Why did Sugar Ray Leonard have so few fights?

All injuries are not created equally.

 

ya I didnt say that at all ... you misread ... of course it was serious ... but he took many fights years before he gave Tommy a rematch

 

Well, considering your posts in this thread about eye injuries and your cavalier attitude toward them, that's TERRIFYING.

 

Leonard described floaters before getting surgery and not blurred vision, as far as I know. That would generally make it a lot less severe than a complete retinal detachment.

 

He had a detached retina. Here's a video before his comeback against Howard explaining his surgery. The doctor, just like Sugar Ray Seales' doctor in the other video, said it shouldn't be any more likely to get injured again. Worked for Leonard not for Seales.

Leonard here also says he won't fight again unless his opponents wear thumbless gloves. Hagler, of course, says he'll never wear them.

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Leonard’s first career as a welterweight was between February 1977 and February 1982.
In that five year period, he went 32-1, including wins over Benitez, Duran and Hearns with just the one loss against Duran in Montreal. So he averaged just over 6.5 fights a year in that time period.

His second career, if we see it as just one block, went from 1984 to 1997. In that time period, he fought a grand total of 7 times and went 4-2-1. The last two fights of his career, six years apart, at ages 35 and 41 respectively, were defeats.

The Leonard of the first career was one of the best fighters in any weight class in history. The one who came back multiple times in the mid-to-late eighties and nineties was not the same fighter. Still, even that version would beat plenty of top fighters, just as he did when he met Hagler.

 

Macula on RD with scleral buckle. Buckle was “tightened” before fighting Howard. Not especially at risk for blindness by continuing his career (retina never fully detached and is basically stapled down after surgery) . Thanks for the link.

idk what happened with Shields.

 

Prime Camacho was 135 lbs

Leonard was much physically stronger. He would have run Camacho out of the ring. Look what Rosario was able to do

Prime Leonard would have KOd Terry Norris

Look what Simon Brown and Julian Jackson did to Norris

Were you even around watching boxing back then?

 

Hagler was absolutely not a broken down figher before the Mugabi fight

He was a little past prime

Mugabi suprised everyone with his grit

Leonard was a HUGE underdog against Hagler

He had one fight in 5 years and looked lethargic in that - against Kevin Howard

You couldn't have been following boxing in the 1980s

 

Why? Because he was a lot smarter than the average bear.

 

SRL didnt beat Hagler and he knew it. His confidence had been dusrupted thats why he cherry picked after. IMO.

 

He averaged nine fights per year from Feb 1977 (Vega) to March 1980 (Green). He had three fights apiece in 1980 and 1981 while fighting at championship level, which generally matched the pace of previous welterweights like Napoles, Palomino, and Cuevas. So, he was plenty active during that first phase of his career.

Then he suffered the detached retina, took a few years off, and tapered off once he came back, which generally is the pattern for a lot championship level fighters. All things considered, he maintained a reasonable pace of activity during the time he was fighting as a pro.

 

his competition got better, that's why the losses piled up

 

That’s complete nonsense and I’m sure you know that.

 

Yes I was around.

were you?

My boxing analytics are second to Nunn and I can see the amazing speed of Camacho posing severe problems for Leonard as they did his team mate Howard Davis. After that, we didnt see the same Hector due to his poor lifestyle and destructive habits

Leonard may have ben stronger than Hector but Hector was far faster and nigh untouchable

while Norris was very smart and complete. Smart boxers like Norris, Nunn, camacho, Mayweather, Leonard does not do well against and often sustains too much damage before he can even get in his licks

when you bring up Julian Jackson, please note that jackson was built for power while Leopard, it would require for him a longer time, many rounds in fact, for him to rack up blow after blow and in that time, he himself would be on the receiving end from his faster rival while Jackson can suddenly end it with one shot.