Sugar Ray Leonard vs Donald Curry.

Do you seriously not know who wrote the post? Here's a clue. It was Berlenbach.

Worked out who wrote it yet?

 

A post retirement then returned after Hagler version maybe, but peak Leonard destroys Curry. It not even worthy of a discussion unless we taking about what day they bring Curry in to spar to help get him ready.

 

Was responding to the content, sorry if it appears I was aiming it at the wrong person.

 

The fight would've happened if Leonard wanted it.

 

Wow----- Not sure what fights you were looking at.... Hagler you can interpret how you want, I had it 7-5 ray, with Hagler giving away the first 4 rounds. However, all I repeat ALL the action rounds in the Hearns fight ray won by lopsided fashion and yet the judges still scored those rounds just as they did the boring rounds 10-9. In fact Neveda state commission offered an apology to Dundee who protested the scoring after the first fight and advised round 6 and 7 should have been scored 10-8. But friend, scoring did not come into play in that fight as Hearns was stopped with out any protest from the fighter, trainer etc.

Duran that fought Leonard was a beast, but we keep on purposefully forgetting that Ray willingly refused to BOX and purposefully fought toe to toe which is not Ray's style and he still lost a very close fight. Then when Ray fought his fight Duran was losing, clearly and quit. Facts....

Hagler score it how you want, but let's not forget that Ray was out of boxing for 5 years with only 1 fight, moved up 2 weight classes no tune up unless you count the fight with Howard 3 years earlier. Ray imo looked his worst that night and was only throwin arm punches, but Hagler looked worst. People knock Ray for fighting hard the last 45 seconds of each round, but if you go back and look, Hagler did nothing the first 2 minutes of the round. Not a great fight, but a great accomplishment.

All this leads to fact we do not know what would have happened, but IMO Ray peak, the Ray that fought Hearns, in 81 easily beats any version of Curry.

 

Yes, Ray post retirement did know he was not the same fighter he was before. When he came out of retirement he got dropped for first time ever by a journeyman, and then vs Hagler, he was beating him, but it was not the same Ray as the Ray vs Hearns in 81 or before.

I agree Ray avoided Nunn, the Body snatcher, and possibly Curry, but why fight curry when he makes way more money with less risk fighting Hearns again or Duran .... Curry vs that version of Ray is a pick me fight, Curry vs peak Ray, not close

 

Curry was relevant in the early 80s and Leonard didn't need to stay retired.


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Once Curry lost to Honeyghan the fight was damaged goods. If he would have beaten McCallum as many thought he would we may have seen the fight. He needed to get his stocks up again but couldn't.

Curry was a great fighter at welterweight who probably needed to move up straight after McCrory. I don't think he ever regained what he lost in the Honeyghan fight and he was nothing like himself during it. It's still a blight on him tho, greats have to be able to come back after such an event.

 

I agree with so much of what you say. I think Leonard is one of the best fighters of the last 50 years which is as far back as I go.

But he did use a lot of lateral movement and that can be interpreted two ways. And I remember peak Curry being such a good fighter. He may not have been a better welter than Hearns but his CV as champ outweighs Tommy's. And if Tommy gave Ray hell then Curry could do likewise.

I think he may have had to use that movement against Don who was a very compact puncher and could offset some of Ray's superior handspeed with the straightness of his punches. And Ray would have circled and used his footspeed to set up attacks. Sometimes in the Hearns, second Duran and Hagler fights, Ray did not combine busy punch output with busy footwork and might be leaving himself work to do to level the scorecards and/or knock Don out.

For me, Ray finds a way. He has that something that he can draw on when the going gets tough. I just feel that a prime Don would have made him have to do that. It's no sleight on how great a fighter he was that he would have had to prove it against Don. PS apologies for my earlier sarcasm, although fair play to you, you took it in the spirit it was intended. Cheers.

 

Major difference....Donald curry has a 72 inch reach,Ray has 74 inch reach, Hearns 78 1/2 reach. Hearns reach jab and Right hand KO power along with left hook to the body, were difference makers, combine hat with Hearns had a lot of speed to. I am not taking way from Curry, just pointing out that Ray was on a different level, and in big fights many times, Ray did abandoned his lateral movement and went right at opponents. Hearns one, after the first couple of rounds, Ray avoided lateral movement, Benetiz, Kalule,,,, Smartly he used it vs Duran the second time and Hagler. That shows ability to adjust to the style needed.

 

Succintly put. SRL beat some great names in his brief 1979 - 81 pomp but he struggled mightily against 2 of the 3. Not saying Curry definitely would have beat him. Saying, like Berlenbach, that a prime Curry would have been competitive. SRL was a special talent. But so was Curry.

 

To be fair Hearns was a physical freak with all that height, reach, speed and power not to mention boxing ability and one of the greatest jabs ever. Donald is nothing like him. He's also nothing like with Duran.

But yes Don fought at a brilliant level for some time, absolutely. i think he'd be a hard match and a challenge for anyone at 147 but i think it's safe to say Leonard possessed more intangibles and would prevail. I also believe he could actually severely test Donald's durability over the course of a championship length fight. Leonard at 147 once he peaked was really something.

 

Leonard has every advantage IMO.
Ray by KO around the 10th

 

I was living in Ft Worth Texas at the time & almost lived in Dave Gormans Super Pro gym & witnessed what Leonard did to Don over the Hagler deal. He stabbed him in the back like a thief in the night. Don wanted him bad, so did Dave Gorman & all of Texas. Saccharin Ray, I refuse to call him Sugar, doesnt visit Texas much he knows he's not wanted

 

Leonard TKO 7.