[6][7] Leonard was also the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, and was named "Boxer of the Decade" in the 1980s. Leonard was named "Fighter of the Year" by The Ring and The Boxing Writers Association of America. 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. Wherever he went, he brought a large entourage of trainers, women and family members. His then wife . The scorecards from the ringside press and broadcast media attest to the polarizing views and opinions of the fight. "He does have a heart. 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,. He continued to score well in the fourth and opened a cut above Leonard's right eye. [62], After the fight, Leonard vacated the light heavyweight title, but kept the super middleweight title. In the first round, Leonard rocked Benitez with a left hook that came off a jab and right cross. They decided to have the baby but marriage would be put off until after the Olympics in 1976. Judge Stuart Kirshenbaum had Lalonde ahead 7675. Everyone was surprised by Durn's actions, none more so than his veteran trainers, Freddie Brown and Ray Arcel. Sugar Ray Leonard (def. Leonard was awarded a 50 decision and the Olympic gold medal. Sugar Ray Leonard: The Final Fight. He drove him to the ropes and unleashed a furious assault. Leonard entered the bout as a 3-1 favorite but Norris dominated the fight, giving Leonard a heavy beating. Augie Sanchez had defeated Mayweather earlier that summer in qualifiers after a tight 11-12 decision. Which boxers did sugar ray Leonard lose to? Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler fight for the WBC and Ring middleweight titles on April 6, 1987 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In the second, he dropped Aldama with a left to the chin. Tyson lost his first fight to Holyfield in 1996. Leonard received $1 million and Benitez, a two-division champion with a record of 3801, received $1.2 million. The scorecard of judge Angelo Poletti was incorrectly added and announced as 147147. He was given a scholarship to the University of Maryland, a gift from the citizens of Glenarden, Maryland. "[43], The fight was named "Fight of the Year" by The Ring. [14]:63, When Leonard decided to turn professional, Janks Morton introduced him to Mike Trainer, a friend of his who was an attorney. Despite Leonard's obvious fatigue, he boxed well in the eleventh. Close Alert. After hurting Hearns with a right, Leonard exploded with a combination of punches. "That's it", he said. Leonard yelled "Yeah!" "At the end of the fifth round, I got cramps in my stomach and it kept getting worse and worse", Duran later said. Or why Roberto Durn was acting out of prudence, not cowardice, when he quit in his second fight against Leonard. "Tonight was my last fight. 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. This would be Leonard's first professional fight without Angelo Dundee. He testified about the burden of diabetes and the need for continued research funding to find a cure.[93]. He had a career record of 79-6-3 and was a showman in the ring, chanting 'It . He won his first Golden Gloves title (featherweight) in 1939, and then repeated the accomplishment in 1940. My word is my bond", Leonard said. In rounds, he had it three for Durn, two for Leonard, and ten even. 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. "It made his eyes water", Leonard said. The following year, he again won the National AAU Light Welterweight Championship, as well as the Light Welterweight Championship at the Pan American Games. In October 1996, the 40-year-old Leonard announced that he was coming out of retirement to fight 34-year-old Hctor Camacho for the lightly regarded International Boxing Council (IBC) Middleweight Championship. 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]. Durn attacked at almost every turn. "He has really helped me get ready. The nickname stuck. I think he needs a psychiatrist more than he needs anything else." Blood flowed down his forehead and the bridge of his nose but stayed out of his eyes. Roger helped start the boxing program, urging the center's director, Ollie Dunlap, to form a team. 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. He is the celebrity spokesperson for the Atlanta law firm John Foy and Associates, PC. In Poland, local fighter Jan Kwacz was given a disqualification victory over Leonard after being knocked down three times in the first round but the referee ruled that Leonard had punched after the bell.[16]. May 11 - Kevin Howard, Massachusetts, KO 9 1987 Leonard won the WBC middleweight title in a 12-round contest against Marvin Hagler in April. [14]:3334,43, Wilkinson went to the Olympics to watch Leonard box, but she did not tell him about the suit and never asked him for any money. In the semifinals, he faced Kazimierz Szczerba and won a 50 decision. But even though it was bereft of some of the normal fight card touches, this show offered a fun presentation of boxing that never mocked the sport. Juanita Wilkinson, Leonard's high school girlfriend, told him she was pregnant in the summer of 1973. Leonard suffered his last two losses as an amateur in 1974. She also said he was an occasional cocaine user. During divorce proceedings, Juanita Leonard testified that her husband physically abused her while under the influence of alcohol. Over his 25-year career, Robinson won the world welterweight and middleweight crowns and was dubbed "pound for pound, the best." I never had to go to school once because of him."[13]. Career Highlights Sugar Ray Leonard fought a total of 40 times during his professional career. He never liked being called "The Hit Man," and after going nearly 14 rounds with nemesis Sugar Ray Leonard under the bright lights at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Tommy . [17] Leonard won his first four Olympic bouts by 50 decisions. Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor.Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning world titles in five weight classes; the lineal championship in three weight classes; as well as the undisputed . Leonard maintained his eye was fully healed, but that he just didn't want to box anymore. Leonard and Duran fought the fiercest battle in welterweight history, fuelled by Duran's utter hatred for the pretty boy with lots of money and Ray's refusal to back down. "I'm watching John 'The Beast' Mugabi outbox Hagler. . Afterward, Leonard retired again, saying, "For sure, my career is definitely over for me in the ring." [55], Leonard was awarded a controversial split-decision. Leonard served as host and mentor to the aspiring fighters on The Contender. The referee stopped the fight with Camacho teeing off on a defenseless Leonard on the ropes. [48], A bout with Philadelphia's Kevin Howard, who was 2041, was scheduled for February 25, 1984. Robinson began his career with an astonishing 40 straight victories and was called the "uncrowned champion" by boxing fans on account that the mob, with who Robinson refused to play nice with, denied him the chance to fight for the world welterweight title until after the war. Hearns was paid $5.1 million, and Leonard made over $11 million. Come under with a punch.". Outside of the ring, Robinson relished his celebrity, parading around Harlem with a pink Cadillac and making appearances at his high-profile Harlem nightclub. He also worked as an adviser in the 2011 robot boxing film Real Steel. 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 . When Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran met on Nov. 25, 1980, for an immediate rematch of their showdown that saw "Hands of Stone" give Leonard his first loss, few could have possibly anticipated what would take place at The Superdome in New Orleans. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis Bonds rose but Leonard didn't let him off the hook. He called Mike Trainer and said, "I can beat Hagler". With the fight in control, Leonard would begin taunting Duran, much to the chagrin of . In snowshoesLeonard repeatedly beat Hagler to the punch. In the second, Durn rocked Leonard with a left hook, sending him into the ropes. HBO believed it would be inappropriate for Leonard to continue with them if they couldn't bid on his fights. Robert Durn's hair flies as Sugar Ray Leonard throws a punch in the early rounds of their welterwight fight on 25 November 1980. [26] He was also named "Athlete of the Year" by ABC's Wide World of Sports and "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated. 2 . Leonard called it "the hardest single punch I ever threw."[30]. 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. Leonard made his first title defense in Landover, Maryland, on March 31, 1980. Death Year: 1989, Death date: April 12, 1989, Death State: California, Death City: Culver City, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Sugar Ray Robinson Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/athletes/sugar-ray-robinson, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: April 13, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. The announcement generated a lot of controversy because of Leonard's inactivity and eye injuries, yet it also excited many sports fans who had hoped to see them fight years earlier. [44], On February 15, 1982, Leonard defended the unified title against Bruce Finch, the WBC fourth-ranked contender, in a bout at Reno, NV. Hearns won rounds nine through twelve on all three scorecards. I took great pride in it. He said he quit using drugs in early 1986, when he woke up one morning and "what I saw in the mirror was scary." When Robinson finally did get his shot at the belt in 1946, he took home the crown with a unanimous 15-round decision over Tommy Bell; Robinson would hold the welterweight title until 1951. It was like looking in a mirror". . 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. He took control, attacking and driving Leonard against the ropes, bulling him back, hitting him with lefts and rights to the body as he maneuvered the champion against the ropes from corner to corner. Shortly before the Olympics, Wilkinson had filed an application to receive $156 a month in child support payments from Prince George's County, Maryland. Leonard had no answer for the skillful, younger, faster man. Many consider the 1976 U.S. team to be the greatest boxing team in the history of the Olympics. [8] The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1979 and 1981, while the Boxing Writers Association of America named him Fighter of the Year in 1976, 1979, and 1981. In 1991 the brilliant career of Sugar Ray Leonard appeared to have finally come to an end. Leonard responded with a furious flurry, landing few punches but whipping the upset-hoping crowd into a frenzy. "[37] According to Randy Gordon, who witnessed Durn's antics beforehand and was in his dressing room immediately afterwards, Durn quit because of his huge eating binge prior to the fight. [14]:6568, Leonard made his professional debut on February 5, 1977, before a crowd of 10,270 at the Civic Center in Baltimore. The win over Barkley was in many ways the final memory of the old rampaging warrior. After the quick and slick Leonard won the first two rounds on all three scorecards, Hagler started the third round as a southpaw. "But then he adjusted to my style. [54], Leonard threw 629 punches and landed 306, while Hagler threw 792 and landed 291. November 30, 1979: Leonard wins his first world titles by defeating Wilfred Bentez via 15th round TKO. Roger won some trophies and showed them off in front of Ray, goading him to start boxing. Sugar Ray Leonard boxed Marvin Hagler and forced him to fight away from his strengths while using what he did bestflurrying with the mindset of disrupting Hagler and not trying to hurt or drop himwhich was something Ray knew could only fail, and open the door for Hagler to nail him. 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