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That was fun to watch. Interesting to hear his observations. He was such a class act. Always one of my favorite fighters. Thanks for posting this!

Tremendous fighter, good announcer too. Definitely not a class act. Deeply flawed individual.

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑13 Nov 2018, 18:50 Tremendous fighter, good announcer too. Definitely not a class act. Deeply flawed individual.

Summed it up nicely

I have never understood this. Outside of boxrec, literally everyone I know has nothing bad to say about Leonard. I have been a fan of his since 1976. . In countless interviews, he always seemed like a nice guy.
In the ring, he was a very clean fighter. He showed a lot of heart. He went out of his way to fight elite competition.
He blamed himself when he lost. He talked very highly of his opponents.

Yet on boxrec, it's a totally different story. It's not that he always gets underrated when people do rankings.

People act like he is some terrible person. Rarely hear why people feel that way. Of course he has done things in his life he isn't proud of. But really think of other fighters.
Joe Frazier was huge crybaby who always had lame excuses when he lost. Seldom said a good thing about an opponent. Never hear anyone speak bad about him.
Roberto Duran was a dirty fighter. He said horrible things about his opponents. He too had the crybaby excuses. He quit like a dog in a huge fight. Seldom do you hear anything bad about him and he was all around douchebag.
Carlos Monzon literally threw a woman off a building to her death and gets a free pass. Have never, ever even seen this discussed on boxrec.

But Leonard gets ripped routinely. What is the deal?

A fighter beating their woman is far from a rarity and nobody is perfect, but couple that with using a kid he was neglecting to maintain a squeaky clean image isn't classy.

That alone is nowhere near what some of these other guys have done. We wouldn't even know about this stuff if it wasn't for his autobiography. I doubt the majority of these guys are good fathers. He hit his wife one time. Obviously he should not have done that. But that doesn't compare to Jake LaMotta doing it for decades. Or Monzon actually killing a woman.

Nobody is close to perfect; and certainly Leonard isn't. However,he seems like a better person than the vast majority of people we talk about.
Is it that he has a clean image that irks some people?

His image was bullshit. I'm not singling him out, just doesn't make him classy.

I am not exactly sure how to articulate this, but I will try.
I think some of the dislike for Leonard that some people have is that he did have a good image. And he wasn't perfect. Some people don't think people like that. so that they look past all the shortcomings of someone else and concentrate only on the negatives about Leonard.

Next to Ali, Leonard might get the second most criticism of any fighter on Boxrec over the last several years. Tyson would be the only other one close; Leonard certainly seems to have been a better human being than Tyson.

Obviously we don't see these guys on a daily basis. But from what we do now (being a clean fighter, not being a quitter, giving respect to opponents, not making excuses, coming off like a good person in interviews etc. ) Leonard seems like a much better person than most of these guys.

I'm not sure I could even explain it. Alot of guys hated Leonard for his image. They didn't seem to like guys who smiled, could be articulate and polite, and showboat in the ring. It puzzled me how through out the 80's, I kept hearing guys say ridiculous things like "real boxing fans are for Duran" "real boxing fans are for Hearns" "real boxing fans are for Hagler". It was like they resented Leonard for not acting like an ice cold killer, and they seemed to get an even more outraged when it turned out that the so called "pretty boy, product of television" could take the best Duran, Hearns, Hagler and Lalonde had and still come back and win.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑15 Nov 2018, 12:14 I am not exactly sure how to articulate this, but I will try.
I think some of the dislike for Leonard that some people have is that he did have a good image. And he wasn't perfect. Some people don't think people like that. so that they look past all the shortcomings of someone else and concentrate only on the negatives about Leonard.

Next to Ali, Leonard might get the second most criticism of any fighter on Boxrec over the last several years. Tyson would be the only other one close; Leonard certainly seems to have been a better human being than Tyson.

Obviously we don't see these guys on a daily basis. But from what we do now (being a clean fighter, not being a quitter, giving respect to opponents, not making excuses, coming off like a good person in interviews etc. ) Leonard seems like a much better person than most of these guys.

I hated him when I was a kid for beating my favorite fighter. May weather gets more criticism than anyone on here id say. Being a better person than Tyson is debatable, but I wouldn't set that as the measuring stick for always being such a class act.

Mayweather has gotton very little criticism for the person he is. He occasionally gets ripped for his selection of opponents, but that is about it. It's debatable that Leonard is a better person than Mike Tyson? Wow.

"I hated him when I was a kid for beating my favorite fighter." Now we are getting somewhere.

I'm honest about everything. May weather always catches heat for his behavior. Just more of a cs thing. He also paid for generous Hernandez and Joe Frazier's funerals. I don't know any of them. I wouldn't call any of them class acts. I meant athlete hate, I assumed you'd pick up in that.

The Mayweather criticism is silly because people are always criticizing him for not fighting someone or not fighting someone when they wanted him to when in fact boxing is filled with numerous huge fights that didn't happen.

What about Tony Zale not fighting Charley Burley, or Bert Lytell, or Jake LaMotta?

What about Larry Holmes not fighting Michael Dokes, Pinklon Thomas, or Tony Tubbs?

He's ageing very well is Mr Leonard.

He looks about 10 - 12 years younger.

Great fighter,i'm not sure what he's like outside of boxing,don't really know enough about his private life,i made the trip from the uk to Vegas twice to see him box and he is an absolute legend,no doubts about that.

He is in the Hollywood lane now, so maybe he dabbled here and there.

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 10:24 He is in the Hollywood lane now, so maybe he dabbled here and there.

Dabbled in what? Beating the shit out of his wife and using his kid for his image?

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:12

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 10:24 He is in the Hollywood lane now, so maybe he dabbled here and there.

Dabbled in what? Beating the poo out of his wife and using his kid for his image?

More along the lifestyle lane, he is buddies with Eddie Murphy and a couple of others. Put it this way: Suge Knight said he should be ashamed of himself.

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:29

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:12

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 10:24 He is in the Hollywood lane now, so maybe he dabbled here and there.

Dabbled in what? Beating the poo out of his wife and using his kid for his image?

More along the lifestyle lane, he is buddies with Eddie Murphy and a couple of others. Put it this way: Suge Knight said he should be ashamed of himself.

Ray was into dick and drugs long before he was around Eddie Murphy.

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:31

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:29

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:12

Dabbled in what? Beating the poo out of his wife and using his kid for his image?

More along the lifestyle lane, he is buddies with Eddie Murphy and a couple of others. Put it this way: Suge Knight said he should be ashamed of himself.

Ray was into dick and drugs long before he was around Eddie Murphy.

I am guessing you don't think he was molested like he said he was.

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:34

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:31

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:29
More along the lifestyle lane, he is buddies with Eddie Murphy and a couple of others. Put it this way: Suge Knight said he should be ashamed of himself.

Ray was into dick and drugs long before he was around Eddie Murphy.

I am guessing you don't think he was molested like he said he was.

I find it hard to believe a 70 year old man forced his mouth on one of the best amateur boxers in the world's dick.

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:45

Nile4000 wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:34

Onetimeonly wrote: ↑25 Dec 2018, 16:31

Ray was into dick and drugs long before he was around Eddie Murphy.

I am guessing you don't think he was molested like he said he was.

I find it hard to believe a 70 year old man forced his mouth on one of the best amateur boxers in the world's dick.

Good point, but did Roberto, Tommy, and Marvin know?

Sugar Ray was one of those fighters who was an ATG and I disliked him the whole way through.

There was a recent post from someone who has interviewed several fighters, he wasn't impressed with SRL

writehooks wrote: ↑12 Nov 2018, 23:13 Sugar Ray Leonard was a total a-hole every time we spoke ... and not just to me. The man's ego knows no bounds, and he simply can't fathom not being the center of attention. Case in point: At the final press conference for his 1988 fight with Donnie Lalonde, Sugar Ray didn't like the fact that a reporter wanted to ask an undercard fighter a couple of questions. Instead of just letting it slide, Leonard grabbed the microphone on the podium and said something to effect of: "Nobody cares about the prelims. The people are here for me." Total jerk. Apparently he hasn't mellowed with age, either. Unlike Hagler, Hearns and Duran -- all of whom are very accommodating with fans -- Leonard has earned a reputation for being notoriously surly when the cameras aren't on him at functions like the annual Hall of Fame weekend.