980, they were sleek, whippet-quick welterweights. At the agreed-to 162 pounds, Leonard is bulked up and

moderately slower, Duran puffy and considerably slower.

The years have changed Duran’s fight profile more than Leonard’s. The man who was once the ultimate attacker, who elevated violence to art, is now basically a counterpuncher, an old pug groping for opportunities instead of creating them. The only remaining remnant of the Duran of a decade ago are those fearsome, coal-black eyes. He still owns boxing’s most frightening stare since Sonny Liston.

Scholars a century from now will examine Duran’s fight videos and decide, surely, that his decision win over Leonard in Montreal in 1980 was his epic performance, the vintage Duran, the Duran to whom all boxers in their prime ought to be compared.

Leonard, to the consternation of everyone, came out in Round One in Montreal flat-footed, possibly in response to Duran’s prefight challenges to his manhood. And at 24, Leonard allowed himself to be swept up into Duran’s fight.

Duran, drawing on an almost inhuman energy level, won all the early rounds. Leonard didn’t have a good round until the 11th. He also won the 15th, but it wasn’t enough.

And even after the last bell, it was raw Duran. In perhaps the most memorable scene of all, there was Duran--screaming curses at Leonard, seconds after the fight ended, and shoving him in the back with his left hand.

Then came “ No Mas .” On his toes this time, Leonard boxed artfully and was making Duran look foolish when, in the eighth round, Duran suddenly quit. He turned to the referee and said, “No mas, no mas.”

After tonight’s fight, Duran promises to reveal, win or lose, why he quit that night in New Orleans.

Leonard’s Tuesday comment on that was, “Personally, I don’t give a damn.”

While no one expects these two to reach the heights of intensity of the Montreal fight, this is nonetheless Leonard and Duran. Pay-per-view sales, at $40 and up per household, are strong everywhere, exhibitors say.

Doug Stewart of United Entertainment Corp. of Denver has “Uno Mas” rights in 10 Southwest and Southeastern states, with access to 2.8 million homes.

“Our sales were at 4% penetration at the start of the week, and normally 50% of the sales come in the last 24 hours before a fight, and sometimes it’s 80%,” he said.

“At 3.5% we make money, 5% or 6% is a home run. I think this is going to be a big one for us, primarily because Duran is big with the Hispanic households we have in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.”

Rick Kulis of Choice Entertainment, the primary pay-per-view exhibitor for Southern California, said between 125,000 and 135,000 households will order the fight.

“We’ll beat Leonard-Hagler, and we’ll fall short of Tyson-Spinks . . . but not by much,” he said.

One thing is certain: Cable viewers will be warmer than the spectators in the 16,000-seat Mirage arena. This is the latest outdoor boxing show, by a month, ever held in Las Vegas. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s with light winds predicted tonight, but the fighters will be somewhat warmed by the ring lights.

Gamblers like this one, too. “Uno Mas” will get more legal betting action in Nevada than any fight since the 1981 Leonard-Hearns fight, according to Jimmy Vaccaro, who runs the sports book at the Mirage.

“The record action in Nevada for a fight is $17 million or $18 million, and this one will beat that because it’s seen as a close fight,” he said. “Lots of people are interested in the Tyson fights, but they get little action because he’s always something like a 6-1 favorite.”

Jose Torres, the former light-heavyweight champion turned author, sees Leonard as a comfortable winner tonight.

“Look at it like this,” he advised. “In their first fight, Leonard fought a stupid fight by fighting Duran’s fight . . . and almost won. If he fights like he should, he’ll win.”

Picking Duran is former middleweight champion Iran Barkley, who was upset last February in the fight that propelled Duran into this engagement.

“Duran brings a lot to the fight,” Barkley said. “He’s got a lot of knowledge, like how to roll with punches, slipping punches, countering. I’ve been hit harder than he hit me, but it’s his will that beat me. . . . It kept him in there, it wouldn’t let him lose.”

Leonard, who goes over $100 million for his career tonight, is assured of earning at least $15 million, plus 50% of the gross over $25 million in pay-per-view sales. Duran will make a minimum of $7.5 million and 30% of the pay-per-view gross over $25 million.

But probably the biggest winner in the dollar derby tonight will be Carlos Hibbard, a Panamanian who sneaked into the United States illegally 15 years ago and was driving a New York cab when he met Duran in 1986.

The fighter was playing the conga drums in a touring salsa band at the time. Duran’s boxing days had seemed to be over. He weighed 218 pounds. Nevertheless, Hibbard became his boxing manager.

Hibbard, who said he knows more about kick boxing than boxing, put Duran on a nutrition program. Naturally, reporters wanted to know this week what he knew about nutrition, since he’d already said he didn’t know much about boxing.

“I learned about nutrition reading muscle magazines,” he said.

Hibbard, who obtained U.S. resident status under President Reagan’s amnesty program, will earn 25% of Duran’s $7.5 million tonight.

Don King is right. Only in America.