By Ted Sares:
You always say ‘I’ll quit when I start to slide’, and then one morning you wake up and realize you’ve done slid –Sugar Ray Robinson
A fighter never knows when it’s the last bell. He doesn’t want to face that.
—Leonard
In my recently published book, I included a piece (Chapter 50) on the top 100 fighters since 1950 and had Sugar Ray Robinson a firm number one. Another Sugar, Ray Leonard was number seven and here is what I said about him:
“7. Sugar Ray Leonard’s record was 36-3-1 with 25 KOs. Like Ali, he was equiped with super speed, ability, and charisma. Leonard filled the boxing void left when Muhammad Ali retired in 1981. With the American public in search of a new superstar, he came along at just the right moment. Like Ali, he was another right person for the right time. An Olympic gold medal winner, he was named Fighter of the Decade for the 1980s. He won an unprecedented five world titles in five weight classes and competed in some of the era’s most memorable bouts. He won the unofficial round robin of his era by beating Benitez, Duran, Hearns and Hagler which is enough of a platform for entry into any Boxing Hall of Fame. No one could exploit an opponent’s weaknesses better than Leonard and there were few better and more ruthless closers in boxing history.
(Boxing is my Sanctuary)
As stated in my first article, looking through the prism of nostalgia makes everything seem better and I like to play out the old school memories just like other old timers. However, I also try to be thoughtful and objective when making comparisons between the past and the present–and that’s where the issue of generational prejudice comes in and that’s also how comparisons between Robinson and Leonard can be made.
Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Sugar Ray Leonard
Like Muhammad Ali before him, Leonard combined speed, ability and charisma. He filled the void left when Ali retired and was the right man for the right time. His amateur record was pristine and he carried it over into the pros. He seldom fought low level opposition (for example, his second opponent, Willie Rodriguez, was 10-1 coming in). Leonard won five world titles in five weight classes and competed in some of the era’s most memorable contests.
I’m not going to make skills comparison here except to state below how I see a mythical fight between the two playing out at a particular point in time (about 65% into their respective careers).
“When SRL fights SRR, there is no PPV, but the welterweight fight is seen as one of the most important in boxing history. The promoters bill it as: “Whose Sugar is Sweeter.” Leonard comes in at 27-0 while Sugar is at 128-1-2. The fight is a sizzler as Leonard tries to bully Robinson and punished him in the clinches with sharp body shots. While their respective styles are similar on paper, Leonard tries to take early control by pressing matters and backing Robinson up. Robinson, however, begins to counter Leonard, slows him down, and then take control in the 7th stanza. Going in to the championship rounds of this fifteen round match, the fight is extremely close, but Robinson asserts himself with cute maneuvers and quick leads that seem to confuse and frustrate SRL. This continues into the 15th where they both let it all hang out, engaging in furious exchanges and all-out action. Robinson does enough down the stretch to win a razor thin UD, but both fighters know they were in a great fight. And so does the MSG crowd as it stands as one and roars its approval. As they hug, both seem pleased with the result even though its Leonard’s first career loss.”
Note that Sugar had 104 more fights than Leonard coming in. That’s not fantasy; that’s a plain fact. Leonard retired with 40 fights under his belt and a frequency index (frequency of fights) that doesn’t even begin to compare with that of Ray’s, though he did fight excellent opposition. On balance, they both fought excellent competition coming into their fight, but I give the strong nod to Robinson here. Heck, he had fought Jake LaMotta four times by then, not to mention the great Marty Servo, rugged (as in dirty) Frtizie Zivic, California Jackie Wilson, Maxie Shapiro and future Hall of Famer Sammy Angott. There were many more.
Once again, the lesson here is to engage the facts before nostalgia. The lesson is to take into account all essential variables when making comparisons between old and modern. Variable such as number of fights, era (for example, the 80’s were a great time for mid-weight fighters), stamina, training techniques and methodology, records, style, chin, KO percentages, skill-sets, entire body of work, quality of opposition, management, etc. When this is done, nostalgia and myth is stripped away from facts. When this is done, you are not engaging in generational prejudice. Of course, as with PBF, when I do this, I again affirm that Sugar Ray was the greatest.
Ted Sares is a writer and is the author of Boxing is my Sanctuary