By James Slater: Although he doesn’t look a day over the age of 35, boxing immortal Sugar Ray Leonard celebrates his 55th birthday today. Clearly, despite the fact that he engaged in a number of tough, hard, even punishing fights – and despite that fact that the man named after the late Ray Charles was guilty of sticking around taking punches when he was way past his best – the former five-weight king left the sport relatively unscathed.
We do not hear Sugar Ray slurring his words, we do not see him walking on his heels and we do not feel pity for him due to how he lost all his money. Leonard was the ultimate success story inside the ropes (barring those two last, should-never-have-happened fights; Vs. Terry Norris and Hector Camacho), and he made sure the success he worked so hard for would be enjoyed in later years.
Retiring for good in early 1997, Leonard had amassed a fine 36-3-1(25) pro record. Had he called it quits after his rubber-match win over the equally great Roberto Duran in 1989 (when in truth both guys should have hung ’em up), “Sugar’s” reputation would be even greater today. As it is, Leonard, a champion at welterweight, light-middleweight, middleweight, super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, is generally ranked in any top-20 greatest fighters of all-time list. And deservedly do.
But what were Leonard’s five best pro performances? Here, in order from 5 up to his very best showing at number-one, I give my opinion.
5: WTKO9 Ayube Kalule, June 25th 1981.
Not one of Leonard’s most obvious or most famous wins, the victory that saw Ray take both the tricky southpaw’s WBA 154-pound title and the Ugandan’s unbeaten record deserves much respect. 36-0 at the time of his defence against Leonard, Kalule had notched up good wins over the likes of Kevin Finnegan and another Sugar Ray, in Sugar Ray Seales, and against Leonard he was making the fifth defence of his belt. Ray had problems figuring out Kalule’s style, before getting the TKO in the 9th and winning his second crown.
4: WTKO15 Wilfredo Benitez, November 30th 1979.
Sugar Ray took away another tricky boxer’s unbeaten record when he beat Puerto Rican defensive master Benitez to win his very first world title. To this day, Leonard refers to the 15th-round TKO he scored as his single most difficult fight. “I never missed so many punches in my life,” Ray said recently when speaking of the Benitez fight. But who ever looked good against “El Radar?” Leonard, still only 23 and having his 26th pro outing, was sweet enough and clever enough not to allow the defending WBC welterweight champ’s mind games get to him. “It was like looking in a mirror fighting that fight,” Leonard would later remark.
3: WTKO8 Roberto Duran, November 25th 1980.
After having made the mistake of fighting Duran’s fight five months earlier, thus losing his unbeaten record and welterweight title after 15 gruelling rounds, Leonard went back to his boxing brilliance in the quickly-arranged return. Capitalising on the fact that Duran had struggled to make 147 after having partied so hard after his great win, Leonard did the unthinkable: he made the Panamanian tough guy throw up his hands and quit. Showboating and bolo-punching his way to the shocking TKO win that came about when Duran uttered the now infamous words, “No Mas!” Leonard scored a win that continues to be among the most debated in boxing history. Did Leonard REALLY beat Duran, or did a combination of stomach cramps and dehydration on the part of Duran help the 7-Up kid? There may never be a fully satisfactory answer. Regardless, Leonard regained his welterweight belt.
2: WS12 Marvellous Marvin Hagler, April 6th 1987.
If the Duran win was controversial, what about Leonard’s most amazing comeback victory!? Having been all-but inactive for the best part of five years and having undergone surgery for a detached retina to boot, the 30-year-old Leonard was given next to no chance against the fearsome Marvellous Marvin. Yet, in a truly stunning upset that will live forever, Sugar Ray danced, dazzled, punched and performed as he put on the biggest show of the decade. Were the judges who scored the fight for Leonard the victims of a con job, or was the slower, less active Hagler simply out-boxed and out-thought? Again, getting all fans to agree one way or the other is something that no-one could achieve! Oh, yeah, and Leonard captured the middleweight crown, his third world title in as many weights.
1: WTKO14 Thomas Hearns, September 16th 1981.
Sugar Ray’s masterpiece, against his most dangerous opponent. Hearns, so freakishly tall for the weight and possessing a lethal left jab and an even more lethal right hand – not to mention superb, often underrated boxing skill – was seen as even money going into the September showdown in Las Vegas. As soon as the action began it was clear to see why. At times hitting and hurting Leonard – inflicting a nasty swelling under Ray’s eye as a result – at other times simply out-classing him, “The Hitman” was ahead on all cards going into the closing rounds. Pushed on by his trainer’s legendary words, “you’re blowing it son, you’re blowing it,” Leonard dug as deep as he could and came out with a fierce attack intended to halt his tormentor. In one of the finest comebacks in any fight, Leonard cemented his greatness and unified the welterweight titles with a mesmerising 14th-round TKO. There was nothing controversial about this Leonard triumph!