Does Money match up to Sugar Ray?

By Boxing News - 07/23/2009 - Comments

leonard435243By Bolish Gudgworth: Lets face it. Boxing today is not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago. I know this has been argued and debated hundreds of thousands of times already but it is still a relevant point. The job of promoters, managers and fighters has become more and more unstable with the decline in PPV and the fragmentation of championship titles at each weight class.

Despite all of this, there are a few fighters who can still draw the immense PPV sales and crowds required to stay successful and there is no better an example than Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Today, Floyd is easily the most recognizable and commercially viable prizefighter around. Proof of course, was his back-to-back super fights with De La Hoya and Hatton, which would have generated for him well over $35 000 000. I can’t help but draw the parallels between our new Cash Cow and the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard. You may not agree with me, but I think the comparisons are obvious and also quite interesting.

In 1981, Muhammad Ali announced his long awaited retirement from boxing. This would be well received by Ali’s millions of adoring fans who didn’t want to see Ali end up punch drunk in the Joe Louis-Sugar Ray Robinson mould. But this was bad of course for boxing. Ali fights could generate millions of dollars for the boxing industry and all of that would now be gone if the television networks like HBO couldn’t find a new phenomenon. As expected, none of the heavyweights could ever follow Ali. While Larry Holmes (the WBC and later IBF Heavyweight Champion of the World) had talent, he was unpopular and many questioned his abilities. Heavyweights like John Tate, Mike Weaver and Don King fighters Trevor Berbick couldn’t fit Ali’s place either. No, boxing was in a tough corner and about to become a dying sport.

Enter Sugar Ray Leonard. I don’t think it is too much to say that Sugar Ray Leonard, with his epic fights against Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns practically saved boxing. In fact, Sugar Ray Leonard, like Floyd Mayweather (I will make this comparison later) was almost built to be a commercially viable champion since his amateur days. After an outstanding amateur career where Ray went over 150 fights and won the AAU and the Pan-American Games tournaments. He was selected to represent the USA in the1976 Olympic games where he won the Gold Medal. If anything, Sugar Ray was set for a fantastic professional career. Leonard won his first belt at the Welterweight level on 30 November 1979 against the greatest defensive fighter of all time: The “El Radar” Wilfred Benitez.

What made Leonard such a popular and bankable fighter was that he could be a warrior and a businessman. In the ring he was as entertaining as Ali. Sugar Ray was a good puncher but his forte was those incredible flurries. For brief seconds in each round, Ray would unleash a rapid spurt of dazzling combinations to the face and body of his opponent, winning rounds and impressing thousands of fans watching on CBS and at the venue. It also helped that Sugar Ray Leonard had movie-star good looks and a captivating smile. Sugar Ray easily could attract big time promoters and endorsement deals. He was paid an astonishing $40 000 for his debut by CBS and by the time he fought Hearns and Duran, the interest in him and indeed the revived and renewed interest in boxing made it possible for fighters of that calibre to get over $10 million a fight. In that respect, Leonard was a charismatic, captivating personality in a sport ready to go under due to the retirement of a marquee fighter. Sound familiar?

The comparisons between Ray and Floyd Mayweather are endless and the only question is, can Mayweather actually attain the legendary status of the Leonard and resurrect boxing from its failing condition. First, Mayweather has that same outstanding amateur career. He won the Golden Gloves three times (1993,1994 and 1996) which culminated in a controversial Bronze Medal at the 1996 Olympic Games at Atlanta. He was an Olympian like Sugar Ray but took a little longer to rise to international celebrity. By the Duran fight, Leonard had already become a household name, but I think that although Mayweather was well known in boxing circles it was only by the Arturo Gatti/Zab Judah fights that he made it on the PPV stage. After that of course, Floyd never looked back. He fought Oscar De La Hoya in the most successful fight of all time, which generated around $120 million on HBO PPV. Floyd Mayweather’s win guaranteed his place on the superstar list.

Unsurprisingly to me, his rise to prominence has been very much for the same reasons as Sugar Ray Leonard. Mayweather too, has that captivating “Pretty Boy” smile and rarely has got cut or scarred in his whole career. It is true Mayweather is more brash and arrogant than Ray Leonard was, but Sugar Ray was never as clean as his looks suggested. Leonard could be mean as he displayed in the Hearns fight. Hearns had a level of respect for Ray, and Leonard instead says, “I use my mind. Maybe Tommy would too-if he had one”. Nonetheless, Mayweather like Leonard has good hand speed and is an exceptional boxer.

The worst aspect I think of Leonard’s career was his constant retirement and comeback record. It was hard after November 1982 and Sugar Ray’s first major retirement to take him seriously as a champion and a hungry prizefighter. After that, Leonard would be the comeback kid and always an underdog in fights he had a better chance of winning. Mayweather too seems to have enjoyed making untimely retirements. After winning the Ricky Hatton fight, Mayweather announced his retirement, effectively nullifying his P4P ranking and income. Like Leonard, who was expected to fight Marvin Hagler for the undisputed Middleweight Champion of the World title, Mayweather still had unfinished business. There were a host of welterweights he could have fought. Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Manny Pacquiao and even a De La Hoya rematch would have been profitable.

What now we have to observe, is if Mayweather can make his comeback as successful as Sugar Ray’s. After winning his 1987 Marvin Hagler fight, as well as beating Donny Lalonde for the Light Heavyweight title and Roberto Duran, Leonard has easily confirmed his legendary status as one of the greatest P4P boxers of all time. Again, the question remains, if Mayweather, who is so like Leonard can not only reclaim his P4P crown, but also resurrect boxing. Leonard carried boxing after the retirement of Ali. Can Mayweather bring boxing back as a mainstream sport now that De La Hoya has retired? That remains to be seen. If Mayweather defeats Marquez, Pacquiao and Mosley then not only will he reclaim his P4P status, but will give the public fights they want to see. Attention means $$ for boxing.



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