When I became a boxing fan in the late 1970’s, Sugar Ray Leonard was climbing toward his perch as the most popular fighter in the sport. He won his first world title when he beat Wilfred Benitez on November 30, 1979 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and made his first title defense four months later. That came vs. Davey ‘Boy’ Green in Landover, Maryland as part of a 4-fight mega card broadcast live on ABC television on a Monday night. Ray easily knocked out Green in 4 rounds, paving the way for his ‘Super-Fight’ with Roberto Duran on June 20,1980 in Montreal, Canada.
I was in Dallas, Texas the Friday night of the fight while in town for airline residence training. To see the closed-circuit show, I took a bus from Dallas to Fort Worth after paying $20 at a ticket broker in Dallas. This was my first time going to a closed-circuit fight and the whole night was one to remember.
The crowd was racially divided, with the Blacks voting for Ray and the Hispanics for Duran. Several people died in fights over the bout all over the country, that’s how serious people were about their favorites. Seeing Sugar Ray on the huge screens at the arena was an exciting, new experience for me and as the opening bell ran, my stomach was in knots with nerves. Duran was aggressive from the start and Ray chose to stand toe to toe with him rather than box. That stemmed from the fact that Duran had angered him so much in pre-fight press conferences by calling his wife a whore, that he wanted to beat him as his own game. Duran hurt Ray with a left hook in the second round but Leonard recovered quickly to defend himself.
For most of the bout, Duran raked Leonard on the ropes with elbows and low blows, all allowed by an incompetent referee in Carlos Padilla. By the time Ray decided to box late in the fight, it was too late and Duran won a unanimous decision. The Panamanian madman showed no sportsmanship in the ring afterwards, which made me dislike him even more. I was proud of Ray’s efforts despite the loss and knew he could beat Roberto if they fought a rematch.
As I sat on the bus back to Love Field in Dallas that sweltering Friday night in June of 1980, it left no doubt in my mind that I was a boxing fan for life.
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