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Aaron Pryor was a spirited junior welterweight from Cincinnati, Ohio who had failed to make the 1976 USA Olympic team that went to Montreal. He had turned pro in November of 1976, and built up an impressive number of victories. Aaron was very familiar to both Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, who knew of […]

Marvin Hagler was a tough middleweight from Brockton, Massachusetts who had been boxing since 1973, and racked up over 40 victories and yet never fought for the title.  In November of 1979 on the undercard of the Leonard-Benitez fight in Las Vegas, he finally got his chance. I remember watching his bout with Vito Antuofermo,

After his split decision win over Tex Cobb, Ken Norton was signed to take on the up and coming prospect Gerry Cooney. The bout was set for May 11 in Madison Square Garden in New York City, and would be broadcast on HBO TV. Since we didn’t have cable tv and I wanted to see

After losing his WBC championship to Larry Holmes in June of 1978, Ken Norton took 5 months off, and had a comeback TKO win over Randy Stephens. 4 months later he suffered a devasting knockout at the hands of slugger Earnie Shavers. That was followed with a draw against trial horse Scott LeDoux. Norton was

Heavyweight boxing in 1980 had only had one heavyweight champion in it’s long and illustrious history. That is why when a white heavyweight with talent comes along, he gains attention. That person was Gerry Cooney in the spring of 1980. The 6 foot 6 inch good looking southpaw from New York had been knocking out

Sugar Ray moved up in weight class to the junior middleweight division on June 25, 1981. The card was also had Thomas Hearns on the same show on a card from the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. With talks in the serious stage for a showdown between both the welter champs in the fall, this was

After destroying Ali in October of 1980, Larry Holmes was beginning to come out from under the shadow that seemed to hover over him. He had been champion for over 2 and a half years now, and more and more of the public was starting to recognize him as the legitimate successor to Ali. His

The year 1981 began with Sugar Ray Leonard enjoying his reign as WBC welterweight champion of the world. His first challenger to his crown was an unheralded trash man from Denver, Colorado named Larry Bonds. Most champions usually schedule an easy title defense after a few big and difficult fights, and Ray was no exception.

Mention the name Spinks in the year 1980 and the name that came to mind was Michael, the younger brother of the brief heavyweight champion Leon.  Michael had also been an Olympic gold medalist in Montreal in 1976, but had no desire to turn professional. However when working as a janitor in his native St.

Immediately after quitting against Leonard, Duran came up with an excuse that he quit because he had stomach cramps. I knew it was nonsense and that a real champion doesn’t ever quit. It was not fair to Sugar Ray, since the press was reporting Duran’s claims as if they were factual. Ray wasn’t really the