Sugar Ray Leonard Gets an Awful Lot of Negativity

A great boxer and heckuva finisher, that's all I know. To be that good an ego is a prerequisite. He's got one.

 

I am not a fan, but I am an appreciatior. He was front and center of perhaps the most star-studded, competitive era in boxing history and gives us all a lot to talk about all these years later.

You may not like him, but don't be so obvious about exposing yourself as a clueless troll when you try to denigrate him or downplay his triumphs and influence. He was undeniably great.

 

I'm not a fan of Ray because he was always to self centered and his ego was way to big. As time went by though I learned to separate his skill from his personality. Can't say I've been able to do that with every one but I've learned to accept Ray for what he appears to be for me adleast. One of the greatest in his prime just not a big fan.

 

I wouldn't call myself a fan, but as soon as I start watching him fight I become a fanboy.

 

One of my fondest memories as a boxing fan was seeing the look on Ray Leonard's face as he was waiting for the judges decision in Montreal,,,he knew he'd lost...

 

I wasn't around when SRL was fighting at the time but from the videos I've seen his personality seemed to be more chill, laid back, and soft spoken. He never came across as a classless trash talker, at least from what I've seen. I'm guessing it has more to do with the fact that he beat many beloved fighters such as Duran, Hearns, Hagler. He was the one that had most of the fame and glory out of the Fab Four. And his conniving tactics of having things go his way could be a turn off, such as forcing Duran to rematch him immediately, not giving Hearns a rematch until 8 years later, intentionally avoided Hagler until he was noticeably past his best, and the Donny LaLonde fiasco.

Personally I appreciate SRL's artistry when he boxed. A schemer outside of the ring, sure, but a master in the ring.

 

Some don't like his ego or success.
They want to claim he was a prima donna
without looking at the facts of his career.
A prima donna wouldn't have survived the
version of Duran he faced in Montreal.
Wouldn't have found the will to out gun
and overwhelm Thomas Hearns in Vegas,
1st fight, when both were prime.
A prima donna would've been content with
just a win over Benitez.
Ray Leonard was one of the most talented
boxers to ever lace on boxing gloves.
But underneath all that talent was a
fire breathing dragon, with a relentless
will to win.
I've always been a fan of his, since
his fight with Benitez in 1979. (The 1st fight
I would recommend to any novice fan who wants to
learn the science, and beauty of the sport)
And have watched all his fights in their entirety.
There are things he did I don't like.
(The drug and wife abuse, the embarrassing
charade he did to Hagler, in 1982, the multiple retirements )
But really, what did he do that would cause so
much venom from some posters?
He didn't kill anyone, never quit in the ring,
never avoided anyone purposefully.
Sure he was egotistical but what great fighter wasn't
not named Alexis Arguello?
Some posters, in my opinion allow their personal
prejudices reflect in their opinions on Leonard.
But that's a window to their own souls.
Not Ray Leonard's

 

Can rub people the wrong way and he deserves criticism for some of the stuff he did during his comebacks but his haters can't accept his greatness in his prime.

Leonard Derangement Syndrome, lol.

 

His antics and shenaningangs inside and outside the ring are a bit of a turn off, sure, but he is an undeniable ATG.

You just have to accept that boxing is also a mental game and Leonard mastered it, for good or bad. What he did is not too far from Ali's trash talking or Tyson's intimidation attitudes.

 

Maybe this is shallow of me but it feels like a lot of that hate is just from Hagler and Duran fans who are mad their favorites lost against him. They say it's because Ray has a lot of ego and things like that, but at the same time they are usually fans of Duran. Am I supposed to believe Duran wasn't egotistical or arrogant?

 

SRL was about as complete a fighter as I've seen. Speed, power, chin, stamina, ring IQ (other than maybe Duran 1), could fight well going forwards or backwards. He was extremely versatile, and was able to deal with a variety of styles from great fighters...Duran, Benitez, Hearns, for example. One of the best for sure.

I personally have no problem with SRL, but judging from what I used to hear people in the neighborhood I grew up in say, as well as comments on here, it's his ego. I always found it amusing that he seemed completely unaware of his arrogance. Just one small example. Notice Tompkins struggling not to laugh at Ray's examples here. ME ME ME

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A few years back threads would pop up here pretty frequently to criticise Leonard for all manner of things, but they've become pretty rare, thankfully enough.

As a person he seems to have been a bit of ***** on the height of his success, but that goes a bit with the territory. The press conference stunt he pulled was really bad and would have pissed me off immensely if a fighter of his stature did today.

But I judge fighters on what they do in the sport and there he did tremendous amounts. He turned the Lalonde thing into a bit of a circus, when it was actually quite an interesting challenge for someone his age to take on, and I don't like the weight stipulation he used against Hearns. But nobody is perfect and few has brought us the fights he did.

What mostly pisses people off about him is that he was a household name and that he beat their favourites, I think.

 

I think in his prime he was at the VERY least the 3rd best welterweight of all time, maybe 2 behind Robinson..
And you are spot on about the tactics for fights and rematches. I guess it shows his management team did what was absolutely in his best interests.

 

He was as complete a fighter as any, a WW force of nature just a notch below SRR.
However, he did tip things in his favor on more than one occasion so it's understandable why some people were not too fond of him.