Not a knock on Ray Leonard, but this man retired/went on more vacations than FMJ

Leonard and Hearns began their careers at Welterweight. While Mayweather began at super featherweight. Duran began at super bantam! making him the ultimate badass.yep

 

lol

 

SRL was the greatest ever.

 

You said in your opening post he deserves the ATG spot he is at. :huh

 

I read in a biography on Duran that neither Hearns, Duran, or Leonard wanted anything to do with Mike McCallum, so it isn't true to say Leonard didn't avoid anyone. It was him that told McCallum personally that he would never fight him.

 

Fixed it for you

and here's is the real reason Ray is being compared to FMJ both took time off to beat the significant woman in there life

 

It's all about the $$$$ mate, poor Mike McCallum was unfortunatly never able/given the opportunity to break into the superfight main stream. He was Duran's mandatory at 154 for the WBA title but Roberto went for the bigger pay day's in Hagler & Hearns. It was Manny Steward that sidelined Mike. But Mike was never in the picture, it would have been more a case of moving up & getting a shot at Hagler but 1st he had to impress & dominate at 154 for a while.

There was no way SRL could have fought McCallum as he was on one of his faux retirements & Kevin Howard had just chased him out of the sport in 84. Anything SRL said has to be taken with a lorry load of salt. AS i said, it's all about the mega $$$$ & Mike McCallum was just another contender with no real public interest in the man. He was meant to fall to Curry as a Curry springboard to a Hagler showdown.

It was the treachery of SRL that scuppered any chance of a Hagler/Curry showdown as Curry trusted SRL big time as an adviser & SRL told Curry to not rush things & move up slow before he took on Hagler. It was SRL that leapt into pole position at Don Curry's expence.

Duran would have fought ANYONE!! He never fought Mike because there would have been **** all $$$$ in it & Manny Steward got Mike the WBA title for him by manouvering Duran out of it when he got him in with Tommy for the WBC 154 crown & Duran was stripped of the WBA title.

 

Rather a lot of people choose to ignore the fact that Leonard freely admitted cocaine abuse and beating his wife at the time who i believe was called Juanita.

 

I personally have no problem with either of these guys inactivity.

Both are ATG's (obviously SRL moreso). Both are undeniably skilled with 'beautiful' ring IQ. A joy to watch.

But most importantly, both dedicated themselves to the sport since they were in single digits (age wise).

Being dedicated at their level requires a dedication most fans (even hardcore fans) aren't aware of. And being that dedicated for 15-20 years - damn straight they can take some time off. Especially once they have achieved what they achieved.

If there's a case of 'they earned it', these two exemplify that.

 

One of the... Particularly in the 'On Film' and 'Best Wins' categories.

 

Good thread.