Why is Leonard so disliked?

No doubt Ray Leonard was an all time great exceptional fighter but if you lived through his era you saw what an arrogant , manipulative egomaniac the man could be and that turned off many people ... that plus his golden boy image which was kinda unfair ..

 

Good post .. I think it is a combination and it varies by the fan ..

 

For what it's worth, I bet a lot more people in this forum would have hated Robinson if he'd come around a few decades later. Ali too.

 

This one isn't right Boje. Duran and his camp stated they wouldn't be fighting McCallum for small fry. Duran would get around half a million for a McCallum who had done next to nothing at that time and wouldn't for another 3 years when he beat McCrory and Curry back to back.

Duran's camp was actually maneuvering toward a Hagler rematch and the big money (around 10 x what McCallum was worth) that came with it based on their good initial showing. Kronk negotiated a big money fight against Hearns with Duran fighting for Hearns title and giving up/being stripped of his own with McCallum to fight for it.

McCallum was ok with this until later down the track others got in his ear. McCallum was known as a bit of a head case in these years as he was extremely paranoid and listened to basically everyone. This was why you never saw him staying with anyone for any length of time.

 

I will concede Duran got much closer scores against Hagler than he deserved, and I scored the Barkley fight for The Blade. But those are the only two notable wins I'm aware of where he got favored (although the Barkley fight was damn close).
But in regard to Ward I think his dislike stems from several things. The "Son of God" thing for starters seems pretty pompous. Then you have the fact that he always fought on favored ground. He was the only Super 6 guy not to fight on the road. His personality always seemed defensive before he retired, so there's that. (To be fair he seems to have loosened up quite a bit since becoming an analyst, and he does an excellent job at it). Then you have the Kessler fight where his head seemed to be a third fist, the long contract dispute where his prime years slid past, and the 1st Kovalev fight (although on 1st viewing I scored a draw).
Great fighter, and a great analyst, but those are a few of the things that I feel rubbed people the wrong way.

 

100% on part two. Hagler fans have sour grapes. Duran fans know he made their man quit. And he beat Tommy Hearns. Probably the best resume of wins in the past 30 years.

 

Thats because Hagler went for the purse and got the bigger share. Leonard got the ring conditions he wanted, Hagler signed off.

 

The short story is Duran was never facing McCallum due to the paltry money - he wanted big money and big names. He had Hagler in mind but Steward worked a deal to fight Hearns whilst getting Mike his shot at the soon to be vacant title.

Totally agree SRL would have somehow got the blame and more flak. Admittedly he would have had a lot more hands on his opponents than Hearns but regardless Duran and his camp had said they had no interest in McCallum. Of course some now somehow believe McCallum that Duran ducked him. Mike at that time wasn't duck worthy and was an absolute nobody in the general scheme of things.

 

Yes McCallum was never on the table. He wanted to rematch Hagler and was looking at a big payday. As soon as Duran beat Moore he went straight after big money against a big opponent. He went after the quick money while his stock was up. After Hearns walloped him (and his stock dropped) he fought a bunch of small time fighters (Sims may have been mid) before beating Barkley and then went straight to the big money fight again in SRL, again, while his stocks were up. He was probably past the career point of worrying about the grind by the time he beat Moore.