Does anyone remember in 1988 when Sugar Ray ko'd Donny Lalonde?

The throat punch!

Vicious.

 

yeh it was a pretty wicked ko...

 

Hell ngyeah they were even promoting this fight on the WWF ..That beat down was brutal ! The Golden Boy

 

.............Lalonde was not a no-name.


He was the WBC light-heavy champ, and had stopped Leslie Stewart and Eddie Davis to get there. He was ponderous, and therefore considered a ripe opponent for Ray, but he was in no way a no-name. Leonard wouldn't have bothered with someone like that.

 

I was actually thinking about this fight the other day. I remember the promotion, everything.

Good stuff. Thanks, Tim! :good

 

Yeah, I remember that fight well. Alot of people at the time thought Leonard was moving up too far and he would get beat. Lalonde was no hall of famer, certainly, but he wasn't exactly a "no name" either. He was a fractional belt-holder, and a decent enough fighter for the era. At the time it was considered to be a rather impressive accomplishment that Leonard beat him, and something of a surprise in some quarters.

 

Yeah, but others criticized Leonard and the WBC for the weight issue, with Lalonde moving down in weight so 2 divisional titles could be at stake in one weight.

I think it was Gil Clancy that called it a disgrace to boxing or sham, or something to that extent.

 

That Leonard-Lalonde fight did as much to hurt the sport than anything......
......it showed that a media darling like Leonard could manipulate any of the boxing orginizations to grant him what he wished.

In that night, Leonard made a lightheavyweight champ, come down to a weight he had never fought in......(Lalonde looked sickly at the weigh-in)
......whats ridiculous is that here was two fighters fighting at a contracted weight of 168 lbs, where both fighters had never stepped foot in.....and it was for the wbc vacant title no less.

Whats even more ridiculous is that at stake in the fight was Lalonde's
WBC Lightheavyweight title to go along with a vacant title at 168 lbs.

I lost alot of respect for Ray Leonard that night....
Leonard won his 4th and 5th world title belts in different weight classes, by making a lightheavyweight champ dehydrate to a weight he had never fought in....the fight was fought at Supermiddleweight for a belt neither fighter had earned the right to fight for......and in the process, Leonard was handed Lalonde's lightheavyweight titles that night, even though the fight was not fought at lightheavweight.

Ray Leonard won his 4th and 5th world titles, bogusly on the same night!:-(

....and whats even sadder for boxing is that fighters have been fighting for and winning bogus world titles like Leonard did that night, ever since then.
Leonard was a big part in setting the precedent for such bogasity.:verysad


Thats what comes to my mind when I think about Leonard-Lalonde.:-(

 

Yeah, that whole thing was a mess. Two titles at once, Lalonde going down in weight, etc..

Leonard wanted to surpass Hearns, who'd won titles in 4 divisions (5 including the WBO, but that was way less regarded than than now), so he was able to use his power to get the WBC to do this bull****.

 

Good point. I had forgotten that aspect of it - shoot it's been 20 years! Hard to believe, really.

People ***** about Leonard's manipulations in this, but popular fighters have always gotten certain considerations - and they STILL do (Hello Oscar!!:hi Look at all the gift decisions Ali got towards the end of his career. I'm not saying it's right, but it's been part of the sport for a long time, and Leonard is far from the only figther to have benefitted from this.

 

there is a big difference between a gift decision, and a fight that is completely manipulated before hand in order to heavily favor one fighter.
i think you will be hard pressed to find many if any catchweight fights prior to srl.