[44], On February 15, 1982, Leonard defended the unified title against Bruce Finch, the WBC fourth-ranked contender, in a bout at Reno, NV. Going into the final round, Leonard led by scores of 137130, 137133, and 136134. Dundee had a different proposition. "I wanted that arena. After several comebacks, Leonard ended his professional career with 36 wins, three losses, and one draw. Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns feature in fight one of a BBC Sounds look back at some of boxing's greatest fights. What was the score of the Sugar Ray Leonard fight? However, Lalonde later told HBO's Larry Merchant that he didn't have any trouble making weight.[59]. However, Emanuel Steward, Hearns' manager and trainer, said, "I felt that the referee was justified in stopping the fight Tommy did not have enough energy to make it through the fight. This fight proved to be one of the most controversial fights to date. Three booming rights from Hearns sent Leonard down for the second time in the fight. Fans flinched as much as Sugar Ray Leonard himself when Roberto Duran landed a right-handed punch on Leonard's left eye late in the 11th round of their . Duran and Leonard would go on to fight two more times, once in November 1980 and again . The referee stopped the fight with Camacho teeing off on a defenseless Leonard on the ropes. On June 12, 1989, Leonard defended the WBC Super Middleweight Championship in a rematch with Thomas Hearns at Caesar's Palace. He knocked Leonard down with a left hook in the second round, and in the seventh, he dropped Leonard again with a short right. The Camacho fight was Leonard's last. Leonard got up, but was unable to ward off Camacho. Leonard was also the subject of a Seinfeld episode (season 6, episode 22) where George tries to flatter his boss by saying he looks like Sugar Ray Leonard. For three rounds Durn drove at Sugar Ray with a fury, and there were moments when it seemed the fight could not last five. Lalonde tried to tie up Leonard, but got dropped with a powerful left hook. [78][79] Leonard is among the most sought-after motivational/inspirational speakers in the world today. It's less revisionist and says right up front, in the first sentence of the prologue, what Sugar Ray won't confess to: "On the night of April 6, 1987, Sugar Ray Leonard stole a fight. [citation needed] After eight tough rounds, Leonard was ahead although Kalule appeared to be coming on strong in the eight and ninth. He attended Parkdale High School. Now I want to go to school." During divorce proceedings, Juanita Leonard testified that her husband physically abused her while under the influence of alcohol. In 1989, Leonard was introduced to Bernadette Robi by Kenny G at a Luther Vandross concert. Leonard, having slowed down, was obliged to fight more and move less. His opponent was Luis "The Bull" Vega, whom he defeated by a six-round unanimous decision. Leonard would continue to pursue his Olympic dream while she and the baby, Ray Charles Leonard Jr., lived with her parents. "I didn't feel like being bothered by all those complications by asking him for any money for support", she said. In his testimony, Leonard confirmed his wife's claims and went on to reveal that the problems of their marriage were not due to drug and alcohol use.[90]. The bout took place on June 20, 1980 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada. He also worked as an adviser in the 2011 robot boxing film Real Steel. Hearns won rounds nine through twelve on all three scorecards. Leonard received $1 million and Benitez, a two-division champion with a record of 3801, received $1.2 million. Hearns (left) had not lost in his 32 fights before facing Leonard. His incredible achievements include winning world titles in five weight divisions, including the WBC welterweight, WBA light middleweight, and WBC middleweight titles. His older brother, Roger, started boxing first. In 1991 the brilliant career of Sugar Ray Leonard appeared to have finally come to an end. Durn defeated Leonard via unanimous decision . WBA-WBC era (1963-1983) No . With little money Robinson helped his mother save for an apartment by earning change dancing for strangers in Times Square the Smiths built their new life in a section of Harlem dominated by flophouses and gangsters. He became known as Sugar Ray Robinson as an under-aged boxer, after using a fellow boxer's Amateur Athletic Union card to fight in a show. [15], Sarge Johnson, assistant coach of the US Olympic Boxing Team, said to Dave Jacobs, "That kid you got is sweet as sugar". We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. The time was 2:54 of round fifteen.[29]. On December 7, 1989, Leonard defended the title against Roberto Durn, who was the reigning WBC Middleweight Champion. When the vote took place, Leonard had been retired for more than five years, therefore, he was eligible, even though he had a fight scheduled. "[83] Speaking of his promotional company, Leonard said, "We did some great shows with evenly matched fights. After the bout Hagler stated it may be his last fight. Kalule got up but the referee waved it off. "I decided to search for a substituteI resorted to cocaine. [22] After the fight, Leonard paid back his $21,000 loan to the investors. His opponent was Dave "Boy" Green. The fight, promoted as "The Super Fight" and "The King of the Ring", was scheduled for April 6, 1987, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "[58] A month after Hagler's formal retirement in June 1988, Leonard would announce another comeback. His then wife . "This is different. Sugar Ray Leonard, the world welterweight champion, underwent two hours of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore yesterday to repair a partially detached retina in his left eye.. The fight took place at the new Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. But the TV show came about and made my decision a lot easier. He was voted off in Week 4 of the show. The team also included Leon and Michael Spinks, Howard Davis Jr., Leo Randolph, Charles Mooney, and John Tate. "I was ringside", Leonard said. Sugar Ray Leonard reflected on his famous fight with Marvin Hagler following the news on Saturday about his late opponent's death at the age of 66. It was promoted as "The War". [14]:93 A month later, Leonard defeated his old amateur nemesis Randy Shields by a ten-round unanimous decision. After the Los Angeles Times broke the story, Leonard held a press conference and publicly acknowledged that the accusations were true. "[72], In January 1997, it was announced that Leonard had been voted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota, New York. Hearns dropped Leonard with a right cross in the third round, but Leonard came back and battered Hearns around the ring in the fifth. WASHINGTON POST. Leonard and . 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,. "The whole fight, I was moving, I was moving", Leonard said. Leonard learned of the suit several days after returning home from the Olympics. Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. "[91] In 2011, Leonard revealed in an NPR interview that he had been free of alcohol since July 2006. When they fought again a . Camacho, a light-hitting southpaw, was a three-time world champion with a record of 6231. Later, when he made . Hagler never seized total control of the fight as he had against Thomas Hearns two years earlier, when he brutalized Hearns and scored a third-round knockout. AP Photo/Lennox McLendon What it's really about is boxing's great aesthetic divide. [1] He was named after Ray Charles, his mother's favorite singer. Leonard's 1987 fight with Hagler, which served as a comeback after a three-year retirement, is one of the greatest fights ever. [27] Price, an up-and-coming contender who was sponsored by Marvin Gaye, had a reputation for prolonged bouts in earlier fights and was believed by sports reporters to defeat or give a long fight to Leonard. Sugar Ray Robinson's birth name was Walker Smith Jr. The Classic bout between Sugar Ray Leonard V Thomas Hearns.Leonard Snatches Victory from the jaws of defeat with a dramatic late Stoppage! I know this. The two went toe-to-toe in the fifteenth. He finished his career with a record of 3631 with 25 knockouts. Shirley was the only judge to give Leonard a 108 margin in the twelfth. Kalule and his handlers had expected Leonard to use lateral movement against him, but Leonard chose to fight inside instead. No. "I can never erase the pain or the scars I have made through my stupidity, my selfishness", Leonard said. The live gate was $5.9 million, and the revenue from pay-per-view was $7.5 million. The work greatly helped salvage his finances and was the reason he eventually settled in Southern California with his second wife, Millie. and played to the screaming crowd. 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. For the Camacho fight, Leonard had a new trainer, Adrian Davis. Hearns started to stick and move, and he started to pile up points again. Later that year, he boxed in the Eastern Olympic Trials. I don't believe it. HBO believed it would be inappropriate for Leonard to continue with them if they couldn't bid on his fights. However, given his style and first name, it was probably only a matter of time before people started calling him Sugar Ray, after the man many consider to be the best boxer of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. "[43], The fight was named "Fight of the Year" by The Ring. This is terrible. "At the end of the fifth round, I got cramps in my stomach and it kept getting worse and worse", Duran later said. The scores were 120104, 119103, and 116110. Promoted as "The Showdown", Leonard fought Thomas Hearns on September 16, 1981, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to unify the World Welterweight Championship in a scheduled fifteen-rounder. I've handled thousands of fighters and never had anyone quit on me. In the sixth, there was an accidental clash of heads, which opened a cut on the forehead of Benitez. He staggered Bonds with a right in the fourth round and dropped him with a follow-up combination. "He does have a heart. I never had to go to school once because of him."[13]. Dec. 16, 1989 12 AM PT. Every time Hagler scored, Leonard came back with something flashier and more eye-catching, if not as effective. Early in the ninth, Lalonde hurt Leonard with a right to the chin. Hearns managed to rise, but was dropped by a flurry of hard punches near the end of the round. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight class at the 1976 Games in Montreal. . If he had scored it 109, as his two colleagues did, Hearns would have won by a split decision. Trainer talked 24 of his friends and clients into underwriting Leonard's career with an investment of $21,000 to be repaid within four years at 8% interest. "[66] Although Leonard dominated the fight, he suffered several cuts. He finished his career in 1965 with 175 victories. He had a career record of 79-6-3 and was a showman in the ring, chanting 'It . Hagler took a few months to decide, then agreed to the match.[52]. [94], In his autobiography The Big Fight: My Life in and out of the Ring, published in June 2011, Leonard reveals that as a young boxer he was the victim of sexual abuse from an Olympic trainer as well as another man, a benefactor. It was the only time in Leonard's career that he was knocked out. "I've had it. [42] Some also considered the stoppage premature. Dave Jacobs, a former boxer, and Janks Morton volunteered as boxing coaches. Tyson lost his first fight to Holyfield in 1996. Leonard led by scores of 6866, 6866 and 6766.[35]. He made him look like a guy chasing a bus. Their six-year-old son, Ray Jr., served as the ring bearer. Camacho applied pressure from the opening bell and started to score well in the third. Leonard called it "the hardest single punch I ever threw."[30]. [82] Leonard's boxing promotional company was dissolved in 2004. The "Four Kings" created a wave of popularity in the lower weight classes that kept boxing relevant in the post-Muhammad Ali era, during which Leonard defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Hearns, Durn, Hagler, and Wilfred Bentez. On May 1, 1986, Leonard announced on a Washington, D.C. talk show that he would return to the ring to fight Hagler. Leonard was on a eight-fight win streak with 25 KO wins. For many years, Leonard has been the International Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk for a Cure and is actively involved in raising both awareness and funds. In his later years, Robinson worked in show business, even doing some television acting. Standing in a boxing ring with Howard Cosell, the master of ceremonies, Leonard announced his retirement, saying a bout with Hagler would unfortunately never happen. My word is my bond", Leonard said. "All I can do is say I'm sorry, but that is not enough. Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Named after Ray Charles, Leonard's parents reportedly wanted him to become a singer, although as . Bonds rose but Leonard didn't let him off the hook. Tyson had a 71 reach, even shorter than Frazier's. Sylvester Stallone, who co-hosted during the first season, was one of the executive producers, along with Mark Burnett. Afterward, Leonard announced, "I'm finishedI've fought my last fight. After that, Leonard decided to box Hagler. Leonard started to do better by the fifth round, finding some punching room and throwing numerous multi-punch combinations. "[36] Arcel was angry. In round seven, Leonard started to taunt Durn. I snapped it back again. Robinson, who was unapologetic for his lavish spending, is estimated to have earned more than $4 million as a fighter, all of which he burned through, forcing him to continue boxing much longer than he should have. March 13, 2021. by Larry Brown. . In the final round, Hagler continued to chase Leonard. "I wanted more", Leonard said. On hand that . Known for his punching power, he won world championships in four weight classes, though his reputation took a hit with his "no ms" loss to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980. Sign In Even though Leonard dominated, hurting Hearns and battering him, all three judges gave both rounds to Leonard by a 109 margin. Dave Jacobs was one of the people let go, leaving Correa as the sole trainer. His decision was to push Froot Loops onto the Finals, where they were taken out by Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The scorecard of judge Angelo Poletti was incorrectly added and announced as 147147. It was like looking in a mirror". By 1958, he had become the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times. 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. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns II, billed as " The War ", was a professional boxing match contested on June 12, 1989 for the WBC and WBO super middleweight titles. Roberto Duran Speaks: The Untold Story Is Finally Revealed!, Bill Brubaker, The Boxing Writers Association of America, List of light middleweight boxing champions, "Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard lead the way", "The Fabulous Four Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and Leonard", "Ring Magazine's 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years", "Who is the greatest fighter alive? A strange night, a boring fight. At the final bell, even uniformed ringside security rushed into the ring applauding and lauding Leonard's effort. Do is say I 'm sorry, but was dropped by a split decision,! 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