Leonard says Hearns was his biggest rival AND toughest opponent

The fight was a possibility just before they met at Baltmiore Civic Center. I can say without any hesitation whatsoever that both camps were in 'mild' negotations about the fight taking place. As I stated in my post before my last one, Leonard was the one willing to step up to 154lbs to face Hagler. And Hagler said that if the fight was to take place it would have to be at full middleweight for his titles. He felt that he would seriously weaken himself if he dropped all the way down to jr middleweight. At no point did I mentioned that "the Hagler people considered going to 154 for Leonard"

However, I did say that had Leonard continued fighting and not retired in 1982 then it's possible things could have changed with Hagler's decision and he might well have moved down to 154. Maybe Leonard would have moved up to middleweight. Who knows?

The bottom line is that the fight was a possibility, but the weight could not be agreed, then Leonard retired.

 

got it. for a moment i was confused.