Leija holds a special place in my heart for finally exposing Camacho Jr and forcing him to 'opt out' . In fairness and ironically though his next fight out cut 'w' vs Micky Ward was bs. I remember after he tore up Troy Dorsey I added his draw with Pee Wee Parker to a trade list and was informed by a then "boxing nerd" who thought he knew it all that Leija couldn't break eggs and wasn't going anywhere. Whoops on that! He really was a guy who maximized his gifts, never really stellar in one particularly area but very capable in all of them. I had him 1-3 with Nelson and remember him being pretty bitter after that draw. Just thinking of his superb win over Ruelas..he really was on top of his game..makes you yearn for those PPV cards again!! Absolutely stacked card, all title fights so deep that Finito Lopez was buried on it.

It's always refreshing to find a dedicated fighter who went through some hard knocks, had ups and downs land on his feet after retirement and find-make success still sharing in the sport. Nice find on the article bud.