After Sugar Ray Leonard had surgery to fix his detached retina in May, he announced his retirement from boxing at just age 26. It was a hard pill for the biggest draw in the sport to follow, but it seemed like he had no choice.
After the failed attempts at a mega fight with Thomas Hearns, Hagler left searching for a big money fight. By fall, there were rumors that Leonard would return to fight the middleweight champ, and bring both a huge payday..
Sugar Ray had set aside November 9th, 1982 as the date he would announce if he was returning or not, The Baltimore Civic Center drew thousands, and were not charged anything to attend the event. Hagler was at ringside, and eagerly anticipated the announcement of spring of 1983 a super-fight between the two. Leonard however announced “The fight will never happen.” to the capacity crowd, shocking Hagler and ending his hopes of the huge payday. Boxing was left in a standstill without it’s biggest star, and the future was clouded at best.
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