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.
Boxing is an inherently psychological undertaking. It is an activity that exposes the contestants to far more than the simple prospect of defeat: the potential combination of public humiliation and genuine physical harm percolate in a fighter’s mind to a degree that few who have not lived the experience can reasonably quantify. Far from being a mere test of physical skills then, boxing is perhaps one of the purest tests of human will power. Some of the biggest contests in boxing history have therefore been won or lost through cunning, bravery and fortitude as much as they have speed, strength and stamina. 
