Who was the greatest ever 168 pound, or super-middleweight, champion? Most fans may say Roy Jones Junior, others Andre Ward. While others still may say Joe Calzaghe deserves the distinction, or maybe Sugar Ray Leonard. Well, the WBC has just listed its ten greatest super-middleweight champions: the Top-10 finest 168 pounders to have worn the illustrious green belt.
Like with all lists of this kind, no way will everyone be happy, but here is the WBC Top-10:
Even the cerebral Sugar Ray Leonard never knew when to quit. The toughest thing in the toughest sport of all, boxing, is being able to walk away; knowing when enough is enough. Time and again, great and special fighters fought that one fight too many. It was going to be different with Ray Charles Leonard, though – Sugar Ray was smart, very smart.
Boxing fans across the globe have asked, and will continue to ask, if Sonny Liston took a dive, or dives, in his two bouts with Ali, and to this day we have no definitive, universally accepted answer. However, there is one other fight that is still even more of a mystery so many years ater it took place. What really happened that November 25 day of 1980 when Duran and Leonard met in their New Orleans rematch?
Boxing legends Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns are currently in Las Vegas – the scene of many of their sensational, unforgettable fights – to attend tonight’s Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.
Hearns, a former five-weight king, will be inducted, Leonard, also a five-weight ruler, will be taking care of the induction duties. Once venomous rivals, the two all-time greats who met in 1981, at welterweight, and in 1989, at super-middleweight, have nothing but mutual respect these days. They earned it in the ring, in so doing thrilling the world with 26 rounds of superb boxing.
Sometimes a fight is so great, we simply have to see it again. Sometimes we are treated to an unforgettable tirilogy of fights. Here are ten of the finest in boxing history.
The “Fab 4” is the nickname that refers to the four elite Hall of Fame boxers – Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. These four men are widely regarded as four of the very best who ever competed in the long rich history of professional boxing.
The date of April 6, 1987 is etched firmly in the memory banks of all boxing fans who were of sufficient age to have been aware of “The Superfight” – the astonishing world middleweight title fight between defending champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler and underdog challenger Sugar Ray Leonard – when it took place.
The fight caused an enormous stir when first made official; in large part due to the perceived “crazy” decision former welterweight king Leonard was making in attempting to come back, after almost five years out of action, to challenge the formidable Hagler – this after having undergone major retinal surgery. But the debate that followed – one that continues to rage a full three decades later and shows no sign of fading away – proved absolutely monstrous.
It took place on Monday, April 6, 1987 at Caesars Palace and it was promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank®. The SuperFight: Hagler vs. Leonard, with Marvin Hagler defending his middleweight title against Sugar Ray Leonard, making a return after a three-year absence from the ring and a big question mark about his surgically-repaired eye. It was one the biggest and most successful sporting events of that era. Caesars Palace was sold out with 15,000 spectators and an estimated 400 million more watching worldwide via closed-circuit or on pay-tv. The media credentialed for fight week was close to 1,1000. It was the quintessential promotion of that time and the foundation on which mega fights are now promoted. And the result? It is as hotly debated today as it was 30 years ago when the judges’ scores were read that night. Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 for Leonard. Lou Fillippo scored it 115-113 for Hagler. Jo Jo Guerra scored it 118-110 for Leonard, making him the new middleweight champion, and completing one of the greatest career comebacks in boxing .
Like many other people right now, boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard has an opinion on what would – or will – happen, when boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather meets UFC legend Conor McGregor. But don’t think for one minute that the Hall of Famer who met and defeated such fellow greats as Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvelous Marvin Hagler is getting carried away by the hype.
Of all the sad, even shocking endings to a great boxing career, the way the once untouchable Sugar Ray Leonard went out against Hector Camacho (RIP) has to rank pretty highly in the doom and gloom stakes.
It was no Muhammad Ali taking a prolonged beating at the hands of Larry Holmes (this fight, not Ali’s last, but often thought of as such; Ali actually having another sad affair, against Trevor Berbick a little over a year later), but the sight of “feather-fist” Camacho hammering what was left of Sugar Ray – the man who had stood up to anything and everything great punchers like Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran were able to put on him – into the canvas inside five rounds was disturbing viewing all the same.