What was the reaction to Leonard fighting Donny Lalonde?

Donny was also sporting about a pound-and-a-half of mullet too.

 

To be honest I had doubts about his winning. He had only seen 2 fights in the past five years and taking on a very powerful hitter who was younger and bigger. I was pleasantly surprised when he rose for the occasion in a very entertaining match. Lalonde is an underrated win for Leonard in my opinion

 

He got credit for the win due to his age, inactivity, and being significantly smaller. In hindsight the "accomplishment" has overshadowed the win (mostly Ray's fault) and it's hardly even mentioned as a big moment for him.

For what it's worth, I give Canelo credit for the Kovalev win.

 

LMMFAO. Thanks for the laughs Lloyd. Good one

 

Was it the hair lol?

 

I don't think Ray gets too much credit for that win. That was seen as a way (especially after) to steal two titles to match Duran and Hearns with 4 and 5 titles. I mean the fact he has them is ok, since all of them have 4 titles each. I would have been more impressed had he won a 4th title in a legit way. As for the Leonard/Lalonde fight Hearns had just won his 5th title 3 days before Ray fought Lalonde. Although that was the new WBO title. Canelo knew that Kovalev was tired and had fought everyone and that his chin was softened up.

 

Although Lalonde looked a big light heavyweight (for the time) ,it was well known in the boxing press at the time,that Lalonde complained after the leslie stewart fight that he weighed 168lbs after the fight.

 

Total scam BS move on Leonards part, but not surprising as he always had to have ALL of the advantages in a fight. One of the reasons i do not hold him in too high a regard.

 

Well, at least Leonard won the Lalonde fight, quite convincingly.

I personally thought he lost to Hagler by three points.

 

Every opponent Sugar Ray Leonard ever fought as an excuse why they lost to him

 

It was an intriguing fight. There was a feeling that maybe Ray had bitten off more than he could chew. Of course, now knowing what we know about the fight and how it plays out...

 

Did he have the same kind of mullet hair style?

 

I consider Donny Lalonde on par with a prime Harold Johnson.......

 

This isn't representative AT ALL of what was happening leading in to that fight.

Sounds, instead, like an opinion that's morphed online over the years.

First, Leonard wasn't trying to "match" Duran's "four or five" titles because Duran didn't even win his fourth title until he beat Barkley in an upset in 1989. The Leonard-Lalonde fight was in 1988.

Second, how did Leonard not win in a legit way? He knocked the guy out. Hearns didn't knock out Kinchen. Hearns was all but out himself in that fight.

Third, Leonard and Lalonde fought for the inaugural WBC Super Middleweight title. The WBC didn't recognize the division until that year. So the fact that they matched the superstar who won the Middleweight Title the previous year with a reigning light heavyweight champion (Lalonde) to crown their first super middleweight champion meant that it was a pretty solid matchup.

Who did the IBF match for their first Super Middleweight title fight? Murray Sutherland and Ernie Singletary?

Who did the WBA match for their first Super Middleweight belt? Chong Pal Park and Jesus Gallardo?

Compared to those fights, matching a current light heavyweight champ and the last unified Middleweight Champ seems pretty good.

Finally, regarding Hearns and the WBO belt, the only person who tried to "steal" a title in the Leonard-Hearns scenario you brought up was Hearns. The WBO was not only a new organization, it had NO CHAMPIONS in any division.

Nobody had heard World Boxing Organization because it only existed on paper to that point.

Some guys who attended the WBA annual convention that year got mad at Gilberto Mendoza and decided to start their own org.

In fact, nobody had heard of the WBO until it was announced Hearns was fighting for the WBO belt. And people rolled their eyes. The org itself was like weeks/months old. (LOL)

When Hearns-Kinchen was signed, it was just a 12-rounder. Hearns had just been knocked unconscious in three rounds by Barkley. But he'd managed to get a fight with Fully Obel for Obel's WBA Super Middleweight belt (which Obel won from Park), but Obel pulled out with an injury.

Then Hearns signed to fight Kinchen, a longtime middleweight contender.

And when Hearns realized Leonard could win his fourth and fifth titles, Hearns and his team went looking for any belt they could fight for.

Originally, Bob Arum announced Hearns-Kinchen would be for the North American Super Middleweight title. And Arum's quote at the time was "only people in the business know the difference between a world title and a North American title."

But when the press started reporting Hearns-Kinchen wasn't for a WORLD title, and Leonard's fight would be ... within a couple days, Hearns-Kinchen were suddenly going to be fighting for a "world" title.

The WBO title! The First WBO belt in any division.

In the 30 years since, Leonard has been accused of being 'sneaky' or whatever. But Leonard, whose last fight was winning the middleweight title, actually knocked out a reigning world champion two divisions higher for those WBC titles.

While Hearns was coming off a KO loss, fighting a late sub who never won anything, for an organization that didn't exist at the start of the year and had NO champs in any division.