Let me set the scene. It's May 1984 and Sugar Ray Leonard has just completed his comeback against Kevin Howard. Rather than reacting to his disappointing performance by announcing an overly hasty re-retirement, Leonard takes a few days to take stock and decides to continue. He realises he needs a tougher challenge to motivate him to fight again and to help shake off the ring rust that has been accumulating over the previous two and a half years. Mike Trainer immediately signs him to fight for his old title, the WBC welterweight championship that he had given up back in 1982, against the man who inherited it, Milton McCrory. The fight takes place in September 1984 and Leonard performs much better than he did against Howard. Although the unbeaten Kronk fighter has his moments, Leonard zones in on McCrory's chin and stops him in the 10th round. Leonard is a champion again. At almost the same time that his fight with McCrory is finishing, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns are signing contracts for a middleweight super fight set for April 1985. This limits Sugar Ray's ambitions somewhat but he does have another challenge available. Donald Curry is the WBA and IBF welterweight champion and is generally recognised as the best 147 pounder in the world. A unification bout to decide an undisputed champion is a natural.To build some hype for the fight and to get Curry's name better known to the general public, both men fight on the same card in January 1985, making easy defenses of their respective titles. A late March showdown is set, timed to take place exactly one week before The Fight between Hagler and Hearns. The unification takes place under WBC rules and is set for 12 rounds. The winner knows they will be in direct line for a shot at the world middleweight championship against the victor of the Hagler-Hearns fight. Who wins the fight between Leonard and Curry in this scenario and how?
One key thing would be the fact that whoever won and then went on to fight for the middleweight title out of the two Ray would take Hearns or Hagler`s punches much better than Curry would.
At the end of the day, Curry didn't have the intangibles to beat any version of Leonard. Ray was plain and simple too mentally tough and too determined for Curry to handle. Curry would have folded late.
Curry as far as skills go was one of the better fighters of the last 40yrs. But that chin wouldn't hold up against a fighter like Leonard, who had even better skills plus the physical toughness to take Currys best. I can see Mccallum vs Curry all over again. Curry wins the early rds. Leonard starts fighting flat footed, around the 5th or 6rds, starts punishing Curry with that viscous left hook to the body he used so well, nails Curry probably with the hook, stops him in 10th or 11th rd.
That's the way I see it playing out in 85. If we're talking both at their peaks, the 81-82 Leonard stops Curry in a more one sided fight than people might think.
In 1986 was the only chance Curry had to beat Ray maybe, but Ray was rusty.. Curry had that great time well more 1985 where he was very good. but he was never really hit. Had he been hit by anyone, then we would have seen how he fought. He never handled pressure well, it affected his gameplan.
Good fight ,with plenty of action in the early rounds .It may well look as if curry is doing the better work early and tagging sugar. But Leonard would start to move up a gear, curry starts to look distressed. At some point around the 8 th Don gets nailed hard by double hooks from Leonard ,which has him seriously hurt. Another fast combo from Ray drops him .He'd rise but another kd and the fight s over . Leonard wins Tko 8
