Thread: Sugar Ray Leonard: A tale of 2 fighters

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09.05.06 - By Jeff Allinson: If you were to ask a casual boxing observer the name of a fighter from yesteryear that fought below the heavyweight division, you can guarentee that the name Sugar Ray Leonard would be mentioned, such was his charisma, ability, fame and popularity.

When looking back at the career of Leonard, there are actually two very different versions of the same man, as will be revealed later.

Ray won the gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, such was his talent. It seemed that with this would be a launch pad for a successfull professional career. That, it has to be said, was possibly an understatement!

Ray's professional debut came on 5/2/77 against one Luis Vega in a lop sided 6 round decision. He fought largely unknown fighters until he met Floyd Mayweather on his 14th fight. Floyd was past his prime and Ray stopped him in 10 rounds, but it was still a very good performance..

Floyd fought steadily improving opposition (including Marcos Geraldo), until he got an opportunity against the undefeated (and it has to be said truly excellent) Wilfred Benitez in his 26th professional fight. Now Wilfred it could be argued had fought the better opposition, and many considered him to be a favourite. Ray however had other ideas. In a very good fight indeed, it turned out to be a battle for who really wanted it most. Ray stopped Wilfred in the 15th and had become a World champion for the first time, and against top class opposition.

Ray utterly destroyed My fellow countryman Dave "Boy" Green with what many people say was the best punch he threw in his first defence, a left hook in the 4th round in his first defence. Daves manager had thought Leonard a soft touch because he could not punch...Wrong!

In his second defence, he fought the ledgendary Roberto duran and tasted defeat for the first time. With hindsight Ray knew he fought the wrong fight that night, Duran had gotten under his skin by calling him names, Ray was sucked in, and came to fight Duran in a brawl, rather than using his skills, Duran, an accomplished brawler (with excellent skills too it has to be said) took the decision in a very close fight. Ray earned $8,000,000 the highest purse at that time.

A rematch was scheduled only five months later in November 1980, this time Leonard used mind games, totally humiliating Duran who quit in 8 rounds saying the famous words, "No mas". Ray was champion again.

A fairly routine defence agains Larry Bonds followed (TKO 10) before Ray took on another big challenge, the undefeated Ayub Kalule at light middleweight. Ayub was an excellent fighter, yet Ray stopped him in 9.

Next cam the undefeated Thomas Hearns back at Welterweight. Hearns was the WBA champion, and was feared, for very good reason. He was a KO artist, yes, but he was also an excellent boxer. In 1981's fight of the year, Ray had to come from behind to stop Hearns in the 14th round. Angelo spoke those now famous words "Your blowin it son" to motivate Ray.

At this point in his career Ray only wanted to fight the best opponents possible, and gain as much credibilty as he could. He was truly and utterly awesome.

Ray suffered a detached retina following his next fight against Bruce Finch (TKO3) and retired. There ends the career of Ray Leonard, the man who only wanted to be the best, by beating the best.

Ray came back for one more fight in 1984 against Kevin Howard, he was dropped for the first time in his career, but got up to stop Kevin in 9. He then retired again (?).

Ray came back yet again to Fight a somewhat slightly faded Marvin Hagler for his Middleweight title in April 1987 after demanding everything from the fight duration to the ring size! This was not the Leonard of old, from a persona point of view, he won the fight however. It was a close one. I scored it 115-113 for Leonard. But Ray was starting to pull stunts.

Next came something out of the ordinary to say the least. Ray fought Donny Lalonde (who? I hear you ask) for the Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles both at the same time! Ray insisted this fight took place at Super Middleweight, yes, poor Lalonde had to come down from his natural weight for the contest. Ray stopped Donny in 9 in a fight whwere everything was stacked in Rays favour.

Next came a rematch with Thomas Hearns. Now Hearns had begged Ray for a rematch after their last fight but Ray declined. Ray clearly thought he was shot now, and a much easier opponent.....Wrong. In a blatant act of robbery, Hears fought Ray to a draw in a contest he clearly won. He dropped Ray twice too.

After beating a clearly diss interested Roberto Duran in a wonky decision he had two more fights, lost them both, and finally retired for good.

So there you have it. The Ray Leonard story is definately a tale of two fighters. One truly great. One definately not.

So good people and fellow boxing fans, I leave you with this question...Was Ray Leonard an all time great fighter, or an all time great showman?

The choice as they say, is yours!

every fighter has been in with their fair share of ordinary fighters....its part and parcel of working a way up the rankings ladder....but leonard had his fair share of super fights and he won his share too...


he's an all time great in my estimation....

he was an all time great period....
Why is he trying to detract his win over Marvin Hagler?
It would be like ODH retiring for fucking 5 years and deciding to go to the middleweight division to defeat Bernard Hopkins. It's unimaginable.
A totally negative approach to one of his biggest wins, nevermid the massive upset.