After his huge win over Roberto Duran on November 25, 1980, Sugar Ray Leonard took a few months off before planning a return to the ring. His opponent of choice was Larry Bonds, a Denver trashman with a record of 29-3. The bout would be held at the brand new Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York on March 28th, and be broadcast on HBO. We didn’t even have cable in our house, let alone HBO, so I had to settle on newspaper clippings in the sports page to find out the results. Leonard won by a 10th round knockout, in a rather easy title defense against a totally overmatched boxer. My hopes were were that when Ray fought again, I would be able to see it somewhere live.
I got my wish on June 25, 1981 when Sugar Ray headlined a card entitled “The Welter Wars”, that was held at the Houston Astrodome and to be shown on closed-circuit venues across the nation. I purchased a $25 ticket for the Philadelphia Spectrum, and was able to get home from training from my first airline job, change clothes, eat dinner, and drive back to the Spectrum to catch the action.
Pipino Cuevas and Thomas Hearns both won their fights, setting up Ray’s bout with WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Ayub Kalule. Leonard moved up the the 154 weight class to challenge for the title, and I wondered how he would look at a higher weight. Kalule was left-handed and awkward, but Ray fought flat footed, didn’t box, and was able to win most of the rounds. In the eighth, Leonard landed a three punch combination that dropped Kalule, and ended the fight. Ray had his second world title in 2 different weight classes, and all obstacles for his September clash with Thomas Hearns were out of the way.
The Super-Fight with Hearns was a fight I was hyped up for certain. To me it would be the most exciting clash of two young great fighters that I had ever seen live, and I counted the days all summer until they would finally meet.
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