Most boxing fans consider 'Sugar' Ray Robinson to be the greatest pound for pound boxer. Another 'Sugar' Ray, Leonard, followed in his footsteps.
The key difference is that Robinson won his first 40 fights before losing to Jake LaMotta, 30-5-2, while Leonard only had 40 fights, mostly due to a detached retina when he came back from 4-2-1. He won his first 27 fights before losing to Roberto 'Hands of Stone' Duran, 71-1, whom he defeated in their rematch again later.
After the loss to LaMotta, Robinson won his next 91 fights, going 5-1 against LaMotta. LaMotta said, “I fought Sugar Ray so many times, I almost got diabetes.”
As a freshman, Robinson, born Walker Smith, Jr., was 85-5 with 69 shutouts, 40 in the first round, winning the New York AAU and Golden Gloves titles.
Leonard earned a record of 145-5 with 75 stoppages. 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 world welterweight title by defeating Tommy Bell (39-10-3) at Madison Square Garden. In February 1951, Robinson (121-1-2) captured the world middleweight title by stopping Jake LaMotta (78-14-3) at Chicago Stadium.
Leonard also captured the title in a rematch by defeating Duran at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. He stopped Duran in eight rounds. Leonard then won against Larry Bonds, who had a record of 29-3, and Ayub Kalule, the WBA Super Welterweight champion, who had a record of 36-0 at the Houston Astrodome, Texas. He stopped Kalule in nine rounds.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, Leonard returned to defend his WBC Welterweight title against WBA champion Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. Leonard was behind for the first thirteen rounds but came back to stop Hearns in the fourteenth round.
The scores were 124-122, 125-121, and 125-122 in favor of Hearns, and Leonard needed to be beaten to win. The fight was named Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year. Later, Leonard defeated Bruce Finch, who had a record of 28-3-1, in three rounds in Reno, Nevada.
In May of 1982, Leonard was scheduled to defend against Roger Stafford and then Aaron “Hawk” Pryor in the fall. However, while training, Leonard discovered that he had a different retina in his left eye. Because of this, he announced his retirement in November.
Leonard returned to the ring in May 1984, coming off the canvas to stop Kevin Howard, 20-4-1, in nine rounds at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, once again retiring.
Almost three years later, moving up to middleweight in April of 1987, he challenged WBC champion “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, 62-2, in Las Vegas, Nevada, scoring a devastating split decision that retired Hagler from boxing. .
Leonard did not fight again until November 1988, moving up to challenge WBC Light Heavyweight champion Donny “Golden Boy” Lalonde, 31-2, coming off a fourth round stoppage of Lalonde in the ninth round before a split decision. eight rounds and reclaimed the WBC Super Middleweight title.
In June 1989, Leonard, in a rematch with WBO champion Hearns, 46-3, in the WBC Super Middleweight title defense, fought a split decision in Las Vegas, Nevada. Leonard was down in the fourth and eleventh rounds.
In December, Leonard won a split decision in his third fight with Duran, 85-7, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In February 1991, at Madison Square Garden in New York, Leonard fought WBC junior middleweight champion “Terrible” Terry Norris, 26-3. Leonard was knocked down twice and beaten by a twelve round decision.
In Leonard's last fight for the IBC Middleweight title, he lost to Hector “Macho” Camacho, who had a record of 62-3-1, in five rounds in Atlantic City, New 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, UK, in July of 1951. In a rematch, Robinson regained the title two months later, defeating Turpin in Polo. Places to stay in New York.
In March of 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 tried to win the light heavyweight world title in June against champion Joey Maxim, 78-18-4, #173, after twelve rounds at Yankee Stadium. The temperature was 104 degrees (forcing an umpire substitution), and Robinson #157 ½, leading 10-3, 9-3-1, and 7-3-1, was unable to continue due to the heat.
Robinson was never the same, he returned to the ring in January of 1955, two and a half years later, he hit the mark but two weeks later he lost to Ralph “Tiger” Jones, 32-12-3.
After four victories, Robinson regained the middleweight title, knocking out Carl “Bobo” Olson, 71-7, at Chicago Stadium in December 1955. He would lose his title to Gene Fullmer and win a rematch, as did Carmen Basilio. .
In January of 1960, you knew Robinson was done with a split decision loss against Paul Pender, 35-5-2, at Boston Garden. Defeating NBA champion Gene Fullmer, 52-4-1, and the rest is history, ending his career with a 44-1 decision loss to Joey Archer at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in November 1975. finishing with a 174-19-6 record with 109 shutouts at age 44.
Both are inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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