What if Ray Leonard had n't stopped boxing in 1982 ?

Curry-Leonard would have been interesting.

But McCallum still wouldn't get his shot;-)

 

He would have found a way to retire as the public & media were clamoring for a Hagler showdown especially as Leonard said he'd like to challenge himself & there's no way SRL was going too do that once the bandwagon was up & rolling as he knew that was certain fistic & financial doom for the SRL $$$ brand.

Rooster found the article by Leonard from the end of 81 in Boxing Illustrated where Leonard said he'd wanted to fight Pipino Cuavas & then retire. He never had any attention of ever fighting Hagler but still sucked up the media attention with regard to a Hagler fight as he just loved all that attention especially at the expence of anyone else who was in the spotlight at the time i.e. Hagler.

 

What a steaming pile of shyte.

 

Doubt it, he'd already made a pile of $$$ by then, he was no ones fool, he proberbly could see that after snatching victory from the jaws of certain defeat against Hearns his days were numbered especially after losing to Duran & then a Hagler hammering which would have him down as just another short term champ who blew in hot & burned out fast as far as any legacy goes. He's have been trapped at 147 & it was just a matter of when & not "if" he'd get beaten.

Also there was the ongoing call for the Hearns re-match, he was'nt having any of that one or against Benitez up at 154 which were natural big $$$$ spinners. Leonard was always the one in control of his boxing destiny & not boxing controlling him. Angelo Dundee can out with all that crap about letting the hearns fight get built up & more juicy, when in reality Hearns would have been avoided like the plague but for the clamour for the natural unification at 147, Tommy was a clear & present danger to the SRL $$$ machine. Hence leonard stepped up to 154 against Kalule too grab the WBA strap as insurence against losing to Hearns.

Leonard could'nt have stayed at the top for very long with his style at the time & at 154 he could'nt really fight at the level he was at 154. Journman Kevin Howard proved that in 84 & SRL knew it & thats why he could'nt quit the sport fast enough.

 

**** off yer leonard **** sucking *****.

 

really it boils down to 1983 rematches with Hearns, benitez or Duran or taking on hagler. i cant see leonard risking his title and reputation against a Don curry or a marlon starling or mike mccallum at that time. they werent established or considered box office enough and were too good for less reward.

 

Mccrory, starling, curry, breland, pryor at ww

Hearns, mcallum, duran, benitez at lmw

Hagler, sumbu, barkley, nunn, graham at mw.

Pretty much had the ability and names to be the goat.

 

theres no way he would beat all those names. i doubt hed beat half of them. he was great but i dont think he could have done much more than he did
if he took on the best fighters it would definitly take its toll after another fight or two.
for all we know Hearns might have thrashed him at 154 pounds if they had rematched in '83 or '84
guys like Nunn and kalambay didnt even come to the fore until '87 or '88. theres no way any ageing ray leonard would have beat them active or not

 

Leonard had the right era with great opponents and the drawing power to make any of this fights happen - that doesn't necessary means he had the ability to beat them all.

Though what he did is still remarkable.

 

He had Pryor lined up after Stafford from memory. He would have shot him down. Curry didn't overly hit his straps until 84, i'm not confident he would have mucked around at 147 after Pryor. After Hearns beat Benitez a rematch at 154 would have been likely. I like Hearns at this weight but SRL would be the narrow fave. If he got thru that he'd have likely taken on Duran as Roberto beat Moore. Leonard would have beat him soundly at 154 at that time. He would have aimed at Hagler as his career summit (as he did) and imo he'd beat Hagler even then. He'd have wound down a bit then, but possibly still fought. If he rematched Hagler i think he'd have lost and i don't see him wanting a string of middleweight defenses. Probably retire after beating Hagler and see what big money fights appear.

 

Maybe he would have, maybe not. But as far as talent goes, if I had to put anyone through that gauntlet from that era, it would be a prime leonard.

He'd have beaten all the ww's by 84 imo.

At lmw over 12 he wouldn't beat hearns, but he'd have beaten benitez and duran.

Hagler, well he beat him after a 5 year stint of absence so an active ray should prevail also.

Mike, sumbu and nunn should be favoured over him by that time which is why I said i'd have put him as goat had he beaten them all.

A win over barkley was low reward high risk but it would have rounded his career off nicely.

 

I'm not so sure that's written in stone.

Wouldn't bet on Leonard against Kalambay and Nunn.

 

I don't record my scorecards in stone, I use my phone or notepad.

Nor would i.