Sugar Ray Leonard

[Nile4000]

At the time of his challenge for Benitez's belt, what was his ranking by the WBA and the WBC?

[adislav123]

if you watch the old tv-broadcast it says: " sugar ray leonard - nr.2 ranked welterweight contender", in the Ring rankings of 78`he was nr. 3. before he fought marcos geraldo in may 1979, he was ranked 6th by the wba. he was ranked 2nd by wbc in august 79 against pete ranzany (3rd), then he (ranked 2nd by Ring) knocked out andy price in the first round in september, he was busy in 79, fighting 9 times, in his 9th fight after benitez he ran away from marvelous marvin hagler for 12 rounds and got the middleweight-championship as a gift for all the money he made tv-stations & soft drink companies.

[Sidney Carton]

NO QUESTION Leonard was terrific at hitting on the break and punching after the bell. Best
I ever saw.














i

[APerno]

if you watch the old tv-broadcast it says: " sugar ray leonard - nr.2 ranked welterweight contender", in the Ring rankings of 78`he was nr. 3. before he fought marcos geraldo in may 1979, he was ranked 6th by the wba. he was ranked 2nd by wbc in august 79 against pete ranzany (3rd), then he (ranked 2nd by Ring) knocked out andy price in the first round in september, he was busy in 79, fighting 9 times, in his 9th fight after benitez he ran away from marvelous marvin hagler for 12 rounds and got the middleweight-championship as a gift for all the money he made tv-stations & soft drink companies.

Who at that time did The Ring have ranked at number one?

[adislav123]

dont know who it actually was, who else could it have been other than roberto duran, who after coming up from lightweight in 78, had wins against adolfo viruet, monroe brooks, jimmy heir, before beating ex-champ carlos palomino (who 5 month before was dethroned by 20 year old benitez) in june 79.

[Ambling Alp II]

for their year end rankings of 1978, they had Palomino as the champ, Cuevas #1 (he was the WBA champion), Clyde Gray at #2, and Leonard #3.

Benitez beat Palomino in early 1979, so they would have had Benitez as their champion. They may still have had Cuevas as their #1 at the time Leonard beat Benitez.
Clyde Gray lost to Hearns early in 1979, so Gray would no longer have been #2.

My guess is that it would have been something like this:
Champion: Benitez
1. Cuevas
2. Leonard
3. Hearns
4. Duran

That is one loaded division.