Most boxing fans consider “Sugar” Ray Robinson to be the greatest pound-for-pound boxer. Another “Sugar” Ray, Leonard, followed in his footsteps.
The significant difference is that Robinson won his first 40 fights before losing to Jake LaMotta 30-5-2, while Leonard only fought 40 fights, mainly due to a detached retina after returning from 4-2-1. He won his first 27 fights before losing to Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran 71-1, whom he defeated in the rematch and thereafter.
After the loss to LaMotta, Robinson won his next 91 fights, defeating LaMotta 5-1. LaMotta said, “I fought Sugar Ray so much I almost got diabetes.”
As an amateur, Robinson, born Walker Smith, Jr., was 85-5 with 69 stoppages, 40 of them in the first round, while winning the Modern York AAU and Gold Gloves titles.
Leonard posted a record of 145-5 with 75 shutouts. He won the gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games and the 1976 Montreal Olympics, defeating six opponents, all 5-0, from Sweden, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, East Germany, Poland and Cuba.
In December 1946, Robinson (73-1-1) won the NBA welterweight world title by defeating Tommy Bell (39-10-3) at Madison Square Garden. In February 1951, Robinson (121-1-2) won the world middleweight title by defeating Jake LaMotta (78-14-3) at the Chicago Stadium.
Leonard regained the title in a rematch, embarrassing Duran in the Superdome in Modern Orleans, Louisiana. He stopped Duran in eight rounds. Leonard then defeated Larry Bonds, who had a record of 29-3, and WBA super welterweight champion Ayub Kalule, who had a record of 36-0, at the Houston Astrodome in Texas. He stopped Kalule in nine rounds.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, Leonard returned to defend the WBC Welterweight title against WBA champion Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. Leonard was down in the first thirteen rounds, but came back and stopped Hearns in the fourteenth round.
The scores were 124-122, 125-121 and 125-122 in favor of Hearns, with Leonard needing a knockout to win. This fight was named Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year. Leonard later defeated Bruce Finch, who had a record of 28-3-1, in three rounds in Reno, Nevada.
In May 1982, Leonard was to defend against Roger Stafford, and in the fall against Aaron “Hawk” Pryor. However, during training, Leonard discovered that he had a detached retina in his left eye. As a result, he announced his retirement in November.
Leonard returned to the ring in May 1984, leaving the ring and stopping Kevin Howard (20-4-1) in nine rounds at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, retiring again.
Nearly three years later, in April 1987, he moved up to middleweight to challenge WBC champion “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler (62-2) in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a major upset with a split decision to retire Hagler from boxing.
Leonard did not fight again until November 1988, moving up to challenge WBC featherlight heavyweight champion Donny “Golden Boy” Lalonde (31-2), coming off the canvas in the fourth round to stop Lalonde in the ninth round before a split decision following eight rounds, also winning the WBC super middleweight title.
In June 1989, Leonard fought a split decision in his rematch with WBO champion Hearns (46-3) in his defense of the WBC super middleweight division in Las Vegas, Nevada. Leonard went down in the fourth and eleventh rounds.
In December, Leonard won a lopsided decision in his third fight against Duran, 85-7, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In February 1991, at Madison Square Garden in Modern York, Leonard fought WBC junior middleweight champion “Terrible” Terry Norris (26-3). Leonard was knocked down twice and defeated by a twelve-round unanimous decision.
In Leonard’s last fight for the IBC middleweight title, he was defeated by Hector “Macho” Camacho, who had a record of 62-3-1, in five rounds in Atlantic City, Modern Jersey. His final record was 36-3-1.
Returning to Robinson in his first defense, he lost to Randy Turpin 40-2-1 in London, United Kingdom in July 1951. In a rematch, Robinson won the title again two months later, defeating Turpin at Polo Teren in Modern York.
In March 1952, Robinson defeated Carl “Bobo” Olson 48-5 in San Francisco, California, and a month later he knocked out Rocky Graziano 67-8-6 at Chicago Stadium.
Two months later, Robinson attempted to win the world featherlight heavyweight title in June, defeating champion Joey Maxim (78-18-4, #173) after twelve rounds at Yankee Stadium. The heat reached 104 degrees (forcing a change of referee), and Robinson No. 157 ½, leading 10-3, 9-3-1 and 7-3-1, was unable to continue due to heat exhaustion.
Robinson was never the same again, returning to the ring in January 1955, some two and a half years later, scoring a knockout, but two weeks later lost to Ralph “Tiger” Jones 32-12-3.
After four wins, Robinson won the middleweight title again, defeating Carl “Bobo” Olson 71-7 at Chicago Stadium in December 1955. He lost the title to Gene Fullmer and won a rematch, the same against Carmen Basilio.
By January 1960, you knew that Robinson was coming off two consecutive losing fights against Paul Pender, 35-5-2, at Bosten Garden. He tied with the NBA champion and lost to Gene Fullmer, 52-4-1, and the rest is history, ending his career with a decision loss to Joey Archer, 44-1, at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in November 1975, finishing with a record of 174-19- 6 with 109 breaks at the age of 44.
Both were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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