Sugar Ray Leonard began training in the spring of 1986 for his then proposed fight with Marvin Hagler. By the time was set in the fall, he was already fit. He continued to train earnestly, and went to Hilton Head, South Carolina in February to open camp for his final 6 weeks of preparation.
I was fortunate enough fly to Savannah, Georgia about 3 weeks before the April 6th fight, rent a car and go to Hilton Head. I got a hotel room, and went to the Hotel Intercontinental for 3 days to watch Ray in his open workouts. I had seen him in Buffalo in 1982 training for Roger Stafford, and also in 1984 in Worcester training for Kevin Howard. This was much more exciting to me however.
In the mornings I would run 3 miles on the same hard beaches that Ray ran on, and go to see his public workouts in the early afternoon. Ray looked muscular and fast, and was a full-fledged middleweight. He had solid sparring partners, and punched the bags and skipped rope in his workouts, appearing ready to me for his huge challenge. I went home invigorated and more convinced that Ray could pull of the upset on April 6th. I wouldn’t have missed this fight for the world.
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