Why did Sugar Ray Leonard have so few fights?

Since when is 36-3-1 terrible?

 

its not terrible but when compared with other all time greats, it should be better. he needs at least another 10 - 15 wins and no knockout losses to certify his greatness, like Floyd.

 

Well, you aren't going to get another 10 to 15 wins out of him, and his greatness was certified 35 to 40 years ago.



What a weird statement.

 

Leonard started boxing as a child. He had 150 amateur fights and 40 pro fights. He initially retired when advancements in detached retina surgery were relatively new. If you got one back then, you most likely were going to be blind in that eye. So he got a detached retina. He'd made roughly $50 million back when most pro athletes made $1 million in their careers if they were lucky. And he was advised to retire. So he did. And he eventually came back and won more big fights.

And, it was smart to limit the number of fights he had. Hagler is dead. Benitez is a vegetable. You can't understand most of what Hearns says. And Leonard is still wealthy and in great shape mentally and physically.

I don't know why some fans want boxers to be empty shells when they finally call it quits. It's better for the sport when retired boxers actually have GREAT lives after they retire.

More young people might actually want to take up the sport if they see retired boxers living well.

I've always believed Ali's terrible condition after he retired severely damaged boxing in the US for decades afterward. No young kid wanted to end up like Ali. So many took up other sports.

 

T

 

Thats my opinion as well, he'd have been beaten more often if he'd have had a more sustained career

 

Yes, good thing for Leonard they matched him with the "slow-pokes" like Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Randy Shields, Pete Ranzany and Andy 'Hawk' Price at welterweight ... and they didn't put him in the "fast" welterweights.


I'm getting the distinct impression someone wasn't born when Leonard was fighting.

 

" Well, you aren't going to get another 10 to 15 wins out of him"

Well it's no wonder the way he gave up titles instead of defending them

just because you win a couple of big fights, you dont just HAND it to them.

You win a title, DEFEND IT the way Roy Jones did, the way Mayweather did

a champion keeps going, he doesnt just ABANDON the title because he doesnt want to risk meeting the leading challenger and feels threatened by him

and a champion gives rematches, especially to those he got a gift decision from

 

PETE RANZANY?

You should've added Kalule, Lalonde, and Dave Green to the list. they're much faster than Michael Nunn and Terry Norris

 

"Andy the Hawk Price"

"Randy Shields"

 

You have no clue what you're talking about. Yes, Sugar Ray Leonard vacated the WORLD welterweight title because he didn't want to fight Roger Stafford.

That's exactly why he retired.

He beat Benitez and Duran and Hearns for Welterweight titles.

But he was so terrified of Roger Stafford and his "speed" he called it quits.

Seriously, STFU.

 

Roger Stafford? He was just another punching bag in the proud tradition of Pete Ranzany, Ayub Kalule, Andy Price & Dave Green

I'm talking Michael Nunn but never fear, Terry Norris shed light on the mismatch that would have resulted

 

Michael Nunn wasn't even a pro when Sugar Ray Leonard retired in 1982, and was never a welterweight. You have zero clue.

 

It wasn't the eye. The eye injury accounted for inactivity in the second half of 1982. In Novermber 82, per Wiki "Leonard maintained his eye was fully healed, but that he just didn't want to box anymore."

He later had a minor procedure on the eye that slightly delayed the Howard fight.

The eye legitimately accounted for less than a year of inactivity spread out through 82 and 84.

That wasn't it unless you're factoring in perceived risks that Leonard downplayed in real life.