Ray Leonard Doesn't Retire From 1982-87 and Fights...

Aaron Pryor was banned in California, New York and Nevada by those state athletic commissions when he fought in Wisconsin - which had no athletic commission. The athletic commissions in California, New York and Nevada even appealed to the Governor of Wisconsin to block the fight due to Pryor's vision.

I think you're basing your "diagnosis" on a Wikipedia page, taken from news reports in Wisconsin. On the same card, a brain damaged Jerry Quarry was approved to fight, too. The doctors brought in by the promoter said Quarry was fine, as well.

Quarry didn't even remember he was a boxer a few years later ... and Pryor's blind as a bat. Clearly, the doctors who gave both the OKAY were WRONG.

Regarding Holmes, people didn't know Holmes wore contacts in the ring until he told them after one fight where his contact fell out. And Holmes isn't blind. In fact, he had surgery after the fight because he knew he wouldn't be able to fight with contacts.

There were dozens of stories of Pryor's terrible eyesight before that fight and after ... and how he couldn't recognize people or things right in front of him.

 

Give a citation then. He obviously could recognize people if he had one good eye. Having his license denied would've been due to injury and not refractive error.

 

Interesting...

 

I believe Leonard focused and trained for each bout would win each of those bouts. The lone exception maybe would be Hearns who gave Ray hell in fight two.

 

Is this thread assuming the eye problems didn't exist or does it want these fights with his eye in a bad way ????

 

I'm going to presume no eye problems for the purpose of this post.

Ray had already defeated Kalule, then moved back down to defend his WW Title. Along with Hagler's MW Championship, it was one of the only two undisputed crowns in boxing. SRL did not even open his training camps without being below the weight limit of the division he was going to be competing in. He began training for Stafford weighing below 147, and was extremely motivated in his camp because of Roger's big mouth.

SRL had an excellent chin at 147, and I don't see him being defeated at the weight until he can no longer be under the WW limit to begin training camps. He proved with Stafford that he would then vacate at 147 to move back up to 154 if that ever happened. When might he have had to do that? I'd ask Ray himself to provide the best guess, but he was extremely disciplined with a strong routine, and never in less than top condition. (For example, SRL only had to do a fraction of the road work Bruce Finch was putting himself through, a reported 15 miles daily.)

I get the impression Ray was maintaining some level of conditioning between bouts, like Antuofermo's five mile daily runs. (Michael Spinks had the same ethic, and it's why the Jinx was available to substitute at the last minute when Mike Rossman got injured training for his rematch with Ranquello. Of course Michael's preparedness for opportunity's call launched him from a moribund career to ATG immortality.)

Once again, WW is a historically marquee division, SRL had unified that title against Hearns, and Tommy wasn't going to return to 147 when he was so much stronger and punch resistant at 154. Ray was at a stage where he was going to dominate at 147 as long as he cared to. He believed after he vacated that title that Don Curry was his appropriate successor, and I think the Don Curry/Marlon Starling/Colin Jones/Milt McCrory group of welters coming up would have provided him with sufficient motivation to continue dominating at WW. I do believe Ray defeats all of them, and the Kronk angle would be enough to fuel interest in SRL-McCrory.

Colin Jones would have given SRL a reason to defend his title in the UK, while Starling represented New England at WW, so a suitable precursor for SRL-Hagler down the road in a venue like Boston Garden. I believe Ray would defeat everybody Curry did, then turn back Lloyd Honeyghan because of the all-important difference between Ray and Donald of weight control. The Cobra was 168 pounds six weeks before Honeyghan. SRL never would have been more than 146 pounds at that stage, or he would have vacated his crown rather than risk damaging himself by defending it.

Yes, I think Ray could have maintained his WW championship concurrently with Marv's MW reign, until recognizing that MMH was ready to be taken after Mugabi. Anticipation would then be at a fever pitch. But in April 1987, a never out of action SRL as reigning undisputed WW Champion would have pulled off a clear UD upset over the slowed and outsmarted MMH who was actually in the ring that night.

After Hagler, my best guess is that Ray's remaining career might have unfolded as it actually did with that legacy win in his pocket, and fans would still be arguing furiously to this day about his shrewdness in waiting until after Marv ended his prime with the war against Hearns.

 

Joe Frazier also used contacts for his 1976 rematch with Foreman after undergoing surgery to remove a cataract on his left eye in November 1975, the month after Manila. I'm not aware of contacts being used in boxing competition prior to Foreman-Frazier II in June 1976, but maybe you can identify previous use of contacts in the ring.

 

Soft contact lenses came around in the early 70s so it's within reason that the Frazier fight was the first high-profile instance.