America should not have been in Veitnam and they sent over a larger percentage of black men per capita than their fellow white soldiers, awful war.
Ray was lucky.. he had all the greats to fight Benitez,Duran,Hearns,Hagler. And beating them all. Fighting greats makes you a legend. That is how it works. Beating them even more. And he had legendary fights with them. The round robin with all of them fighting each other enhances all their legends. Even in losses. Floyd fought good guys, but he handpicked when they were older.
Mark, you have to keep in mind that the vast majority of black athletes historically haven't been informed enough or committed enough to fight racial injustice in America to take the stands and make the sacrifices that guys like Colin Kaepernick have. The stakes are too high, the threat of backlash is real, and there's never been much reason to believe that it would lead to any real progress. Leonard almost certainly saw how OJ Simpson got white Americans to love him and give him lots of money by smiling a lot, downplaying his blackness, and not taking himself too seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if a young SRL took notes.
I try to overlook their shotprtcomings, I can’t expect them to be all woke up like Mark. If only the people who preceded us had the courage of his convictions!
No I don’t think he did Mark. My guess is frankly that he would’ve raised a glass for all the men who died regardless of their race.
You are correct I apologize for my part in it. I no patience for people who feel they have higher claim to the moral high ground to the extent they can criticize people for being proud of their country. I think they have a strong enough grasp of the pros and cons of the social issues and can speak for themselves responsibly.
No apology necessary brother! + you were not the one trying to hijack the thread with politics in the first place. Cheers mate
Thanks Longhorn! The early part of the video was a great reminder of early Sugar Ray! I have to admit a bit of a jaundiced eye for a variety of reasons and even tossed out an autograph that I got from him. I won’t bore anyone with the details but I will just chalk it up to being young and surly. I remember him beating Clinton MCKENZIE as an amateur.I thought highly of Clinton and was surprised handled how adeptly Ray handled him. It was as if Sugar Ray just had another gear!The charisma he displayed was amazing! It was obvious he was going to be special. I remember how shocking it was when I heard he was not going to turn pro! Frankly, I didn’t believe it then. Turns out it was a better and that he would follow throughout his career . When he did, I saw all of his early bouts which of course were televised, Lou Vega, fireball Rodriguez . . . I don’t think he gets his due for his early career, He beat mainstays like Adolpho Viruet, Randy Shields, Tony Chiaverini, ARMANDO MUNIZ . . . His team, including Angelo Dundee, did a great job of getting him a good mixtures of names and appropriate at the right time in his career early on!
