The Fastest Boxer in Boxing History - Sugar Ray Leonard - Pt2

great figures create history no matter the field in which the individual's talents have become famous today we will talk about one of these this olympic people medalist for the 1976 games he is a six-time world champion in five different divisions ladies and gentlemen introducing the wbc super middleweight champion of the world sugar [Applause] after defeating tony chia varini and pete ronzani leonard meets with andy price in a wbc qualifying fight for the right to face the champion wilfred benitez andy price promised to surprise everyone and defeat leonard that eventful evening of boxing saw several boxing stars in the ring larry holmes defended the title against ernie shavers with undercard fights featuring roberto duran wilfredo gomez and jimmy young among all this variety of stars leonard managed to throw a bright but rather short performance at the end of his first round he brutally knocked out andy price at the ropes after which he could not get to his feet for a long time [Applause] at the initial stage of his career sugar ray leonard won 25 victories 15 of which were knockouts and now he was facing a fight for a full champion title [Applause] las vegas usa 1979 wilfrid benitez versus sugar ray leonard the fight with benitez for the wbc title was a clash of two boxing geniuses for benitez the meeting with leonard was his second defense of the wbc welterweight title the puerto rican was undefeated and was much more experienced than leonard although he was two years younger benitez rarely prepared for fights for more than two weeks nevertheless that fact did not stop him from defeating the best fighters in the super lightweight and welterweight divisions but in the case of leonard the difference in physical power affected the outcome it was the moment of truth two similar fighters met at the ring fast talented and trained as ray later remembered in this fight i was looking in a mirror sugar wisely used his advantage in arm's length using a powerful and irritating jab constantly pushing to shock his opponent leonard managed to impede the puerto ricans right hand who was forced to maintain a defensive posture sugar was not inferior to benitez and speed and his tactics for the battle were much more successful [Music] at the end of the third round ray knocked down his opponent with a quick left hook to the chest from round four benitez began literally copying his opponent is most of the fight took place in the center of the ring leonard continued to pull the champion out with false movements but both boxers missed a lot in their attacks in round six during a mutual clash of heads wilfred received a bleeding cut on his forehead [Music] in the 11th round in an exchange of blows leonard shocked benitez more than he had before [Music] the 15th round of the battle took place head to head and turned out to be very brutal know that's only the first time [Music] 30 seconds before its completion wilfred benitez was knocked down after a short finishing move at six seconds before the end of the fight the referee stopped the fight the stop looked premature but there was no doubt about sugar's victory he confidently dealt with one of the best boxers in the world and at the time as time will show one of the greatest boxers of those times sugar ray leonard became the wbc world welterweight champion this was followed by the defense of the title against dave boy green whom ray knocked out in the third round after a brilliant mid-range combination and again the crown left hook which decided everything in the match leonard hits the right hook so that his left shoulder goes back and a terrible left hook follows from there the right hand acts as a reverse it is obvious but leonard was able to do everything in the ring and at all distances however the next opponent managed to be a difficult challenger for sugar ray montreal canada 1980 sugar ray leonard vs roberto duran coming from a lightweight division roberto durand at the time had already managed to win many welterweight victories including a victory over ex-champion carlos palomino duran was not just a great fighter he was a hellishly great one at the time of the battle with leonard this panamanian had more than 70 professional fights and was defeated only once and twice had a rematch and won roberto was the epitome of latin american machismo a difficult childhood street fighting a ruthless fearless courageous and trained fighter that was a heavy hitter this image associated with primitive aggression was the opposite of the smart sophisticated and elegant leonard two famous promoters bob arum and don king co-organized this event the fight took place on june 20th 1980 in montreal canada the same place where ray leonard took olympic gold four years earlier the fight was intense and witty from the very beginning in the starting round durand indicated his intentions to work close leonard acted in response in the middle of the second round of the fight duran shocked the american with a left hook roberto sought to push his opponent to the ropes in order to get in front of leonard and work with powerful strikes from both hands and this appeared to be a successful strategy [Music] leonard himself was not opposed to this style of head-on fighting [Applause] in the third round it became clear that he did not intend to box from a distance sugar accepted a power battle and then the meeting was saturated with exchanges of aggression and anger for which the fight was later nicknamed the montreal massacre [Applause] ray spent most of the fight with his back on the ropes locked in close combat roberto duran won the victory by unanimous decision on average he struck 61 blows per round of which 21 hit their target and on average sugar struck 51 blows per round of which 18 landed [Music] [Applause] can't believe apparently i can't believe it duran thinks he has won the fight [Applause] new orleans usa 1980 the rematch fight between roberto duran and sugar ray leonard such a fight was needed by leonard at this stage of his career and he welcomed and trained hard for this rematch which was anticipated by his fans the same could not be said about the new champion duran who gained a lot of extra weight during the celebration of his previous victory in his homeland of panama six months later in november 1980 the long-awaited revenge match took place duran barely kept in weight and could not maintain the desired pace of the battle leonard on the contrary freed himself and began to move more on his feet provoking the champion to attack [Applause] grabbing the advantage in the initial rounds ray began to scoff at his counterpart using his favorite technique moving his right hand and punching with his left duran was angry but this time he could not do anything about his opponent he did not have the time to act in response and this was a decisive factor in leonard's tonight is not victory glued to the ropes you said to me before the fight today that you see limited long range left to the head left to the body takes a left right left terrific hand speed of sugar ray [Applause] [Applause] roberto [Applause] 30 seconds before the end of the eighth round durand refused to continue the fight according to the referee who told the fighters in panamanian fight durand responded in spanish but he replied nomas this phrase will be forever associated with his remarkable sports career the scandalous situation of the battle was immediately overgrown with many tales by the way this year a documentary was released about the confrontation which was called nomas ultimately sugar ray leonard regained the world title duran himself in the espn documentary said that he did not pronounce the words nomas as if the commentator had invented it roberto said he suffered from digestive problems due to food he had consumed the day before according to him he was eager to finish the fight in the fifth round [Applause] in 1981 leonard in an aggressive manner defeated three career fighters the first was left-hander larry bonds [Music] after carrying out a successful voluntary title defense against larry leonard rose in the welterweight for a fight with the unbeaten wba champion ugandan boxer ayub khalouli sugar was scheduled to fight the wba welterweight champion thomas hearns but rey decided to fight first with ayub the 25 year old rey did not give the african southpaw a chance in the ring kaluli and his team had tried to anticipate leonard's techniques but he surprised them by choosing to fight up close [Applause] instead [Applause] sugar and alternated blows in the fourth round leonard went ahead it seemed that he was striking with every blow and eventually managed to slightly shake the opponent and give the fans a very exciting end to the round [Applause] that could be dangerous [Applause] the fight was intense and competitive [Applause] and landing from close quarters and would like to end it in the ninth round i think all those furries took a lot out of raiders [Applause] in the last seconds of the exciting round nine ray sent kalulay [Music] he rose but the referee decided to stop the fight after the fight the african admitted that he himself asked the referee to intervene sugar ray leonard became the champion in two weight categories las vegas usa 1981 sugar ray leonard versus thomas hearns during the time that leonard fought twice with duran and was rising into a new weight category the new superstar thomas hearns was maturing under the leadership of emmanuel stewart this tall boxer had become a real hitting machine thomas's rise to the world of professional boxing was so rapid that in just a couple of years he became the first usba fighter to knock out the long-playing wba champion jose cuevas three times he defended his title and seemed invincible a unifying battle with leonard was inevitable at the end of 1981 this big fight took place the number one and number two fighters of the rating crossed gloves in the ring the start of the battle turned out to be difficult for our hero and hearns won the first round due to excellent actions with the front hand and a series of honed combinations he had a much longer reach than leonard and this affected the beginning of the battle it was important for sugar to endure the hellish beginning in order to be able to turn the tide of the battle which leonard did angry in the middle of the 13th round sugar managed to shake hearns with a right hook he went on to finish and sent the enemy under the ropes leonard pounding away with combinations inside hurts trying to grab him can't do it burns driven into the ropes leonard pounds it right through the ropes davey pearl he's not counting he's not counting the referee did not consider this to be a knockdown however left hand scored by a leonard and a right behind it burns battered around the ring won't go down what a flurry by sugar ray leonard and again heard is trying to hold on but he can't get a grip on him [Applause] a right hand by leonard and a lamp this is where the right is vern sprawls through the ropes davey pearl this but after another finishing touch from ray hearns hung on the ropes but he was saved by the bell in round 14 leonard acting as a predator continued to look for opportunities for the knockout again [Applause] and in the middle of the round he found the strength and again shocked thomas with a right uppercut soon after several more punctuated blows by ray caused the judge to stop the fight fixing the victory by technical knockout it should be noted that at this point hearns was a serious leader on the cards of all three judges sugar ray did what only the great fighters could do find a solution to a difficult situation and gain victory over a real welterweight monster ray leonard became the absolute world champion and his fight with thomas hearns was named the fight of the year in 1981 according to the reign later in 1996 this fight would be considered ninth in the list of the greatest fights of all time as a result leonard combined all the titles and became the best boxer in the world regardless of weight category this is the second part of our series on sugar ray leonard if you enjoyed this series please like and subscribe so you won't miss any updates stay tuned [Music] you

Channel: The World of Boxing!

Views: 4,610,525

Rating: 4.7813821 out of 5

Keywords: Boxing, Sugar Ray Leonard, knockout, Pride, highlight, Fights, Fighter, Fastest Boxer, Boxing History, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Durán

Id: xTCoclTDgC0

Length: 20min 58sec (1258 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 28 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/frontera_power]

I always love seeing the films of Leonard doing the Ali shuffle or throwing some flashy combinations to impress the judges.

Leonard is makes boxing a visual art!

Although not quite as great as Leonard, a young Macho Camacho and a young Meldrick Taylor both give him a run for his money in the handspeed category.

[u/pi247]

P4p I feel like meldrick taylor had the faster hands.