Had Sugar Ray Leonard beaten Donald Curry in 1986?

[mr. magoo]

I have often asked myself this question.. What if Ray Leonard had launched a comeback in 1986 and challenged Donald Curry for the unified welterweight title and beaten him.. This is of course, before Curry had lost to the likes of Honeyghan and McCallum, and also assuming that Ray was still capable of getting down to 144 lbs.

Would this fight have enhanced his legacy? What if he had beaten Curry, then called it quits and never gone on to fighting Hagler, Hearns II, Duran III, Norris, and Camacho?

While his resume would have missed a very huge scalp in Marvin Hagler, I think that eliminating the Hearns, Camacho and Norris fights would have left him with a cleaner slate. In addition, I don't know how much the Duran or Lalonde fights do for him, and even though I personally feel he beat Hagler, there are many who think otherwise......

[CottoDaBodykill]

the hagler fight gets shitted on so much it'd probably do him good not to have had it at all

[mr. magoo]

the hagler fight gets shitted on so much it'd probably do him good not to have had it at all

I hate to say it, but unfortunately I have to agree. I personally feel that it was a great performance by Ray, and while I wouldn't exactly call his win over a Hagler a " decisive " one, it was certainly well earned. The problem is that a lot of fans don't credit him for this and would prefer to write the whole affair off as being a lackluster performance for Hagler rather than a good effort for Leonard. I think this is a travesty considering that Leonard was fighting at incredible odds by returning to the ring after a 3 year abscence, ascending to a higher weight for the first time, and taking on one of history's more dominant middle weights... But, it is what it is....

[TheGreatA]

Ducked Hagler.

[MAG1965]

I have often asked myself this question.. What if Ray Leonard had launched a comeback in 1986 and challenged Donald Curry for the unified welterweight title and beaten him.. This is of course, before Curry had lost to the likes of Honeyghan and McCallum, and also assuming that Ray was still capable of getting down to 144 lbs.

Would this fight have enhanced his legacy? What if he had beaten Curry, then called it quits and never gone on to fighting Hagler, Hearns II, Duran III, Norris, and Camacho?

While his resume would have missed a very huge scalp in Marvin Hagler, I think that eliminating the Hearns, Camacho and Norris fights would have left him with a cleaner slate. In addition, I don't know how much the Duran or Lalonde fights do for him, and even though I personally feel he beat Hagler, there are many who think otherwise......Beating Hagler was much better than beating Curry. Yeah beating Curry would have enhanced his image sure. The Norris and Camacho fights are not thought of much in terms of Leonard since people figure he was light and weak for Norris and really old for Camacho and hadn't had a win in 10 years for Camacho. For Hearns 2 and Duran 3 in 1989 Leonard was still ok and he was fighting guys in his generation, so even had he lost it wouldn't have meant as much. He already beat them when he was younger. Fighting Hearns and losing in 1989 would not have meant as much as losing to Michael Nunn for the first time in 1989 just for the fact he fought Hearns before and beat him, but as for the question, beating Curry would have helped him, but not at all like beating Hagler did. By the way, Ray in 1989 was taking the easy way fighting his old buddies Tommy and Roberto since losing to them really would not have affected his legacy. It would have been just more you won one and I won one now. Sort of like if Roy Jones loses to Hopkins now, that will not hurt his legacy much since he already beat Hopkins and fought him.

[ThinBlack]

I have often asked myself this question.. What if Ray Leonard had launched a comeback in 1986 and challenged Donald Curry for the unified welterweight title and beaten him.. This is of course, before Curry had lost to the likes of Honeyghan and McCallum, and also assuming that Ray was still capable of getting down to 144 lbs.

Would this fight have enhanced his legacy? What if he had beaten Curry, then called it quits and never gone on to fighting Hagler, Hearns II, Duran III, Norris, and Camacho?

While his resume would have missed a very huge scalp in Marvin Hagler, I think that eliminating the Hearns, Camacho and Norris fights would have left him with a cleaner slate. In addition, I don't know how much the Duran or Lalonde fights do for him, and even though I personally feel he beat Hagler, there are many who think otherwise......

Don't see it happening.The weight thing may have weaken Ray at some point, and Donald uses it to beat him by decision.

[mr. magoo]

Don't see it happening.The weight thing may have weaken Ray at some point, and Donald uses it to beat him by decision.

I agree that Leonard struggling to make the weight at that stage, would be a very real possibility.

[Drew101]

But, by that point, Curry was also struggling to make the weight. In any event, I think if Leonard comes back and defeats Curry, it would have certainly enhanced his legacy at WW (perhaps even enough to bump him up to #1 on some ratings), but probably wouldn't have impacted his standing in a p4p all time sense. The effort that he produced against Hagler was quite extraoridinary, after all...even if he might not have deserved to win the decision.

[Jorodz]

But, by that point, Curry was also struggling to make the weight. In any event, I think if Leonard comes back and defeats Curry, it would have certainly enhanced his legacy at WW (perhaps even enough to bump him up to #1 on some ratings), but probably wouldn't have impacted his standing in a p4p all time sense. The effort that he produced against Hagler was quite extraoridinary, after all...even if he might not have deserved to win the decision.

agree with this almost word for word:good (though anyone putting him at #1 at 147 is reaching)

[duranimal]

Kevin Howard exposed him in 84 & that convinced Leonard that he was finished at the top end & he knew Curry would flatten him so we get the bogus high drama retirement shite, which in reality meant he was scared shitless about getting hammered by Hagler/Hearns/Duran who were still able to fight at top level at that time.

Leonard only came back when they were all past their best & less of a danger & against Curry he would'nt have been able to dictate any of his usual ring size/thumless glove catchweight shit.

Kevin Howard was robbed blind in that fight as he was'nt going to be the clown in the Leonards circus & Leonard could'nt wait to get the fuck outer there & anyone with 1/2 a brain knows that Curry would have done a Norris on him. Leonard was finished at that level & Leonard he knew it:deal

If in doubt just go watch the Howard fight:smoke

[Longhhorn71]

Kevin Howard exposed him in 84 & that convinced Leonard that he was finished at the top end & he knew Curry would flatten him so we get the bogus high drama retirement shite, which in reality meant he was scared shitless about getting hammered by Hagler/Hearns/Duran who were still able to fight at top level at that time.

Leonard only came back when they were all past their best & less of a danger & against Curry he would'nt have been able to dictate any of his usual ring size/thumless glove catchweight shit.

Kevin Howard was robbed blind in that fight as he was'nt going to be the clown in the Leonards circus & Leonard could'nt wait to get the fuck outer there & anyone with 1/2 a brain knows that Curry would have done a Norris on him. Leonard was finished at that level & Leonard he knew it:deal

If in doubt just go watch the Howard fight:smoke

The Napoles - Griffith fight would be similar to a Curry-Leonard fight at that stage of Ray's career. Coming back down to 147 would have weakened Ray too much.

[Duodenum]

Everybody seems to forget that Ray never even opened a training camp until or unless his weight was already under the limit of the division he was going to be competing in. At no time in his entire career was he ever weight drained for a match. If either participant was going to suffer from this, it would have been Curry, 100 out of 100 times.

[MAG1965]

I have often asked myself this question.. What if Ray Leonard had launched a comeback in 1986 and challenged Donald Curry for the unified welterweight title and beaten him.. This is of course, before Curry had lost to the likes of Honeyghan and McCallum, and also assuming that Ray was still capable of getting down to 144 lbs.

Would this fight have enhanced his legacy? What if he had beaten Curry, then called it quits and never gone on to fighting Hagler, Hearns II, Duran III, Norris, and Camacho?

While his resume would have missed a very huge scalp in Marvin Hagler, I think that eliminating the Hearns, Camacho and Norris fights would have left him with a cleaner slate. In addition, I don't know how much the Duran or Lalonde fights do for him, and even though I personally feel he beat Hagler, there are many who think otherwise......I think he came out better fighting his buddies Hearns and Duran again. It just added to the legacy of the fab four in the 1980's. That helps all 4 of them more than had they beaten Curry.

[ironchamp]

Ducked Hagler.


My thoughts exactly.

Beating Donald Curry would have been good, but beating Marvin Hagler regardless of how close the fight was enhances his legacy more.