How good was Sugar Ray Seals?

Good at best. He doesn't make "very good" on my tiers.

 

An outstanding amateur, he was the only American gold medalist at the 1972 Olympics. He also won national titles in the amateur ranks.

As a pro, he lost a close decision to Marvin Hagler, fought him to a draw (strange fight with two 99-99 scorecards at least as reported) and then got KO’d by him.

Much of his career he was on the edge of contendership but never quite got over to get a title shot. Won USBA and NABF titles, which meant a lot in his day.

Lost his sight (legally blind) after sustaining a detached retina late in his career but it was later restored through surgery.

Spent 17 years as a school teacher working with autistic children, so that speaks well of him as a human being.

 

Good talent , but seemed to be an even better human being.
If he fought in today's watered down era of boxing, he probably would win a world championship.
Some of you would swear he's the greatest middleweight to ever live..

 

I was going to start a thread about him lol. Thanks for taking care of that.

 

Good stuff

 

Sad ending to it all he used to get chased away from a boxing gym cause they thought he was some old blind drunk or whatever… he just wanted to HEAR the beating of leather soles, skipping ropes, bag beating and hands flying… very sad.

 

I hung out with him at the IBHOF a few years back. Seemed to be doing okay. You couldn't ask for a nicer dude.

 

Seals is now my favorite Sugar

 

Don’t think I’ve ever read or heard a bad word about him. Just a decent man who happened to be a good but not great fighter.

I’d still go with this as my favorite Sugar, but I’m biased:

This content is protected

 

It's Sugar Ray SEALES, not Seals. Please change the title of this thread so the mistake isn't perpetuated and so thatwhen people search his name they can properly find this thread.

 

Please correct the spelling of his last name. It's Seales, not Seals.

 

What I always liked about Seales was that he was a FIGHTER! In every sense. Everytime I would pickup a magazine back in the day, there was always one and sometimes two Sugar Ray Seales results gracing the mag. This guy fought and he fought often. Case in point, he fought 14 times his first pro year and 10 times in his second. None of this once or twice a year crap. Even at his height he was still fighting 6 or 7 times a year. That's what a fighter had to do in a competitive era. Seales could always beat that second tiered fighter such as Mike Nixon, David Love, Doug Demmings, George Cooper, Sammy NeSmith and Johnny LoCicero, but always seemed to lose to that first tier. He was the first guy to give Marvin Hagler and Ayub Kalule a competitive fight and came unluckily close to stopping Alan Minter. But close doesn't get you anywhere in this game. i will end this by mentioning his heart. Man, I saw him take a lashing from Cyclone Hart but he never folded. That was in August. He had two more fights before the year was out. Man, today's fighters would be licking their wounds and going to Analyst's sessions to repair their psyche before even going back to the gym after that kind of pummeling from Cyclone.

 

Ray Seales fought on for more than 2 years after detaching his retina (not clear if he knew it was a detached retina or not but he surely knew something was wrong with his vision even if he didn’t have a diagnosis) and beat Slammin’ Sammy Nesmith (for the second time) and John LoCicero with effectively one eye, also went the distance with James Shuler in that end run.

I hadn’t realized Ray had a win over David Love, one of my favorite forgotten fighters. Knocked Love down twice in the 12th and final round for a stoppage (this is pre-eye injury). That moved him to 21-0. In his next fight he lost to fellow unbeaten prospect Marvin Hagler in a competitive decision in a strange venue — they fought in a TV studio with few if any fans as a benefit for the United Way … probably as part of a telethon or something like that.

(Love, btw, is one of my favorite forgotten fighters — the San Diego fighter went on a run through all the Philly middleweights and kept beating them until rising young Curtis Parker finally notched a win for the City of Brotherly Love. I wish there was more film of Love around — he was a really rugged boxer-puncher who fought ‘em all.)

 

I remember reading on Seales' deteriorating vision and when the trainer knew something was wrong when Seales, in the gym ring sparring, stopped his workout and said to the trainer, "can't they turn the lights on in here?" The lights, of course, were all the way on. I'm glad to hear he has regained some of his vision.

Regarding David Love, I was always following him but never thought he was more than a journeyman until he reached his absolute prime where he took out Willie Monroe and Bobby Watts. I couldn't believe it at the time. I saw one of them - i think it was the Watts fight - and he also held a win over a very hot prospect in 'Bad News' Wallace.