WHAT IF.......Leonard had not retired from ages 25-30??

possibly, but probably not.

You look at a guy like Herny Armstrong and look at what he has accomplished, its hard to see how SRL even with 5 prime years of fights would have been able to equal that measure without fighting elite guys who outweighed him by 10-15 pounds at the weigh-in

 

He wasn't forced to stay in retirement. He had a detached retina after the Hearns fight. Lots of fghters have overcome that. Had he stayed busy during those years he'd have a shot at being the #1 ATG at 147, at the very least.

Boo

 

Hearns contributed to that retirement.

 

Imo, had Leonard fought during the years in question, he would have gotten stopped at 154 lbs by a prime Hearns, and it would have meant that a Hagler fight would have happened sooner.....he'd have gotten worked over by Hagler as well!

 

It would have been cool to watch him against Cuevas, Curry, McCallum, Jackson, or defending his Middleweight title against Mugabi, Kalambay, etc.

 

No one can really say that. He would've had to face Hearns again (whom was beating Leonard until an bad stoppage-- considering the circumstances, in my opinion). He would have had to have a rubber match with Roberto Duran (the 2nd bout was clouded in controversy when Leonard admittingly pushed Duran into losing a ton of weight in a very short time in the contract stipulations). He would have probably fought a prime Hagler prior to 1987 (who beats Leonard).

Leonard stayed away from a Hagler fight and Hearns rematch for a reason, he didn't want to jeopardize his already established legacy. Leonard knew that he was somewhat fortunate to escape with a victory against Hearns. Leonard knew he couldn't beat Hagler until after he saw that Hagler had declined during the Mugabi fight. Then after he talks to Hagler and realizes that Hagler's heart and desire is no longer in boxing, SRL begins to publically push for the fight.

Everyone sees how Hearns legacy was altered because of the Leonard TKO and Hagler KO. What if Leonard would have kept boxing and been stopped or defeated in a couple of megafights? Leonard is lucky that he was soooo popular and soooo generally well liked. What other fighter could basically not fight between the ages of 25-30 and still be considered top 10 of all-time. Skill wise, he was amazing. Yet, he never truly proved that he was better than Duran (1-1 in their primes), Hearns (questions as to what would have happened if the ref hadn't stopped the fight persist), or Hagler (whom he didn't want no part of).

I find it ironic that people love Leonard, but hate Mayweather when I believe they had a lot in common in regards to how they approach their legacy and how calculative they are. One just choose to be the ultimate "good guy/showman" while the other opted towards villifying himself. Personally, I love them both as fighters. I'm just playing devil's advocate and offering another perspective of Sugar Ray Leonard.

 

You don't overcome it. You make the choice to risk going blind. I don't know about you, but boxing is dangerous enough. If a doctor tells me I have a huge increase in risk of blindness....I'm finding a day job :good

 

the hearns rematch would have happened earlier. shame it took 8 years for them to get it on again, when the fight had lost it's luster.

 

Me 2

 

It may have been possible, i have leonard at 8 list in my atg and the only reason he is not higher is the shortness of his career and lack of a lot of decent wins to go with his big 4 wins, though those 4 top wins are amazing, the best 4 names on anyone ever resume imo.

However if he had fought at that time then things may have been difficult. For instance a rematch with hearns at his more natural weight of 154 would most likely have occured, also the fight with hagler would probably have happened earlier when hagler was in his prime not slightly over it like in 87. So perhaps leonard would not have his best win in hagler and a possible loss over hearns as well, mcallum would also have been a difficult fight for leonard. It all guess work of course, we just never know how good he could have been

 

Hearns beat him up in those two fights. Hagler was over the hill by the time they fought. He didn't get to fight McCallum or Jackson. He himself admitted to running from Hagler. Duran beat him the first fight and SRL forced Duran to do all types of weird **** for the rematch. SRL is over-rated as ****. He had ****ing skills no doubt about it, but he was just a media darling. Anyone putting him in the top 10 ATG needs to stop watching boxing.