After his huge upset of Marvin Hagler on April 6, 1987, Sugar Ray Leonard announced that he was retired, and didn’t want to fight anymore. That retirement last about a year and a half, when he signed to fight the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Donny Dalonde on November 7, `1988 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The bout would be at a catch weight of 168 lbs., the super middleweight limit. The WBC broke it’s own rules when they announced that the winner would take home both the super middleweight and light heavyweight championships at the same time. To me the whole thing was a farce, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
With my parents in Las Vegas the week of the fight, I was so happy to have found a building called ‘The Pavilion’ at the Garden State Race Track in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It was only about 7 miles from my house, and it would be the only place I would go to see closed-circuit fights until they stopped showing them. It was about a 2,000 seat arena, with a stage and sloped seating, meaning the seats when you walked in were higher than those in the first row.
As much as l loved Ray, his attitude and ego after the Hagler upset had soured me, and I found myself rooting hard for Donny Lalonde that night. Leonard weighed in at 165 lbs., but admitted to having silver dollars in his pocket, because his true weight was 160 lbs. Lalonde looked emaciated and sickly at 167 lbs., and I knew that was going to affect his performance come fight night.
Donny controlled the first four rounds with a decent jab, and his reach. He even put Ray on the deck hard in the fourth with a solid right hand, that caused Leonard to slide across the canvas. I leapt with excitement, but Ray showed his grit, and started to take over from there. He won rounds five through eight, and knocked a tiring Lalonde down in the ninth. Donny got up on wobbly legs, but Ray jumped on his weakened prey, and knocked him out cold. I was disgusted with the whole mess, and left the place before any of the post-fight interviews took place.
As much as I used to like Leonard, now I disliked him just as much. My hope was that Thomas Hearns would knock him out when they fought in 1989, in a bout that was already in the works.
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