Yes, he was going to win; I don't disagree with you in the least. All I'm saying is that it wasn't a total wipeout.
I do, however, disagree that the first fight was close. Those were the worst, most chicken-shit judges in Montreal that night. Duran dominated that fight. Dominated. I've encountered quite a few supremely knowledgeable boxing people who swear by that as well.
And, no, as the SRL camp would have you believe, it wasn't that Ray "decided" to fight Duran on his own terms, mano a mano, to prove to the Panamanian that he was every bit as macho as he was. Duran was among the best ring generals in history. He MADE Leonard that way, as he had done to every single opponent he had faced until then. In truth, the rematch didn't "prove" that SRL could've just boxed to victory in Montreal had he chosen to do that; instead, it just proved that Duran was not the supremely-motivated, finely-tuned mechanism of destruction he once was--and, as we would learn, that he would never again be so, despite having a few more shining moments in his career yet to come.
And a jaded, unmotivated fighter, even one as talented as Duran, can never hope to attain top-class status. That would be Roberto's fate in his twilight. The occasional moment of brilliance, a few more titles that will go down in history, but nevertheless still a shell of his former self.