Bruce Finch

Ray Leonard was in another one of his "generous" moods.

 

Finch was on an 11 match winning streak and Leonard was coming off his famous victory over Hearns. He took a well deserved easy defense and had Stafford and Pryor lined up for his next two fights.

 

I still haven't figured it out. I never liked those cuties and Benitez was A passive fighter even though the press got a hard on watching him, calling him a boy genius and the bible of boxing.

he never did especially well with more agressive, stronger fighters. People talk like he would have beaten Ayala. Those people don't even know what they're talking about.

Take a look at the fight with Matthew Hilton, the closest thing to Tony Ayala in terms of style, strength, and size, but without the paralyzing power. he was under intense pressure until he crashed on his side and resembled molten slag after Matt was finished with him.

Moreover, Wilfred couldn't handle Hamsho or Moore. Hamsho was the first man to teach Wilfred the meaning of fear the way he taught it to Czyz.

I favor a good brawler over a boxer more often that not.

 

In a 40 fight career the guy managed to face and beat Hearn's, Benitez, Hagler and Duran. Given the opponent quality of these 7 fights i think he could do whatever he pleased with the other 33, no? As it is there's plenty of fair fighters there. Lets open our eyes and compare him to others, Ali, Holmes, Duran, Louis and most everybody else have plenty of stiffs.

Talk about shallow. Hearns and Duran made him look bad but never mind he is 3-1-1 against them. Winning isn't the important thing, looking good is. Better still, how good is winning after struggling but still finding a way? Lets write that off. Holmes struggled vs Snipes, Witherspoon, Weaver etc. Duran was beaten by some ordinaries. Even Tyson at his best had some more average bouts against palooka's. Louis. They all have their struggles, at least Leonard's were against great fighters.

 

:good

 

Hearns was in the mood too with Baez, Primera and Shields. Must have been catching. :good

 

Sugar Ray Leonard was very popular with TV audiences.
They could have matched him with any bum and he'd get high viewing ratings.
That's how come Bruce Finch got a title shot.

 

probably the same way patrick charpantier got to challenge oscar de la hoya in 98.

 

Come to think of it, Ray did say Bruce hurt him momentarily.

 

Ayala

 

Ahhh the good old days. Various new posters would appear and bounce back and forth with Rooster, sharing their mutual hatred and coming up with more and more criticisms when it seemed impossible. They'd cop a bit of heat or lose respect and suddenly a new name would spring forth and away we'd go again. If Leonard was reading the forums he'd have thought he was living Groundhog Day.

 

By being rated in world title rankings.

 

the brawlers like Hamsho and the middleweight contenders of the early 80s were a joy to watch. i got to see a lot of those fights live (as i've said before, especially Fletcher and Hamsho and all the greast nights in philly in the 70s and early 80s) and miss those halycon days of boxing still. I will admit though I was aPintor fan instead of a Chandler fan.:rasta