Sugar Ray Leonard says that in order for manny Pacquiao to return from his five -year pension, he must get used to hitting and strenuous training at a high level for a shot against Master WBC Mario Barrios on July 19.
Return of Leonard Vs. Manny’s
Sweet Ray recalls that he has retired for five years and returned successfully. However, Sugar Ray was only 30 years elderly when he returned. Pacquiao 46 will be much more challenging to do what Leonard did because of his age and the whole ring of a long career.
“When I came back, I didn’t realize that five years have passed. You must get used to being hit. You have to get used to training so strenuous at this level,” said Sugar Ray Leonard, when to do it Fight Hub tvAsked about his thoughts about Manny Pacquiao returning about 46 after five years of leaving the ring.
The opponent that Leonard fought the stern in the ring for five years from 1982 to April 6, 1987 was Marvin Hagler and defeated him by a 12-round decision. Hagler wanted him to be 15 rounds, which would favor him.
“It’s more psychological than physical. You must have a heart, this feeling. And you know what? Do I have to question it? No. Maybe he did it. Maybe he knows what to do. It’s just how you feel. We don’t think how stupid it is. Warriors don’t think in this way for the majority,” Leonard said, speaking of older sames after they were retired.
In the case of Pacquiao it will also be physical, because he is 46 years elderly, and he looked at him in the last fight with Jordenis Ugas on August 21, 2021. He lost this fight with a unanimous decision. You have to lose a lot of physical skills that he showed in this fight even at the great camp of Pacquiao. He must hope that Barrios is lacking in talent to apply it.
“I would like to have, but on the other hand you couldn’t change my mind. I was ready for this ring. Not 100%. I would say it. I was not 100% prepared. But I did what I felt I had to do,” said Leonard.
When Sugar Ray fought, he was fearless, accepting killers such as Marvin Hagler, Danny Lalonde, Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns. At the end of Leonardo’s career, he took prolonged breaks from the ring. If he was still fighting, he would enjoy even greater success, but he earned so much money.
Leonard on Crawford vs. Canelo
“This is a huge difference,” said Leonard, when asked about his thoughts about Terenka Crawford up from 154 to 168, to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his unquestionable championships with a super medium weight on September 13. “When I fought with Donny Lalonde, every time he hit me, he hurt me to some extent. He didn’t knock me down, but he hurt me to do it.”
When Leonard fought with the heavyweight champion WBC Donny Lalonde on November 7, 1988, he left a 19-month release, fighting with a larger, younger and stronger guy. One of the advantages that Sugar Ray had was that Lalonde agreed to come to 168 from WBC Super Middle WBC and 175-pounds of Donny on the line. Lalonde looked exhausted during weighing and could affect the result.
“It can do it. There is no doubt about it. That’s true [Canelo being too big for Crawford]But there is always a way to win – said Leonard.
As Leonard notes, there is a way for a smaller Crawford to win if he can find him against Alvarez. He must fight with Sharp and avoid getting into a fire with a larger, naturally stronger Canelo.
Crawford looked clearly slower in his last fight, moving to 154 after a year outside the ring, to challenge Israil Madrimov for his title WBA Junior Middle weight. Now, another year outside the ring, Crawford increases by 14 pounds to challenge Canelo in 168.
He will be slower, more Hitter, and he will have to bother Alvarez to try to win. Can he do this? Maybe. Canelo looked elderly and tired during the last fight with William Scull on May 3.
Top trainer and former world champion Robert Garcia has considered the outcome of a fantasy showdown between Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquiao.
The two generational greats reportedly came close to squaring off in 2021, back when Crawford was the WBO welterweight champion and ‘Pac Man’ held the WBA title.
Their unification match never materialised, though, as Pacquiao was scheduled to face Errol Spence Jr before ‘The Truth’ pulled out with a torn retina.
Instead, the Filipino legend ended up losing his WBA title to Yordenis Ugas at a stage when, while still serviceable, he was quite clearly past his best.
Crawford, meanwhile, was hitting top form around this time, just a few fights away from producing arguably a career-best performance against Spence.
He did, of course, manage to stop his welterweight rival in nine rounds, before moving up to 168lbs and becoming a three-division undisputed champion by dethroning Canelo Alvarez last September.
Based on those two performances, coach Garcia has told ESNEWS that he would favour ‘Bud’ to defeat even a prime version of Pacquiao.
“The Crawford that beat Spence – and the Crawford that beat Canelo – would probably beat Manny.”
While Crawford’s prime almost certainly came during his run of eight stoppages at welterweight, it is harder to pinpoint when Pacquiao ultimately reached his peak.
In terms of his most destructive performance at world level, however, many will point towards his second-round finish over Ricky Hatton in 2009.
While facing the ‘Hitman’ at 140lbs, Pacquiao would cement himself as a formidable welterweight champion soon after, dethroning Miguel Cotto with a 12th-round stoppage for the WBO title.
Former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk has been left between a rock and a hard place afterhis promotional contract with Zuffa Boxing has been terminated.
The Ukrainian dethroned long-reigning light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in 2018, scoring an 11th-round stoppage that left his opponent with a brain injury.
Gvozdyk then made a WBC title defence before losing to Artur Beterbievwho extended his ruthless surge with a 10th-round finish in their 2019 encounter.
Since that defeat, ‘The Nail’ suffered a unanimous decision loss to David Benavidez in 2024, before entering a perceived 50/50 contest against Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic in February.
With both making their Zuffa debut, the two veterans delivered a thrilling battle in which Gvozdyk scored two knockdowns and had built a sizable lead.
In round seven, though, the 39-year-old found himself on the canvas and was ultimately stopped on his feet after getting dropped a second time.
Given his overall performance, one would suspect he had done enough to justify another meaningful opportunity, yet Gvozdyk has since told vRINGe that he will no longer be fighting under the Zuffa banner.
“They terminated the contract in February after a loss. That is, every promoter has the option that if a boxer loses, they have the right to terminate the contract. That’s exactly what they did. After the fight, everyone was saying how great it was. That everything was great. I rested. I started preparing as planned – somewhere around May. And then, around April, they told me I’d received an email terminating the contract.”
This is because his contract has been terminated, while Kalajdzic’s next outing with Dana White’s promotional outfit is confirmed for September 26 against Craig Richards.
As for Gvozdyk, it is difficult to predict what will come next but, at the age of 39, one would suspect that he is close to hanging up the gloves.
Still, he could hardly have been happy to part ways with Zuffa, which also terminated its contract with Robert Meriwether following his defeat to Tony Hirsch Jr in April.
Former British champion and Olympic bronze medallist David Price has assessed whether his countryman, Conor Bennpossesses the necessary hand speed to defeat Ryan Garcia.
The two welterweights will square off at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, with Garcia making a first defence of his WBC world title.
It was arguably a career-best performance that saw him dethrone Mario Barrios in February, scoring a first-round knockdown before winning a wide unanimous decision.
But despite coming off this dominant display, Garcia was far less impressive when he returned from a year-long doping ban and lost on points to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Still, many would argue that the 28-year-old has shown signs of world-class quality, while Benn remains glaringly unproven at the top level.
The 29-year-old has also not fought at 147lbs since 2022, with his last two outings resulting in unanimous decision victories over faded versions of Chris Eubank Jr and Regis Prograis.
Against Eubank, in particular, Benn’s speed seemed a key factor in their two middleweight encounters last year, despite him suffering a points defeat the first time around.
As he approaches this welterweight contest against Garcia, though, former heavyweight contender Price has told The Smith Brothers that he sees Benn contending with an unfamiliar disadvantage.
“I think I [favour Garcia]. Conor Benn’s got great hand speed, but I think [Garcia’s] hand speed could make the difference in the fight.”
Like Garcia, Benn tested positive for a banned substance – clomifene – and was eventually removed from his cancelled 2022 encounter with Eubank.
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