Legendary Nights ruined a generation of boxing fans with their exaggerations and half-truths. It spawned more myths than Ancient Greece. Pryor even admitted after the Blackmoore fight that he turned down an offer to face Leonard for 500k, when he got paid 1/10th of that a few months earlier to beat Cervantes. Funny thing about those YouTube comments quoted earlier. That was from the video of Pryor-Blackmoore. If that commenter on YouTube had watched the whole video, he would've seen the part where Pryor talks about turning down a SRL fight.
That guy is just a complete idiot. He thinks Pryor could've moved up to 147 and defeated Leonard the same way Duran did. He thinks Leonard jumped to 147 soley just to avoid Pryor at 140. Stupid ****
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1G8ZBnglxI[/ame] from 11:30 they discuss a SRL fight at 11:50 Pryor himself says he turned down a SRL fight
And I see nothing here to suggest that dinosaurs didn't survive discreetly well into the 17th century! Therefore, it happened! Don't **** with reason! :hand
I don't think that Leonard even took pryor seriously or that it was even worth his time to fight pryor.
Leonard at his peak was operating far beyond Aaron Pryor. Fighting lighter champions who had yet to prove much of anything wasn't what Ray was after. No professional who stares down a peaked Duran twice, fights Tommy Hearns when he was invincible, or fights the long reigning juggernaught Marvin Hagler after an absurdedly long layoff is afraid of anything that has to do with boxing. Ray had huge cajones, and a ton of heart. He's so much greater than Pryor it isn't a contest. He never needed him, and Aaron passed up his one chance. Tough cookies.
What a stupid post. Leonard was a welterweight. AT welterweight he fought a prime Hearns, Benitez and Duran. In addition, he moved up to fight a prime , undefeated 154 pound Kalule. His career was cut short when he retired in his prime due to an eye injury. At that time he was far and away the best pound for pound fighter in the world. To call him a coward for not fighting a prime middleweight in Hagler is ignorant. Why should he ? Did Marvin move up and fight a prime Michael Spinks ? Did Monzon move up and fight a prime Foster ? If a man dominates his division it's more than enough for me. As far as Nunn goes , Michael was a middleweight, a terrible draw and way after Leonard's prime ... Just a terrible post RR ..
I think timing was an issue. This would have been a great fight but I would always pick Leonard and Duran to beat Aaron but Aaron was a great fighter and holds his own as one of the top at 140lbs
I see the Leonard fans are getting brave again it's not a terrible post Grant. it's not a stupid post either. it's thoughtful post and a truthful one at that if Leonard was fighting Howard then his career wasnt cut short. How could a career be cut short if one is still fighting? Leonard made a conscious decision to cut it short himself. He just didnt have the heart and would only gain back his confidence watching Marvin Hagler's speed N reflexes finally start to fail in the Mugabi fight And as long as he's fighting, he should be taking on the best UPCOMING fighters of his time. Sharp fighters who can be sharp like Nunn, not soft, flabby, round, repeats no one wants to see like Hearns N Duran. What a turnoff! I expected as much coming from Leonard. and that Lalonde contest, or whatever that was, that's more leonard's speed let's stop with all the excuses; he chickened out of fighting the smaller Pryor. If Howard gave him all that trouble, Pryor wouldve cleaned his clock by way of multi volume barrages. Pryor was the much busier fighter in his fights. Leonard only fights in spurts