He made three successful title defenses, stopping Luis Primera, Randy Shields, and Pablo Baez. Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Always moving forward, he mauled and wrestled Leonard, scoring inside with hooks and rights. Friends and family mourned the loss of the welterweight champion at wake . Leonard landed several good left hooks in the first round. "I wanted that arena. Blood flowed down his forehead and the bridge of his nose but stayed out of his eyes. Leonard was the aggressor throughout, with Bonds circling the ring. Leonard dropped him again in the tenth. Dave Jacobs, a former boxer, and Janks Morton volunteered as boxing coaches. I snapped it back again. In the final round, Hagler continued to chase Leonard. The fight was one of the many battles between the top fighters of the era (Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler). [40] Despite an official stoppage time of 2.59, the fight was actually stopped at 3.06 into the round, meaning Kalule should have been saved by the bell.[41]. The young boxer quickly moved up the ranks. May 11 - Kevin Howard, Massachusetts, KO 9 1987 Leonard won the WBC middleweight title in a 12-round contest against Marvin Hagler in April. Late in the round, Leonard dropped Benitez with a left. For Leonard's fight with Hagler, Dundee worked without a contract and received $175,000, which was less than 2% of Leonard's purse. [14]:75, In his fourteenth professional fight, Leonard fought his first world-ranked opponent, Floyd Mayweather, who was ranked seventeenth. Bonds was a southpaw, which made him a good opponent for Leonard, given that his next opponent was scheduled to be the WBA Light Middleweight Champion Ayub Kalule, a southpaw. Leonard married his high school sweetheart, Juanita Wilkinson, in January 1980. As a boy growing up in Detroit, Sugar Ray Robinson was neighbors with heavyweight champion Joe Louis. The nickname stuck. "It made his eyes water", Leonard said. The referee stopped the fight with Bonds taking punishment in a corner.[39]. Round ten was tame by comparison, as the pace slowed after the furious action of the previous round but with Hagler having more spectacular moments. Leonard's observation that the Hagler who beat John Mugabi was older and slower proved to be spot on. The team also included Leon and Michael Spinks, Howard Davis Jr., Leo Randolph, Charles Mooney, and John Tate. Going into the final round, Leonard led by scores of 137130, 137133, and 136134. In the fourth round, a right hand to the top of Leonard's head dropped him for just the second time in his career. He knocked Leonard down with a left hook in the second round, and in the seventh, he dropped Leonard again with a short right. In 1989, Leonard was introduced to Bernadette Robi by Kenny G at a Luther Vandross concert. [53], Many were surprised that Hagler, a natural southpaw, opened the fight boxing out of an orthodox stance. [14]:93 A month later, Leonard defeated his old amateur nemesis Randy Shields by a ten-round unanimous decision. Fearful that her son would get pulled into this shady world, Robinson's mother turned to the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, where a man by the name of George Gainford had just started a boxing club. The fight billed as a classic showdown between a powerful knockout artist and the best boxer/puncher the welterweight division had seen in decades devolved into a slow, tactical fight. Sugar Ray Robinson turned pro in 1940 and won his first 40 fights. .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Muhammad Ali liked to call Robinson "the king, the master, my idol." Leonard maintained his eye was fully healed, but that he just didn't want to box anymore. Shirley was the only judge to give Leonard a 108 margin in the twelfth. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard breaks down some of his most iconic fights of all time, including his fights with Andrs Aldama in 1976, Dick Eklund in 1978,. Just five months after one of the greatest fights in modern boxing history, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran met in a rematch that somehow managed to transcend the original. Everyone was surprised by Durn's actions, none more so than his veteran trainers, Freddie Brown and Ray Arcel. Despite requests from the Hagler camp, Leonard was uninterested in a rematch and retired on May 27, 1987. Leonard kept it up, continuing to move, stop, and mug. I think he needs a psychiatrist more than he needs anything else." Ray Charles Leonard, known as the boxing champion "Sugar Ray" Leonard (after the champion boxer Sugar Ray Robinson), was born on May 17, 1956 in Wilmington, North Carolina to Getha Leonard and Cicero Leonard, who boxed in the Navy. After the bout Hagler stated it may be his last fight. His opponent was Luis "The Bull" Vega, whom he defeated by a six-round unanimous decision. By the fifth, Leonard, who was moving a lot, began to tire and Hagler started to get closer. Three booming rights from Hearns sent Leonard down for the second time in the fight. [54], Leonard threw 629 punches and landed 306, while Hagler threw 792 and landed 291. When his fighting days were over, however, he was getting beaten up. He was voted off in Week 4 of the show. Durn's manager, Carlos Eleta, said, "Durn didn't quit because of stomach cramps. By 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. The 'Super Fight' between Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard sparked a brawl between Bob Arum and Don King, generated $78m and produced one of boxing's biggest controversies Joe Coleman. Hagler was a heavy favorite. When Leonard boxed in the Olympics, he had a picture of Wilkinson taped to his sock. Early in the ninth, Lalonde hurt Leonard with a right to the chin. . This is terrible. After the quick and slick Leonard won the first two rounds on all three scorecards, Hagler started the third round as a southpaw. In this episode [87] of the "March Milkness" series (where Rhett and Link created a March Madness style bracket to determine the best breakfast cereal), Leonard was brought in to break a tie between the Fruity Region Champion, Froot Loops, and the Chocolatey Region Champion, Oreo O's. The British challenger had a record of 332. The first fight occurred in '81 and was a highly anticipated welterweight unification match. He had beaten the best of his . He hit Leonard with a big left hand and backed him into a corner. When Leonard left the show, he was replaced as host by Tony Danza for the final season. Terry Norris battered Leonard all around the ring in Madison Square Garden on his way to a one-sided decision that convinced Leonard his day in the sun had ended. First, in 1991, he lost by decision to Terry Norris. Unable to get away, unable to counter and unable to slide away to open up the ring, Leonard seemed almost helpless under the assault. This movie brought back memories of his fight with Dicky Eklund. goes on to explain what went through his mind before he quit the fight - a bout in which he wasn't . Jim Murray, long-time sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, wrote, "It wasn't even closeHe didn't just outpoint Hagler, he exposed him. They fought for Lalonde's WBC Light Heavyweight Championship and the newly created WBC Super Middleweight Championship, which meant that Lalonde had to make 168lbs. Considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and by 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. His incredible achievements include winning world titles in five weight divisions, including the WBC welterweight, WBA light middleweight, and WBC middleweight titles. Leonard suffered his last two losses as an amateur in 1974. Thirty years ago to the day, Leonad snapped a three-year retirement due to a detached retina and, at age 30, moved up two weight classes (without a tune-up fight) to face legendary middleweight . [14]:63, When Leonard decided to turn professional, Janks Morton introduced him to Mike Trainer, a friend of his who was an attorney. [95] He has since made public appearances to bring attention to the issue of child sex abuse, declaring himself a "poster child" for the cause and encouraging victims to report their abuse.[96]. [69], On February 9, 1991, Leonard went down to 154lbs and fought WBC Light Middleweight Champion Terry Norris at Madison Square Garden. That's why he's living."[32][33]. The original fight plan for Leonard was to go toe-to-toe with Hagler and try to cut him, but the plan changed about five days before the fight. "He has really helped me get ready. From 1977-1997, Leonard only lost three professional fights. It was then that Leonard decided to come back and fight Hagler. [46], On November 9, 1982, Leonard invited Marvin Hagler and other boxing dignitaries to a charity event in Baltimore, Maryland to hear him announce whether he would continue his career. . Leonard was aware of this, and in an interview for Beyond the Glory he said: "My intention was to fight Durn ASAP because I knew Durn's habits. and played to the screaming crowd. The live gate was $5.9 million, and the revenue from pay-per-view was $7.5 million. At the post-fight press conference, Leonard surprised everyone by announcing his retirement again, saying he just didn't have it anymore.[51]. Leonard decided to fight Camacho after commentating on Camacho's fight with the 45-year-old Roberto Durn the previous year, describing the disputed unanimous decision as "an early Christmas gift". This latest eye problem further fueled the flames of those who opposed Leonard's comeback. Camacho, a light-hitting southpaw, was a three-time world champion with a record of 6231. "I did the best I could", Leonard said. The work greatly helped salvage his finances and was the reason he eventually settled in Southern California with his second wife, Millie. Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns during their first fight, on September 16, 1981 in Las Vegas. Despite Leonard's obvious fatigue, he boxed well in the eleventh. Photo: Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images, Remembering Just Fontaine and His World Cup Record, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Sugar Ray Robinson, Birth Year: 1921, Birth date: May 3, 1921, Birth State: Georgia, Birth City: Ailey, Birth Country: United States. Whom he defeated by a ten-round unanimous decision to win a divisional world championship five times to chase.... Leonard decided to come back and fight Hagler than he needs anything else. on may 27,.. 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