Sugar Ray Leonard?

Question

Did he avoid fighting Pipino Cuevas and fought Wilfred Benitez instead?

Answer 1

Thumbs up to jazbac, if Ray avoided anyone it was most certainly Pryor, Ray's obvious fear and respect of Pryor was caught on video tape many times.

Normally I don't revisit and edit my answers, but this one calls for a follow up. Ray Leonard earned everyone's respect in the first Hearns fight. Thomas was way ahead on all the cards, and Ray dug down and found a way to KO Hearns. That fight made the blogbaba a Ray Leonard fan.

Duran dissed and than beat him in Montreal. But to claim Ray humiliated Duran in the no mas fight is to intentionally misunderstand Duran. Duran quit to show contempt for Ray's refusal to slug it out. To Duran it was another act of disrespect for Leonard, the world press moved into overdrive to promote America's darling, and the rest is history. The "No Mas" fight is called the "No Mas" fight not for anything Ray did, but because of Duran. The same holds true for Hagler/Leonard. Ray survived, which nobody expected, and he was the media favorite. The entire fight was about what Hagler didn't do, and had little to do with Ray's running behind a jab, or the pity pat flurry's he ended each round with to steal Hagler's title. Ray didn't beat either Duran the second time or Hagler, and Hagler quit all of boxing in disgust at the decision. Hearns dominated Ray again in their second fight, only to see Ray's media created legacy be protected by yet another outrageous decision, there is no possible way any reasonable person could claim that fight was a draw, it was the ONLY draw in history that was worse than the one Chavez got over Whitaker.

Ray didn't avoid Cuevas, Cuevas was a non-issue. But the fear Ray felt for Aaron Pryor was real, and although Ray ran away from Duran and Hagler but still found a way to win, Pryor would have used the same rage that Camacho did to punish Ray for his refusal to engage in an actual fight. They call boxers "fighters" for a reason. Occasionally a boxer comes along with the ability to "not fight" his way to victory. Ray was one, and Mayweather is another. That doesn't mean they can't fight, it means they choose to run, flick a jab and claim victory by virture of what doesn't happen in the ring. If a fighter doesn' get hit, he doesn't lose, even if he doesn't do much to the other guy. Do I like the style? No, it is based as much on fear as it is intelligence. But I understand why it is imployed by those who do it, in fact I have done it myself on more than one occasion. Some fighters are too tough to go toe to toe with.

Ray Leonard's KO of Hearns earned my respect. His fights with Hagler and Duran the second time earned my contempt. As for fear of Pryor, there is no shame in fearing the better man, all boxers feel fear. D'Amato said it best, how a man deals with fear defines who is a coward and who is a brave man. Ray was a brave man to run from Hagler and Duran in the ring, and somehow race to victory. He avoided Pryor because he didn't want to suffer the same fate of Arguello, and in truth a lot of good fighters avoided Pryor, not just Ray.

But those of us who know fear, reconized it in Leonard when Ray looked at Aaron.

Answer 2

Yeah he was scared of a LWW in Pryor but not of guys like Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and Benitez. Sure thing people.

How did he duck Cuevas to fight Benitez? Last I checked Benitez was better than Cuevas and a harder matchup and the bigger fighter at the time. No he didn't duck Cuevas. He also didn't duck Pryor for the reasons above, no way he was scared of him, he was going for the big money fights and what fights he was set up with. If he beats Duran, Hagler, Hearns, Benitez, etc. he wouldn't be scared of fighting Pryor, know that.

Answer 3

His first fight for the title was against Benitez. So it was hard to duck anyone as a challenger. Then Hearns demolished Cuevas. So he ducked the feared Cuevas by fighting the guy who demolished Pipino??

I see the Pryor comments. SRL wanted nothing to do with a coked-up Pryor in the era before drug testing. SRL mastered Hearns, he'd have taken out a non-drugged up Pryor if Ray could have rest assured his opponent was on uppers.

Answer 4

If anybody Leonard avoided was Hagler. Benitez was the fighter to beat at that time. There more money to made fighting Benitez. Was Benitez a safer bet than Cuevas, I don't know, because Benitez was a rough customer.

Answer 5

No, as was stated before he was going to fight Pipino Cuevas but the whole Duran thing came up.In addition, I think there was talk of him fighting Cuevas before Benitez in 1979, not sure what happened there.

Answer 6

I'm not sure, but he avoided Aaron Pryor like the plague!

I agree with the others that Benitez was the bigger fight than Cuevas, and that Benitez was a better fighter. Benitez and the first fight with Hearns were by far the best performances of Leonard's career.

Answer 7

ray leonard and pipino cuevas had already publicly agreed to meet each other for a unification match, but bob arum who had exclusive rights to tommy hearns and don king who had exclusive rights to wilfred benitez and roberto duran had other plans in mind to manipulate the welterweight unification showdown.

Answer 8

i am the biggest sugar ray leonard fan once cuevas lost to hearns he never got back to the top. so there was no reason to fight cuevas. the only fighter he ever avoided was aaron pryor and that's because he was the fighter of all time.

Answer 9

Sugar Ray Leonard replaced into actually an all time super, rather at welterweight! Bernard Hopkins is likewise an all time super and that's beginning at middleweight. while it comes top all the way down to it Leonard at his maximum suitable replaced into only too small for Hopkins at his maximum suitable. As slick as leonard replaced into he could properly be fortunate sufficient to final 12 rounds. i does not be stunned if Hopkins stopped him interior 12, yet the two way Hopkins wins consumer-friendly!

Answer 10

so far, mowglieboy is the only one among you who's using his brain and hit it right on the head! no offense to anyone, but this perpetuated belief that ray was scared of pryor is total bull. let's examine the facts, shall we? ray's 1st big test was to take on benitez who was a rather impressive "1st test". wb was young, talented, tough and unbeatable at the time. if memory serves, wilfredo had never been knocked down, much less out. ray fought a great fight and took control of benitez, out gutitng him in a classic fight.

then, he took on duran at the height of duran's powers, got the 1st real lickin' of his life and still fought a close, tough, if not wise fight, getting rocked repeatedly. then, rather than quit, he demanded a rematch (conventional wisdom aside) and got it and he so thoroughly dominated duran that it took roberto years to recover from the damage to his macho rep! then dominated him, again, years later, making their last 2 encounters look like child's play!

he then fought hearns, after the hitman took out cuevas and duran in the most decisive manor, possible - if you remember, hearns was the absolute most feared welter at the time and a riddle no one else had the answer for. and, as history shows, in the first fight, ray was having his butt handed to him until he gutted it out and put a "hit" on the hitman, convincingly. the second fight was another matter, which he openly admits was a gift decision, but it took guts to take on the hitman again, at that point in his career.

then he took on the world's best pound for pound fighter and king of the middleweights in hagler. again, no one had the style to beat hagler until ray did it. sure, marvin had been through the wars and was likely ready to go, but who else could have beaten marvin then? if anyone could have, they would have. ray retired marvin that night and, although i admit marvin lost more than ray beat him, it was still a masterful, well planned and executed perfornance, easily the highlight of a stellar career. ray deserves full credit for achieving the impossible and earned every bit of the accolades he got for that fight. he simply out-fought, out hustled, and out thought marvin.

would a fighter of schmeling's age and limited skills have taken on a fighter of joe louis' talent and power, if he did not "see something?" would ali have taken on foreman, if he wasn't convinced he could whip him? or liston? or frazier? would any fighter, take on another respected fighter, if they weren't convinced they could beat them? of course not, so why give ray the jazz bec he fought hagler when he saw a weakness he could expose - chuck that one up to basic common sense!

the point is, people, ray fought big fights for the big money, revolutionizing a sport where so many of its participants and legends end up either poor, broke, or brain-damaged. even so, he fought the three toughest, most dominant, most invincible opponents of his era, dominating them w/the ultimate losses of their respective careers...but yeah, he was afraid of pryor...sure, RIIIIIIIGHT, people!

...the defense rests!