Sugar Ray Leonard announced his retirement in the ring at Madison Square Garden following his loss to Terry Norris on February 9, 1991. Over the coming years, he gave no indication of any intentions to make a comeback. The last thing on my mind was Ray returning to the ring as time passed, but in mid 1996 he changed his mind. Working as a commentator on the pathetically boring Camacho-Duran bout of June 26, 1996, he showed signs of interest in a fight with the winner Camacho, who leaned over the ropes after the bout and said “Ray! Let’s have some fun!” Talks began soon after, but didn’t materialize until later in the year. After problems with promoters, finally March 1, 1997 was agreed upon, with Atlantic City Convention Hall as the venue.
My brother would normally come over to watch pay-per-view cards on my big screen TV with me, but couldn’t for this particular one, and I was glad. He wasn’t a long time Sugar Ray fan like I was, and I preferred to catch this one by myself. It would be the first time Ray fought in Atlantic City, and unfortunately, it was a disaster from the start. Ray had suffered a bad calf injury in training, but didn’t want to postpone the date, so never disclosed it until after the fight.
As I sat in my recliner that late winter Saturday night in 1997, memories of Ray’s career flooded my mind. At nearly 41 now, and after 6 years away from the ring, I didn’t see how this was going to wind up a successful effort. Camacho had been extremely active over the years, and Ray hadn’t won a bout in over 7 years. When the bell for the first round began, I tried my best to be as optimistic as I could.
Camacho always did have a solid chin, and being a southpaw made his style even more of a problem for Ray. The bout was slow placed, but it was very hard to watch Camacho being the aggressor, and dictating the pace against a fighter who in his prime, was in a league along above Camacho. When Ray went down hard from a combination in the fifth round, my stomach dropped. After getting up, he was trapped on the ropes, and battered until referee Joe Cortez had no choice but to end the fight.
Ray was gracious in defeat, and talked of his calf injury, but it was all shallow and empty to me. Seeing Leonard knocked out for the first time in his great career by this clown, was one of the worst memories of my life as a boxing fan. Incredibly, after having surgery to repair his injured calf, Leonard made plans for a comeback tour, ala Sugar Ray Robinson, but fortunately it never came to pass.
History is kind to great athletes in all sports. Boxing is no different, so when I think of Sugar Ray Leonard, this farce of a fight is the last thing that comes to my mind.
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