I'm going to see Ray Leonard tomorrow night

I think what gets forgotten is that,given his eye problems,it could've been disasterous getting involved with a Panama Lewis fighter.

I suspect that without the retina issue,the size advantage would've appealed heavily to Ray added to the hubris he would've experienced had Pryor made enough noise.
Although in saying that,Ray's confidence would've been well founded at that point,even with the lack of commitment he was showing post-81,so hubris might be the wrong choice of word.But an HBO broadcast with Pryor calling Ray out from the ring would perhaps suggest different.

 

The sport has gotten so bad, that the "atrocities" committed by SRL - whether real or imagined - are hardly even worth bringing up anymore.

 

tell him I said hello and dont let him tlak u into sparring (see Danny Bonaducci)

 

I did warn you mate.:-(
It's actually such a waste when you have a legend in the room and people spout **** that is so obvious or has been covered already.
At the MAB one I went to,he covered in detail why Morales was the best puncher he'd faced(volume and the fact the fight was so hard.)
Then,when it went to the audience,the first question from an old guy;
"Tell us Marco,who was the hardest puncher you fought?":gsg

I asked the next question and could see idiots with blank looks on their faces as if to say,"What was that?"

So it was quite satisfying at the end when we went up to see him again and he remembered me from my question.
Then,his interpretor came up to tell me it was a very thoughtful question and Marco appreciated me asking.

The smug look was wiped off my face a few weeks later when Johnny Tapia died.
MAB told me he was doing great and everything would be OK
Apart from the obvious sadness,it does take the shine off my moment a bit.

Just a bit though.

Sorry it wasn't what you hoped for mate.I think these things can be very hit and miss and I felt a bit fleeced when I left about £300 lighter.

 

that was actually a fair statement Powerpuncher. we sometimes might not like hearing it, but it goes with the territory, especially in Leonard's case

To answer that man's question, out of the few punchers he faced, now he has only three to pick from and one of those was a shot fighter so I guess it boils down to two, Hearns N Duran, unless u want to include Geraldo, lalonde, Howard, Norris, Camacho, all of which had him on the floor but weren't considered punchers

In order: Norris (sharpest) then Hearns, then Duran

Norris also had a much higher % connecting than Tommy, whose arsenal was limited to a one-two combo, most of which Ray easily avoided

 

My man powderpuff :good was it the pridepark one you went to?!! Haha I was there aswell we could have had a right old ding dong haha where were you sitting in there??

 

He can't be 5'8"...just check out the difference between him and the 5'7" Duran...and he's slightly taller than the 5'9"-ish Benitez. If he said that he must be developing Pugilistica Dementia or something.

 

That is so awesome. I figured all the main questions would be asked so I held back. How much were the ticks again? ****ing hell I freak out whenever meeting regular boxers let alone legit (top 10, yeah suck it) ATGs

 

That's actually a nice price IMO. Ray was doing a booksigning at the Grove in LA and I didn't know until a week prior, and I had already booked tickets back home for mom's ****ing birthday :-( I was gutted

I did meet Khan, Mosley, Vince Phillips, James Toney recently in LA.

Khan gave me beer in an elevator at the sunset hotel. No one knew who he was but me and I went bonkers with the nuthugging This was after the Marcos fight so I went full yes man mode on him. He gave me some brew and he went off with his mexican buddy (who was bleeding from the head?) and two blondes :smoke

 

Shane Mosley I met during the LA kings cup run last year. He was in the sports shop and what not and I pretty much gave him a monster hug and told him how big a fan I was, he said he hated hockey but it's great for the town, etc. and I told hima bout Gretzky since I lived where he does and he thought that was cool.

I legit met Amir ..was he drinking though im not. I remember thinking he was huge for being a 140 lb dude. Maybe they wenre't his but he gave me two out of the 6 pack. told him i loved the fight with maidana and he is one of the fastest guys Ive seen, even late on in bouts I remember Gabe montoya trying to hit me up for the story but I told him to sod off because he's been a ***** lately.

James Toney I met outside the wild card EARLY in the morning. he was just chilling with a crew, just told him i was a big fan and that i love watching his fights. he asked me how much i weighed and I said around 135, and he said "thats a nice weight...ya look wiry" then he asked if i felt good at it and I said yeah only 6 lbs less than my fighting weight and he said 129 lbs! I have almost a 100 on you boy. then I just shook all their hands and went on running.

I met Vince at the wild card too and I asked him why Tzyu never rematched him and he said because tzyu said the money wasn't right and he'd rather build his brand back up. so I asked him wtf would you go up to fight quartey? and he said because the money WAS right. which was fair enough, we chuckled, talked boxing a bit. his favourite fighter was henry armstrong just because he said he was a workhose and lost early and came back, and he respected that.

Great times.