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00:00:00pretty big names remember in the 1930s barney ross reigned as a two-time welterweight champion
00:00:07but then between 1938 and 1940 the crown belonged to henry armstrong who held three titles at the
00:00:13same time and then the legendary sugar ray robinson was welterweight champion from 1946 to 1951
00:00:20in the 50s the onion farmer carmen basilio brought the crown right here to syracuse new york
00:00:26as a two-time champion the 60s were all emil griffiths the gentleman champion he fought all
00:00:33comers in all corners of the world today griffith stands as the only fighter to win the welterweight
00:00:38crown three times but now the newest two-time welterweight champion sugar ray leonard defends
00:00:46his title against number six right contender larry bonds
00:01:01live from the carrier dome in syracuse new york it's the main event a scheduled 15 round fight for the
00:01:07wbc welterweight championship of the world between wbc welterweight title holder sugar ray leonard
00:01:13and the number six ranked wbc contender larry bonds
00:01:20ringside here at the carrier dome i'm barry tompkins along with marvin haggler larry merchant our expert
00:01:24commentator also on hand of course just about set to get started with all the pre-fight festivities
00:01:30larry bonds and sugar ray leonard i think it's interesting and you've talked time and again
00:01:34marvin about how you had to struggle for fights everybody wanted to avoid you you know the biggest
00:01:38purse that larry bonds has ever had coming into this fight was two thousand dollars so he has
00:01:42really had to struggle quite a lot he's got to be very hungry and i'm going to tell you something
00:01:46he's got to go out there for this fight with everything he's got because there's no tomorrow
00:01:51he has said that in order to win this fight in addition to the fact that he feels and it's
00:01:55interesting that you don't really feel that way that he's got to go 15 rounds he said he's going to
00:01:58have to change his look on three or four different occasions that you just can't do anything the same
00:02:03round in and round out with a guy like sugar ray leonard no leonard is very well uh schooled
00:02:08and he's uh very crafty and he'll look for things like that if he see any changes up one of the things
00:02:13you talked about the fact that we've talked time and again in fact about the fact how tough it was
00:02:18for you to get fights and as we mentioned larry bonds has been plagued with the same kind of
00:02:22problem bob lewis is his trainer and he has always had to kind of be a second banana first it was to
00:02:26ron lyle now it's the guy named michael dokes who's an up-and-comer and that's been one of the
00:02:30things that he's really complained about he said lewis is going to have to start doing something that
00:02:34he's kind of kowtowing to some of the promoters in saying we don't want to fight your guy because
00:02:38he might beat us so i think you went through the same things you can empathize with larry bonds it
00:02:42took me a long time really order to uh to get out there for a championship nobody wanted to fight
00:02:47none of the top uh ten contenders contenders so uh i believe that fights like this here if he wins
00:02:54tonight everybody's going to want to fight him whether you're right-handed south or whatever they're all
00:02:59going to want to fight him tonight sugar ray leonard has said time and again that it's a lot easier to
00:03:02fight as the champion of the world than it is to fight as the challenger and that again is something
00:03:06that marvin haggler can relate to well i tell you i believe that my second title defense uh which comes
00:03:12up in june against veto antefermo i do feel a little bit more relaxed but uh still you work harder as a
00:03:19champion talk to me about training a little bit is it an easy thing to talk yourself into the fact that
00:03:24you're doing everything for a fight like the larry bonds fight as you did for a fight like the roberto
00:03:30duran fight or in your case the alan minter fight as opposed to the obama he is fight every fight you
00:03:35have to take as though it's a championship fight that is the way that i train that's the way i've
00:03:39always trained and that's where i'm going to continue to train what do you do in this case if
00:03:43you're sugar ray leonard people say you got to carry the guy for a little bit of time obviously
00:03:47everybody looks at this fight and says this is just a tune-up fight because everybody knows that
00:03:51sugar ray leonard's next opponent is a left-hander even though iu kalule is a very different looking
00:03:56left-hander than is larry bonds he's more of an upright fighter and he's got a bigger punch than
00:04:00larry bonds what do you do if you're sugar leonard just go out there and try to get him try to confuse
00:04:03him right at the beginning and just not let him get away with anything i think he almost has to do
00:04:07what duran did and that's put the pressure on him right from the beginning and uh he's got a great
00:04:11following here tonight in the dome and you can see how all the people are very enthusiastic about him
00:04:17being here and i think you're going to see a good fight because when the crowds behind him
00:04:22he seems to razzle him get some get him really going and and i think the crowd helps him to uh
00:04:27to motivate get some motivated and his speech just comes right out he really does in fact the guy is
00:04:32really a salesman he put 25 000 bodies into the carrier dome here in syracuse did so all by his
00:04:37lonesome i think because i don't think it was larry bonds that really brought him all of a sudden
00:04:40sugar ray leonard is the people's choice and i tell you everywhere he goes the man commands a crowd
00:04:46people's champion ray charles leonard is the most celebrated fighter in the world today
00:04:52yet there was a time when people doubted his progression from olympic hero to welterweight champion
00:05:03in the early stages of my career i was criticized quite often because people felt that i was being
00:05:09moved along too quickly they didn't understand the pace which uh at the present time is quite
00:05:16evident that the pace was successful july 18 1978 that was hbo's first look at sugar ray leonard
00:05:24as he disposed of a gutsy dick ecklin his flamboyant style packed houses and silenced a lot of the critics
00:05:31he was much more than an up-and-coming welterweight ray's quick feet and his gift as an entertainer in
00:05:39the bold of muhammad ali made him boxing's richest contender in history thanks in large part to his
00:05:45lawyer mike trainer he wisely set up ray leonard incorporated i didn't know how well he could box
00:05:51frankly i mean i've watched him in the olympics but i had no idea what competition was and that was
00:05:56jennings morton's department not mine and i could remember asking him you know we've got everything
00:06:01all set up kenny kenny box and he said don't worry about boxing you set up the business part of it
00:06:05everything else will fall into place one by one opponents like johnny gant cross-town rival fell to
00:06:11their accustomed place on the deck the early stages of michael rogan's father and johnny gant was very
00:06:20very critical because these guys um they considered in boxing terms as a sleeper a
00:06:26guys that were able to knock off a top prospect and i was the top prospect i was the the future
00:06:32champion finally on november 30th 1979 ray knocked out wilfredo benitez to capture the title i think
00:06:40that fight along with the first duran fight lost perspective i got caught up in all the promotional hype
00:06:46the gimmicks and what have you what you saw um with myself and benitez was not really sugar ray
00:06:54lennon because i was too tight i felt that i trained a little too hard i uh did not reserve
00:07:02enough strength because if so i would have knocked him out sooner then the media hype began for the
00:07:08brawl in montreal with ominous roberto duran you know people talk about how scary his eyes are his eyes
00:07:15don't do any punching and he got realized that also but sugar ray lost that historic face-to-face encounter
00:07:20with duran and the media questioned why ray stood toe to toe people that come to me with uh talk that
00:07:27i didn't fight my fight i should have did this i should have did that but i tell them you get in
00:07:34the ring you fight him your way and see whether or not you're successful that first fight ray i thought
00:07:40completely dominated the fight because uh he was really hurting duran to the body and i think he
00:07:47showed up well in the second part that on november 25th 1980s sugar ray humiliated the macho man
00:07:54duran's cries of nomas haunt ray to this day you see the press public everyone wanted to say duran was ill
00:08:03well duran had a legitimate reason duran had no legitimate reason duran just quit because he
00:08:08didn't want me to knock him out i hold no respect for him as far as a man's concerned i respect him
00:08:12as a fighter don't get me wrong i respect him as a fighter and his accomplishments his credentials
00:08:18but as a man i don't i can't i cannot sugar ray letter the charismatic 24 year old wbc weatherweight
00:08:26champion who has become america's newest hero you think all the publicity has gone to his head forget
00:08:32it he doesn't act raise ray and what you see is because he's so consistent that's ray leonard i don't
00:08:41want to be the guy i don't want anyone to say okay with sugar ray leonard is the greatest fighter
00:08:46of all time because there's going to be someone else they're going to say it's greater than you
00:08:50greater than me it makes no difference as long as they say well the guy was okay
00:08:57so go to merge well larry merchant is a guy who has been around sugar ray leonard going all the
00:09:02way back to the 1966 olympic games in fact even a little bit before that right through the time now
00:09:07when he is the wilderweight champion of the world for the second time and larry has some comments on
00:09:11the champion larry in his two fights with roberto duran last year sugar ray leonard grossed nearly 18
00:09:18million dollars he made about a billion and a half more than the ford motor company so why is he fighting
00:09:24larry bonds and who is larry bonds for leonard this is the first part of a three-fight strategy
00:09:30the next fight scheduled for june is supposed to be against ayub kaluli the junior middleweight
00:09:35champion and after that later in the year a big one against a dangerous opponent either hearns the
00:09:42the wba champion cuevas the former wba champion or our color man tonight marvin haggler for for
00:09:49the opponent tonight for the challenger larry bonds this is like hitting the jackpot or the lottery he's
00:09:55getting a hundred thousand dollars more than all of his other fights combined his normal job right now
00:10:01his everyday job is as a twenty thousand dollar a year garbage collector in denver what kind of a fighter
00:10:07is he a stick and run artist a clever fighter that nobody wants to fight or see he's ranked six in
00:10:13the world although he's only fought once in the last 20 months ours is not to reason why just to wonder
00:10:19why he's been asked about the pressure pressure he says pressure is working in the alleys of denver
00:10:26with people looking down from windows wondering what you're going to do with their garbage cans
00:10:29eight hours a day larry bonds is a sanitary serviceman which is his own nicer way of saying
00:10:40a garbage collector but first and foremost he is a professional prize fighter
00:10:48i think what some of these guys are waiting on they want to try to catch me uh out of shape they
00:10:52try to want to catch me not in the gym they maybe they want to wait until i be an old man or hurt my back
00:10:57throwing trash or something like that and then they'll reach out and grab me and think they're
00:11:00gonna get a name for the silver that's not gonna happen larry bonds is a confident softball who
00:11:05honestly believes that he can take sugar ray leonard i do everything uh different than normal you know
00:11:13normal people do i guess you know i use left hand a lot more than people you know in the boxing game
00:11:21everything is always turned around i hate fighting southpaws left-handers because they create a
00:11:27problem the unorthodox and especially with uh larry bonds height and reach advantage uh it's going to
00:11:35take a little time to figure him out unless he wants to be nice and cooperate well the chances are larry
00:11:41bonds will not comply with sugar ray's wishes this night is too special he is about to fight for the
00:11:47welterweight championship this is the opportunity of a lifetime he shows me that he is uh a worthy
00:11:55champion he's a great fighter and uh in order to beat the champion you're gonna have to do it with
00:12:00style i won't throw no more trash no more no more my my trash days will be over if i get the title
00:12:06well larry bonds big moment is just about to get underway here he is working his way down into the
00:12:17ring in just a couple of moments has just left his dressing room scant moments ago he did make one
00:12:22comment that i thought was kind of interesting though he said i do plan to still work for the
00:12:26city when i get finished with all of this and we said well what if you win and he said well i'll work
00:12:31as mayor we got plenty of boxing up coming here on home box office saturday april the 11th and is
00:12:37this a good fight the world heavyweight championship larry holmes and trevor burbick larry merchant and
00:12:42i'll be ringside for that one along with the man you're about to see sugar ray leonard so it's live
00:12:47coverage of the larry holmes title fight his ninth defense he goes against the canadian champion trevor
00:12:52burbick that's live from caesar's palace in las vegas it all starts at 10 o'clock 9 central april 11th should
00:12:59be a good fight well the last time we had larry holmes here on hbo he fought an opponent and
00:13:04everybody said who's he and who's he turned out to be mike weaver and it was a war weaver is now
00:13:10the other heavyweight champion of course trevor burbick is the canadian heavyweight champion he's
00:13:15lost one in about 21 fights well i think that uh this fight here with larry holmes is going to be a
00:13:22good fight because this canadian champion i seen him fight and uh i tell you he's got more muscles than
00:13:28anybody i ever know i think holmes can't be too easy with this guy and uh larry holmes wants to
00:13:34i think defend his title and also he's talking about retiring all right you say you're not satisfied
00:13:40you say you want more for your money well i'll tell you what i'm gonna do monday may 11th right
00:13:43here on hbo more heavyweight boxing i'll tell you we got boxing every month here back come june we got
00:13:49another fight with a man on my right marvin haggler jerry cooney and ken norton larry merchant
00:13:53and sugar ray leonard and myself will be on hand for that one too i think that's going to be a great
00:13:58fight between jerry cooney and ken norton ken norton's a sucker for a left hook and this jerry
00:14:03cooney's got one boy he's got a big left hook cooney and up and coming fighter of course he too is
00:14:08undefeated he is 24 and 0 undefeated wbc and wba number one ranked contender norton of course the
00:14:15former heavyweight champion meanwhile we are here for the welterweight championship
00:14:21and on his way into the ring now is larry bonds crowd starts to react to bonds bonds made an
00:14:28interesting point he said that he's more popular in syracuse right now than he ever was in denver
00:14:36he actually only had a couple of fights in denver in fact there's an interesting point to be made about
00:14:40larry bonds he was on the undercard of the muhammad ali lyle alzado fight i want to make one point
00:14:46here as we scan the crowd sugar ray leonard has brought this crowd out and the management of sugar
00:14:52ray leonard is very mindful that this makes a persuasive point for his future negotiations against
00:14:59tommy hearns and others that he's the guy that can put people in their seats there's something like
00:15:0520 000 people here in the carrier dome that's a tribute to leonard who is everybody's hometown hero
00:15:11all throughout the country
00:15:15sugar ray leonard unquestionably the biggest draw in boxing now as you look at larry bonds
00:15:22very serious on the shoulders of his handlers there is his record 29 wins in 32 fights has had only
00:15:28nine knockouts but as you mentioned he is not even really thinking knockout in this fight
00:15:35the one thing what i'd like to mention though is that uh about larry bonds is that he has been 12
00:15:40rounds four times so that could be a great factor in this fight he can proceed to go the distance a
00:15:47little bit steve steve cameron a very capable columnist from the denver post had said in a
00:15:52conversation that he had with larry bonds that he asked him if he thought he could go 15 rounds and
00:15:58he said to steve you'll know exactly the same time as i know he's also a very a realist i guess when
00:16:05you're a garbage collector you have to be a realist um not to say that this is trash sport
00:16:11but what i do want to say is that bonds has said well if you lose to sugar ray leonard there's a big
00:16:17market for fighters who lose to sugar ray leonard well there's all the up end and none of the down end
00:16:24as you look at larry bonds most recent fights babe mccarthy he was a winner in 12 rounds these are not
00:16:28exactly household names the people that he has fought jimmy jackson he won in 10 and the immortal
00:16:33castello king he knocked him out in seven rounds in san juan puerto rico that was also an undercard
00:16:41as you hear the crowd start to build now for the arrival of sugar ray leonard and there you see
00:16:48sugar ray's handlers just kind of cheering on the crowd here as he makes his way into the ring
00:16:52he has a big entourage with him don't he they make sure that he's protected the record of sugar ray
00:17:02leonard 28 wins of course the one loss to roberto duran 19 of those wins coming by root of the knockout
00:17:09and sugar ray leonard has come into the ring the crowd comes alive
00:17:12on the back of his robe it says i love syracuse so this city and the welterweight champion have a love affair
00:17:25leonard has been very serious about this fight there has been no apparent dogging it
00:17:32in training he's been here in syracuse since the middle of march larry bonds didn't come in until the
00:17:3720th of march another point about ray you know they've been trying to build up ray and saying
00:17:43that he's getting bigger and he might have to become a middleweight and so forth and so on but
00:17:48when he got on the scales today he was just a little over 145 pounds basically he is a natural and pure
00:17:56welterweight you can see the standoff right here sugar ray leonard and larry bonds and i would say larry
00:18:02bonds is at least going to get a draw here yeah they're almost mirror images of each other they're
00:18:07both 5 10 both about the same weight one's a left-hander one's a right-hander well it should be an
00:18:14interesting fight we're just about set to go with the welterweight championship now well right right
00:18:20away now i just see barry that he tried to come in and put the scare right into him we have to find
00:18:25out and see if that took effect on him in the first round barry bonds has said he won't be bothered by
00:18:29all of that he fully expected it he expected the dancing he expected the mugging he expected
00:18:33ray to talk to him he said that's not going to bother me at all i'm not a kid anymore
00:18:39now all he has to do is fight well he's 29 years old right now he's got to think about that
00:18:44you know he's an interesting and very sympathetic character we don't know if he can fight certainly
00:18:49in this class he has a full-time job his wife is a full-time job with the telephone company
00:18:55they have three children eight nine and ten years old with their own home it's not the story of a
00:18:59guy that they're picking up out of the gutter he's a he's a solid citizen in denver he really is the
00:19:04guy really seems to have his head about him and now we're going to see what the test is all about in
00:19:08the ring let's go up to the ring announcer dick tobin for the introduction to the fighters did you want me to
00:19:12move up there now
00:19:19all right all right here we go ladies and gentlemen
00:19:26ladies and gentlemen here
00:19:30here are the few fighters
00:19:33representing syracuse here from geneva new york a young junior middleweight
00:19:43that has 23 consecutive wins ladies and gentlemen rocky feral
00:19:59here's the young fellow you all know ladies and gentlemen
00:20:03a very good light heavyweight a few years back
00:20:05from syracuse new york hal t and t carol
00:20:21here's another veteran you all remember
00:20:23a welterweight from down around ithaca dickie d veronica
00:20:36here is the former welterweight champion of the world from canistota new york billy back
00:20:39and here is the undisputed middleweight champion of the world marvin haggler
00:21:02here's the old brethren ladies and gentlemen from canistota new york
00:21:18former welterweight and middleweight champion of the world ladies and gentlemen carmen basilio
00:21:34let's take a look at the tail of the tape now leonard of course five years a junior of bonds very comparable almost all the way down otherwise
00:21:58leonard coming in just three quarters of each advantage for bonds everything else very very comfortable
00:22:09let's take a look at the tail of the tape now leonard of course five years a junior of bonds
00:22:15bonds very comparable almost all the way down otherwise leonard coming in just three quarters
00:22:20of a pound heavier than bonds two inch reach advantage for bonds everything else very very
00:22:24comparable now whether or not they're comparable in the ring remains to be seen sugar red letter
00:22:29of course the champion larry bonds very much the underdog challenger
00:22:45crowd starts to come alive now and for the introduction to the fighters let's go up to dick tobin
00:22:51ladies and gentlemen
00:22:51ladies and gentlemen this world's boxing winterweight championship is being presented
00:23:03for your pleasure by the top rank incorporated with promoter bill hanbury representing the chamber of
00:23:09commerce of the great city of syracuse new york
00:23:13this bound this battle is being sanctioned and supervised by the new york state athletic commission
00:23:24the honorable john m penderville the chairman also sanctioned by the commissioner fred shook from the wbc
00:23:33and the officials that have been assigned here tonight by the new york state athletic commission our judges
00:23:40leaders carol castellano vinnie rain rayon and harald liederman the attending physicians at ringside tonight
00:23:53is dr armin sincata and dr john mirola and the referee for this bound is arthur morkanti
00:24:02this is the main final battle of the evening is for 15 rounds for the world's boxing council welterweight
00:24:17championship coming here tonight from denver colorado he's wearing the red trunks with white stripes
00:24:26he weighs 144 and three quarters larry barnes larry barnes
00:24:41now his opponent
00:24:44from mitchellville maryland wearing the white trunks with red stripes
00:24:49and weighing 145 and a half he's the wbc welterweight champion of the world ladies and gentlemen sugar ray lennon
00:25:06you can fill electricity you really can this day in every championship fight this one is no exception
00:25:12you have to look at the odds and say they're long for larry bonds but nonetheless there is that electricity
00:25:16sugar and larry this contest for the welterweight championship of the world will be governed by
00:25:28the rules of the world boxing council in the event of a knockdown you must take an a count
00:25:33the three knockdown rule has been waived you will be penalized for any illegal blows when i say break
00:25:41break shake hands now return to your corners to await the starting bell good luck
00:25:50well you saw the stairs all the gamesmanship is over all there is now is just to get to it and that's
00:25:54exactly what we're about to do well away championship of the world we're at the carrier drone in syracuse new
00:25:59york some 20 000 people on hand for this one
00:26:07round one scheduled 15 rounder crowd comes alive right at the get-go
00:26:12bonds comes out circles
00:26:25larry bonds remembers fought only seven rounds in 11 months
00:26:28and a knockout the last time out over costello king first punch of the fight sticking jab by bonds
00:26:46bonds has said he's got to change strategies time and again in this fight
00:26:50can't show any kind of consistency against the likes of sugar ray lenny
00:26:57it's interesting that the role for leonard is exactly reversed as in the durant fights he's now
00:27:02the chaser instead of the chasey well you know you're right right there i think this is the fill
00:27:08out round here you know they're both trying to see what shots they can get in there and i think that he
00:27:14wants to move right now and try to draw lenny to do what he don't what he don't want to do
00:27:22early in the first round here first right hand thrown by leonard whistles by the nose of larry bonds
00:27:28bonds dancing in his own corner now up on his toes larry bonds has gone 12 rounds on two different
00:27:34occasions so going the distance is not totally unusual to him it's just the fact that he has not had a lot
00:27:41of activity in the last year well the way that he's built by slim daddy is he should have great hand
00:27:47speed he's the kind of guy that when he fights well makes his other makes his opponent look bad
00:27:55right hand to the top of the head of sugar ray leonard little damage
00:28:02coming up on the two minute mark round one welterweight championship of the world
00:28:06sugar ray leonard on the left that is larry bonds the challenger and a long shot challenger
00:28:12in the red trunks
00:28:21main thing what i see right here barry is that bonds has to be careful when he's dancing around
00:28:26there that because he's lifting his head up he's bringing his head up out of that out of that pocket
00:28:30there something to watch for right hand scores by leonard
00:28:38all right bonds also keeping that right arm down pretty well making himself a target to the left
00:28:45hand jabs and sugar ray leonard coming up on the 15 second mark in round one
00:28:51well i think leonard's doing a great great great job right now behind the fact that he's cutting the
00:28:56ring off moving side to side on him he's uh like you say he's the aggressor in this way
00:29:05all right bond still continues to circle now backpedal a little bit we come to the end of round one
00:29:09bonds look sugar ray leonard all the way back to his corner but leonard as you mentioned was the
00:29:13aggressor in round one it's easy to see off this first round why fighters avoid larry bond he's quick
00:29:23and he's careful round number two coming up let's listen to angelo dundee and sugar ray leonard pick up
00:29:31the pace right that's all very simple instructions from angie dundee he was just sort of measuring
00:29:39the timing and geometry between them in that round and he'd just say okay let's squeeze the vice a
00:29:44little tighter now well one thing you would know when it has there we see larry bonds receiving his
00:29:56instructions and of course the longer he goes with the champion the more valuable a commodity he becomes
00:30:03for his future can't emphasize enough the biggest purse that larry bonds has had coming into this fight
00:30:09was two thousand dollars that was in his last fight last april against costello king in this fight
00:30:14he will make a hundred thousand dollars and if he shows well against the champion i would think more
00:30:21fights will follow leonard now pressing the attack against larry bonds well what you heard in the
00:30:26corner from angelo dundee's whole minute to pick the pace up
00:30:37general the master right hand to the chest of larry bonds
00:30:44and first time bonds tries to of course the action a little bit comes up pretty much empty
00:30:49the left hand of the face does score and then it comes back at him ties him up
00:30:58and leonard draws a warning from arthur mccanty for holding and hitting
00:31:03well leonard's got to have a little nerve in him you know because i tell you it only takes a second out
00:31:07there he shouldn't be too careful i mean you know he's a little bit too relaxed
00:31:12well that of course is the danger that everyone that has had anything to do with this fight has talked
00:31:18about that it's very easy to overlook someone like larry bonds you can tell yourself time and time
00:31:25again that you're not going to do it then when it gets down to it you do it well you know he's very
00:31:30confident you know and you can see that he's just really just walking right on top of bonds leonard
00:31:35did score with an uppercut there's another uppercut the left hand behind that the chief of larry bonds
00:31:40spins him away from the ropes he's using the ring very well he's cutting off bond bond has got to be
00:31:47more fast and more accurate with his jab he misses for the combination there to make leonard respect
00:31:53him a little more right above us now leonard works on bonds against the ropes here no damage in the fight
00:31:59we're in the second round all of that action absorbed by the gloves of larry bonds
00:32:05coming up in the one minute mark round two well away championship we're in syracuse new york
00:32:10good combination scoring against larry bonds by the champion
00:32:17bonds tries to come back with that right hand jab and again a combination left hand
00:32:22right across the face of larry bonds and another left hand in the face of bombs now in his own corner
00:32:28bonds gets a jab in on the face of leonard gets himself extricated from that corner
00:32:32barry bonds has only been down once in his boxing career he was stopped one of the time on cuts
00:32:39two quick jabs by bonds mary i think what we have to look for is when it's right uppercut and left hook
00:32:46has a left and a right to the face that's going to be his baby tonight you can really see leonard
00:32:52setting up his man with the left hand and then coming back with the right hand scores again right
00:32:57there and that one hurt larry bonds caused his arms to drop bonds was just shook with that right there
00:33:04bonds on the bicycle now and leonard again with the right hand lead this time another right uppercut scores to
00:33:09the nose of larry bonds well you see you see leonard holding though behind the head and punching one
00:33:15thing that the referee is going to have to really start jumping on a little quicker arthur mccanty did
00:33:20warn leonard about that one time so we'll keep an eye on that that wrong clearly the champions
00:33:24you know in one respect this is a good fight for leonard because when you come off two major fights
00:33:31like he had with duran it's just so difficult mentally and emotionally to gather yourself for another
00:33:37big fight he needs this kind of fight he needs another fight before he can say okay now i've
00:33:42got to really go to work for a strong opponent let's take a look at some of that action right here
00:33:50as leonard stalks bonds there's the right hand shook bonds just a bit but the next right hand missed
00:33:58well you can see that he's been training real well to shoot a lot of right hands at the southpaw
00:34:03i'm very amazed at the stare that these two guys are given as they're even sitting on the stool
00:34:13larry bonds is giving good stare but the left hand has given him a bit of a problem
00:34:19bonds comes out for the third round now second round was the champions very clearly so
00:34:25let's see if bonds does change his strategy he has said he has to do that if he's going to have any chance at
00:34:29all
00:34:32so barry i believe in this fight here leonard's going to go more with power than speed he knows
00:34:36what he has in front of him leonard starts to wind up with that bolo punch again he showed that
00:34:40briefly against duran
00:34:45right now he looked as though he's just in the gym just working
00:34:51taking his time and kicking his punches
00:34:53he's not doing any damage and again leonard gets the left hand in the face of larry bonds and once
00:35:03again to the face of larry bonds right over us now a right hand right on the chin of larry bonds
00:35:10so leonard wasting few punches scoring with most of them
00:35:14as i was saying earlier you can see how leonard's just cutting the ring off from him
00:35:19right hand catches bonds that time up on the shoulders
00:35:26and right to the body that time first time leonard has gone to the body
00:35:30i believe what bond has to do is throw bunch punches and loosen up a little more
00:35:35to make many kind of respect him a little more
00:35:38here's the right hand in the face of leonard that does score for larry bonds
00:35:41might have been his best punch in the fight but in the center of the ring now leonard flicks
00:35:44that left hand again into the face of larry bonds just looks to be measuring his man now
00:35:50leonard being patient right hand right up on the forehead of larry bonds and once again his knees wobble
00:35:56that was that right uppercut i told you about earlier
00:36:00leonard butch the master right now we're in the third round coming up on the two-minute mark of the
00:36:07third round
00:36:19leonard going to windmill style right hand once again catches the challenger larry bonds on the cheek
00:36:24and again leonard comes back with the left hand on the right hand followed misses
00:36:32leonard with the right hand and another right hand and once more bonds knees wobble
00:36:37bonds is hurt i don't believe that this this fight will last another round i said within five rounds
00:36:44well leonard right now just taking the measure of his man and has made it no contest spins around
00:36:48hits him with the right hand again but bond stays in there gamely
00:36:52again sugar ray leonard stalking his man 20 seconds remaining here in the third round leonard after
00:36:56bonds misses with a left and a right that time i think in leonard's mind right now he knows what
00:37:01he has in front of him and he's just getting a like a gym workout again a solid right hand to the chest
00:37:07of larry bonds bond's legs still seem fairly strong however as he back pedals away
00:37:13and we come to the end of the third round once again around that was all sugar ray leonard
00:37:29well a fight like this is basically a solo for the champion you want to see how
00:37:34he's going to perform what kind of shape he's in how he's taking his opponent
00:37:39okay all eyes are trained on sugar ray leonard as we are here let's take a look at some of those
00:37:46actions and how leonard is trying to solve these his opponent
00:37:49it's not easy to hit larry bonds with more than one punch in a bunch but what i'm so surprised
00:37:58about it seems like even when he just touches him he shakes him up yeah i was going to say that right
00:38:03hand was not really the best punch i've seen sugar ray leonard throw and yet seemed to catch him
00:38:07somewhere between the shoulder blade and the and the chin and still it shook him sure
00:38:14well with bonds he know that this is his last shot he's 29 years old he's got to almost be
00:38:20the aggressor he's letting leonard take the fight away from him he's got to be the aggressor he's
00:38:24got to go out there's no tomorrow in this fight for him well he said earlier this year that he really
00:38:28given some thought to quitting that of course is before sugar ray leonard gave him the opportunity
00:38:32of a championship fight well it's a great opportunity for him round four now leonard has been the
00:38:37aggressor leonard has been the man that has scored and the fight i think it's safe to say has been
00:38:42all sugar ray leonard so far he has had larry bonds off balance bonds has scored with a couple of jabs
00:38:47but no more than that leonard still stalking bonds right over our microphones now sticking that left
00:38:56hand in bond's face keeping him off balance another right hand crashes in on the chin of larry bonds
00:39:00bonds right against the ropes
00:39:02and manages to stick leonard with the right hand and get himself out of there now
00:39:09this is what he has to do right here he has to be first leonard missed with an uppercut that time
00:39:14and now let's sail over the handle larry bonds who seems to be getting a little bit more aggressive
00:39:18almost as if there's no tomorrow well now he's thinking about it right now he knows there's no
00:39:23tomorrow a guy who's not been known as a knockout puncher he has had nine knockouts in his career
00:39:30well right now basically i think what larry's trying to do is he's trying to confuse ray
00:39:35but ray's just keeping that jab in his face to keep more balance
00:39:39ray has controlled the fight once again left hand jab and again a left hand jab on larry bonds and yet
00:39:43another one the man is marked yet but leonard has been clearly the guy who has gotten the punches in
00:39:54and another left hand in the face of larry bonds
00:40:00there's no way leonard took bonds rightly and you can see that right now he trained very hard for bonds
00:40:06he come in at 145 and a half you know he's in terrific shape punches are crisp he's not wasting any
00:40:11punches seems to be biding his time completely the master of his trade here
00:40:17again he gets bonds right in the corner looks at bonds almost smiles at him and again a right hand
00:40:22this time with the face of larry bonds another right hand right above us now
00:40:29that right hand missed by sugar ray leonard bonds bounces off the ropes misses with the left hand
00:40:33leonard above us again now right hand to the face the left over the back of the head another
00:40:37right hand to face it by sugar ray leonard
00:40:41spice to fight his way off the ropes can't do it two lefts and a right spill off for sugar
00:40:44leonard again right there was one of the punches i was telling you bonds every time he tries to dance
00:40:50he lifts his head up and it's a it's a target for leonard and another left hand hurt larry bonds in his
00:40:55own corner as they come to the center of the ring now and again against the ropes is larry bonds
00:40:59right uppercut got in on bonds chin this is where bonds is making a big mistake right now by trying to
00:41:05stand there and slug with leonard
00:41:09bond score for the left hand but leonard scored with two
00:41:14and another right hand on the left to the side of the face of larry bonds who again is a little
00:41:17bit wobbly now another left hand to the face of bonds by sugar ray letter the flicking right jab is
00:41:23harmless back the other way three four punches to the face now of larry bonds right above us once more
00:41:28a right hand and another right the left hand and bonds goes down
00:41:34bonds though on all four is the count of five six seven and he is up at the count of seven
00:41:40arthur mercanty looks into his eyes now as time runs out in a fourth round let's go into bonds's
00:41:46corner and see exactly what the situation is once more sugar ray leonard pressing the action and being the master
00:41:51what did i tell you i told you i don't want you with your hands down over there
00:41:58you understand what i'm saying i want your hands up i don't want your hands down i don't want your hands
00:42:04up easy advice to give for somebody who's not in there taking the punishment isn't it
00:42:08this is survival time you're bouncing around and larvin you picked the fifth round you want to sell your bet
00:42:19well one thing that we know for sure leonard is the the puncher of this fight
00:42:29here's a little muhammad ali action by sugar ray leonard leading the crowd in chairs
00:42:37and the crowd really comes alive arthur mercanty telling sugar ray stay back stay back just wait
00:42:42till the round starts
00:42:45and it's time for a little showbiz now for sugar ray he comes out in a hurry
00:42:49meets bonds even before bonds gets to the middle of the ring and bonds is in a self-defense mode here
00:42:56right now i think that he knows that he has his man and he can uh he can desert himself with show
00:43:00bolton right now got a left hand in the face of bonds to start things
00:43:06leonard is the guy in control now has been right from the outset bonds tries to punch back with a
00:43:19combination that lands lightly on the forehead of sugar ray and a right hand does get into the cheek
00:43:23cheek of sugar ray leonard
00:43:29and has his man right above us again where he's got an awful lot of damage just relentless will not
00:43:34let bonds back off at all and bonds tries to punch back nothing very much damage left hand did get into
00:43:39the chin of sugar ray leonard by larry bonds the challenger
00:43:44bond still seems to have his legs under him
00:43:47even though he's absorbed an awful lot of punishment left hand right into the rib cage that time well
00:43:53right now what leonard knows he's not in there with no duran and that's for sure that is for sure
00:43:58right hand again crashes in to the cheek of larry bonds
00:44:02leonard has done the most damage when he's had his man on the ropes
00:44:05one thing what i see he have improved behind the fact of fighting a fight like roberto duran
00:44:12looks very confident he knows what he's doing in there he's the master this is round five and a
00:44:17good right hand maybe the best punch of the fight by larry bonds but back comes sugar ray leonard with
00:44:22two lights and land on the face of larry bonds and he gets out of there in a hurry
00:44:27bonds just seems to be on his bicycle while sugar ray leonard just seems very calm very relaxed in the
00:44:33ring workman like i think it's a fair way to describe it again right above us now bonds wants
00:44:39to get out of there comes back with two jabs to the side of the head of the champion sugar ray leonard
00:44:45it appears that leonard has decided that he needed a couple of more rounds of action
00:44:54that left hand missed and another left to the kidneys of larry bonds and that was slowing it
00:44:58out in a hurry and now once again larry bonds right hand is down by his trucks
00:45:07when leonard that time misses that punches to the kidneys really will have their effect
00:45:13and again larry bonds in his own corner
00:45:16what he's doing right now is he's waiting for
00:45:18bonds to shoot that jab out so he can step over and hit him with that and there was a right hand
00:45:22once more that wobbles the legs of larry bonds leonard winds up with another right hand right
00:45:27to the chest of bonds didn't want to step over there and kill them kidneys he's waiting for him to
00:45:33throw that jab out there so he could get over there and use them ribs a couple of good solid punches
00:45:37there it is there's another one and that has got to slay down look at where larry bonds right hand is
00:45:42he's down around his waistband most of the time he's landed a few good punches on leonard in this round
00:45:48when leonard is loaded up and that is the end of round five and larry bonds is really taking
00:45:54a beating right now from sugar ray leonard those kidney punches have just got to ruin your whole day
00:46:00well that'll bring him down that's what leonard's thinking he wants to slow this guy down he wants
00:46:04to make sure that he won't be doing that much dancing and those uh he's using his left hand very
00:46:10well that it is getting over there and those punches there will slow you down let's go back down to
00:46:18round four and take another look at the knockdown punch marvin haggler why don't you talk us through
00:46:22this well right there you see what leonard's doing is he's using his his left his left hand there but
00:46:29he got a little careless there and he got popped too i believe in this round right now he knows he has
00:46:36this man and he's just really setting him up looking for the big one
00:46:43and there was a right one right hand score it came back with a right to the face and a left to
00:46:47the side of the head and down went the challenger larry bonds that was in the fourth round
00:46:52we are now in round six sugar ray leonard comes out
00:46:57proud of jutingham to finish him off after letting up in the fifth round angelo dundee told him to
00:47:04take care of the business and close the show right now let's see if he can
00:47:10all right bonds is trying to move around bob and weave he has slowed down perceptively i think
00:47:15uppercut with the left hand misses by leonard
00:47:19bonds is in here with the wrong man right now to be dropping his hands that low unquestionably and
00:47:23he has been doing that for the last couple of rounds another left hand it looks as though sugar
00:47:27red letter could score at will with the left hand bit of a mouse out of the right eye now
00:47:32of larry bonds
00:47:38well i assumed that he that bonds would come out now throwing more punches after lenny they
00:47:43caught him just as the bell ring uh bonds didn't seem as though he liked it that too much another one
00:47:47of those left hands the kidney and that just has got to be painful
00:47:56and then it's moving his head very well now
00:47:59and he's looking for him to use that jab so he can use that left kidney punch again
00:48:07one thing i noticed about bond his hands are slowed down now
00:48:10that is a sign of a tired fighter and a fighter who's absorbed a lot of punishment and that has
00:48:17been the case here as sugar ray leonard right from the opening bell is taking command of the fight
00:48:21right hand gets to the nose of sugar ray leonard does no damage and it comes back at his man now
00:48:25just picking with the left hand jab bond should be moving right now instead of just staying still
00:48:31and once again a right to the kidneys and a left to the side of the head
00:48:34and another left hand right to the nose of larry bonds
00:48:42right hand scores for leonard leonard just not wasting punches combination
00:48:46and another left hand on the right right above us now larry bonds again tries to dance away but
00:48:51he's having trouble doing so the mind knows what to do the body is not cooperating right now for larry
00:48:56bonds and leonard dances around bonds misses with the right hand comes back with the left and the
00:49:01right each of which graze off the chest and the shoulder of larry bonds
00:49:11we have to be a little careful in there while he's leaning his head in and with his hands down
00:49:15this guy here it can only take a second you never know when those punches are going to come out
00:49:20coming up on 30 seconds remaining now in round six
00:49:26leonard seemingly can do it almost any time he wants to
00:49:29all right i think he's kind of surprised right now too what's keeping this guy up too combination
00:49:34does score by letter that came on the heels of a pretty good job by larry bonds another one of those
00:49:38punches to the kidneys and once again larry bonds right hand is down around his waistband two more
00:49:43punches to the body drops the right hand again and right back comes sugar ray letter with a pair of
00:49:47rights in the face and another right misses and another right to the side of the field right now
00:49:51and leonard seems to be having a pretty good time well leonard is and bonds is exactly what they ordered
00:50:09for leonard at this for this fight but if we ask buns to do more than he is doing we're really asking
00:50:16to be a different fighter he's not the kind of fighter capable of doing more and if he could
00:50:21he wouldn't be in the ring with leonard right now uh let's take a look at that exchange at the end leonard
00:50:28right up with three good body punches and then went for the kill but he didn't get it again
00:50:35bonds is a little bit slippery
00:50:38leonard just can't understand what's happening right now they said he was a stick and move clever
00:50:44fighter and that's exactly what he is nobody fooled anybody he hit leonard a good right hand punch in
00:50:50there but it didn't even send the sweat on his brow flying he can't hit hard that's another reason he's
00:50:56in this fight well as it is we've gone through six rounds of boxing and we come to round seven and larry
00:51:02bonds is still in an upright position and there's something to be said just for that sugar ray leonard
00:51:07once more stalks his man larry bonds dances legs still seem to be with him
00:51:11what i believe what lin is trying to do right now is get more work on the south core because he
00:51:18know that he's going to be fighting probably collude and he needs to work of to learn how to fight a
00:51:23south core so i think this is what he's doing in this fight
00:51:29can't help but somewhere in the back of his mind he might be thinking about you a little bit too
00:51:33could be
00:51:44flicking that jab out it is of little effect
00:51:49and the champion continues to stalk it but as we mentioned there's something to be said for the
00:51:53mere fact that larry bonds is still in a standing position and again a left hand scores briskly
00:52:00on larry bonds again barry linden has to be wondering what's keeping this guy up
00:52:06he's hit him with everything two jabs there back into the ropes again
00:52:10well you can see there's not an ounce of fat on bonds he's got to be in very good shape
00:52:14why did it take punches like this and again he's taken five jabs in a row now six jabs in a row
00:52:19and still he's coming at him hasn't taken a backward step here another left hand to the face of larry bonds
00:52:26both men relatively unmarked now bonds a little bit puppy sugar ray leonard
00:52:30same good-looking gentleman he was and he walked into this ring
00:52:33bonds is really dropping his hands down he's in the wrong he's in the ring with the wrong person
00:52:40to be dropping his hands like that should be in there with me
00:52:48Leonard being very patient right now just kind of measuring his man
00:52:51biding his time waiting for the opening that he needs
00:52:54tried to put bonds away in the last round and couldn't quite do it
00:52:57he's not cooperating that's what's happening he's not at all we're in the seventh round now
00:53:03the fight is clearly there's a right hand and bonds bounces off the ropes again
00:53:09bonds is looking for a lucky shot another left hand to the face of larry bonds just enough to
00:53:14keep him off balance keep him off of sugar ray leonard then it noticed that his left hand is down
00:53:19bonds his left hand is way down and he's just countering on that
00:53:27a flicking left hand that time i believe bonds now has got the butterflies out of him right now
00:53:36about right now and he's thinking right here look at what i got to do to get this guy
00:53:42gotta gotta find him before he can do anything else
00:53:47right above us now leonard has done his most damage right in this position but this time bonds
00:53:51gets himself out of there
00:53:56once again quick left hand by leonard right above us and bonds fights back with a couple of jabs we
00:54:01come to the end of round seven this fight will at least get into the eighth round we're going to
00:54:05go into sugar ray leonard's corner now listen to angelo dundee his man leonard is the first to talk
00:54:10you know what kids are doing now you chase this guy and fight him forget everything tear him up
00:54:20uppercuts right hands fight him fight him fight him
00:54:26what i want you to do fight him
00:54:29get him out of there if you stay in one place for about a half a million
00:54:33he'll fall but tear up the uppercuts when you do it with both hands you know what i mean right
00:54:39both hands
00:54:41you know what i think you heard exactly what angelo dundee wants this man to do hit him with the
00:54:47uppercuts go fight him he said fight him and ray leonard said you want me to fight him he said yeah
00:54:52so let's see now if that's what happens he also said uh leonard there he said you know he's awkward to
00:54:58fight well right now i believe that leonard has to put the pressure on him right now like that
00:55:03angelo dundee said because he made glennett look bad right now by not even putting this guy away
00:55:11so let's see if it's an intense sugar ray leonard sticks a quick right hand out to start things here
00:55:16look for the uppercuts that's what angelo dundee had said with both hands he said
00:55:22but he's got to get close first and again larry bonds still bouncing up on his toes
00:55:29when it bangs away to the body with about four punches
00:55:36got a lot of damage to the body of larry bonds and again to the body just waiting to drop the
00:55:42hands of bonds well right now he's still not doing what angelo told him angelo told him to go in and
00:55:48fight this guy and he's got to put a little bit more pressure on bond so that bonds don't make
00:55:53them look that bad out there people are wondering now what's keeping bonds up
00:56:00bonds other than the one time that he did go down has not really appeared to be
00:56:04seriously hurt he's been shaken a few times it was a good jab by bonds right there
00:56:08ray continues to stalk him bonds continues to stay up on his toes so his legs have not gone
00:56:22bonds is trying to be sneaky right now and he wants to fire left hand just as he just did
00:56:28he's looking at minute's body with his with his right jab and he's want to fire the left hand upstairs
00:56:33his hands are really dropping this bond his hands are really dropping really low now another left
00:56:45hand scores and another left hand scores by leonard bonds misses with the right hand leonard back with
00:56:50the right hand wild right hand misses right above us and again leonard gets his man on the ropes but
00:56:54bonds dances away leonard has done his most damage on the ropes right above us here
00:56:58bonds tries to fight out of the corner brings the cloud alive here
00:57:04i think the question is whether sugar ray leonard is really capable of being that kind of brawler
00:57:09that dundee wants him to be here well he's not his style no it isn't and uh you know it takes a lot
00:57:16only way that men is going to do that if he really gets this guy seriously hurt he's not walking up on
00:57:22top of this guy like he was the first couple rounds no he's not actually a left to the right right
00:57:25above us again bonds tries to spin away and ties leonard up on the ropes
00:57:34once again leonard continuing to stalk larry bonds left hand sticks in on his face but larry
00:57:38bonds still up on his toes still dancing and i think your point is well taken marvin
00:57:42he is not in as clear command of the fight as he was at the get-go
00:57:46i think what lin is trying to do right now is still concentrate on wearing his man down a little
00:57:55more he didn't go in for the kill so it appears that larry bonds is going to weather the eighth
00:58:00round here and in fact there's been no serious damage upon his body in the last two rounds well
00:58:06you found out against obama he is that it's it's easier said than done done believe it i could this
00:58:13man here just wouldn't go down there for the beginning and i tell you i give him a lot of
00:58:18credit i thought i had him there earlier and uh i was amazed that i'm coming back so strong
00:58:24well we told you earlier about all the boxing upcoming here on hbo saturday april 11th larry
00:58:29merchant sugar ray leonard and i are going to be in las vegas nevada at caesar's palace for the world's
00:58:34heavyweight championship fight larry holmes the heavyweight champion against trevor burbick and people
00:58:40are telling us that trevor burbick is training training very much in the manner of marvin haggler
00:58:45and here's a guy who really could be a factor as larry merchant mentioned before and there he is
00:58:50that is young ray leonard that is a cute kid
00:58:57he loves his father that's for sure he does not a bad little actor either
00:59:01you know every round that bonds goes is like money in the bank because now contenders are going to
00:59:09come out and try to get bonds and say well i knocked them out in five rounds or six rounds so i should
00:59:15deserve to fight sugar ray leonard you're absolutely right right now leonard's starting to put the pressure
00:59:20on the way how dundee wanted him to do the last round
00:59:28every time that the bell rings at the end bond takes a deep breath said i did another one
00:59:35we're in the ninth round here at the runaway championship at the carrier dome in syracuse
00:59:39sugar ray leonard has been in command but he has been unable to put away the game challenger larry
00:59:44bonds bonds now starting to get a little bit flat footed that may be because he
00:59:48might be looking just to slip a punch in on ray leonard he's been on his toes most of the fight
00:59:52his legs have stayed with him he's been hurt but he's been dead game you have to also wonder right
00:59:57now is that southpaw style kind of bothering that he can't really zero in on this guy you have to
01:00:03really start to wonder that right now and the next guy he's going to fight is a knockout puncher iu
01:00:08kaluli he is also a left-hander but he's a more upright left-hander maybe not as mobile as larry bonds
01:00:13but a bigger hitter than larry bonds and if this is bothering him then what is a guy who could hit
01:00:17what's going to do to him and plus a champion at that so they're both you're talking about
01:00:22earlier we were talking about how the champion has a little more of an edge now well then you're
01:00:26going to have two champions in there and that should be a great fight
01:00:31right leonard now in the center of the ring against larry bonds two jams get in on
01:00:34bond's face bonds comes right back with a combination that scores against leonard
01:00:38i still feel as though that leonard should stay in the walkway division and control it because you
01:00:42have a lot of walterweight coming up and he can still bring the money in the walterweight division
01:00:48right hand zings into the chin of larry bonds again but bond bounces away from it once more
01:00:52i just heard a man say he doesn't want to make a few million dollars for fighting sugar a leonard
01:00:57no i didn't say that
01:01:00leonard is growing he had a little bit of trouble getting the weight for this fight as a matter of
01:01:04fact that he may have to get into the middleweight division not even by choice there's a right hand
01:01:09that scores against larry bonds and bonds hangs on well one day i believe that if we do have a fight
01:01:15it would be the biggest fight that anybody ever seen bigger than the rand fight i think it will be
01:01:22with two outstanding fighters i mean it would be deservedly so the biggest
01:01:26you would also see skill class everything here's the right hand it really crashes in to the face of larry
01:01:33bonds and that opens up the nose of larry bonds for the first time
01:01:39there's a little blood in the fight as bonds bleeds from the nose and leonard relentlessly pounds
01:01:45away to the body of larry bonds against the ropes and bonds now seems unable to get off the ropes
01:01:49now he spins leonard away best flurry of the fight for sugar ray leonard
01:01:55and again combinations but bonds remains on his feet
01:02:02well right now it seems like leonard's really starting to get a workout right now
01:02:07not so easy as he thought it was going to be comes to the end of the ninth round and larry bonds will
01:02:11now get on into ten rounds and that i think a surprise most of the fans here at the carrier dump
01:02:17it is certainly surprised leonard bonds looked at him at the end of that round and said here i am i'm
01:02:22still here you'd have never guessed it did you the original who'd have thunk it let's take a look at
01:02:29this action here this is a very good exchange for leonard and ray leonard is not a great puncher
01:02:37obviously he's not been able to handle this fellow uh not been able to really hurt him he knocked him
01:02:44down earlier but he hasn't uh really dazed him hasn't buckled his knees no but you can see that uh
01:02:51those punches they are starting to take their toes on bond
01:02:55punches to the body have really been telling
01:02:58players had probably a half a dozen good solid punches
01:03:05and we go to round ten
01:03:06all right bonds corner saying dance with him baby dance with him and all right bonds does a little
01:03:17of the cigarette intimidation trick i think bonds just wanted to go to ten rounds right now and
01:03:24he knows he's been that before and now he's starting to feel a little bit more at ease that may be his
01:03:29first mistake it could be crab comes alive as leonard stalks his man left hand whistles past the face
01:03:37to larry bond bonds with a couple of jams tries to slug it out with leonard in the center of the ring
01:03:41leonard comes after him now pace of the fight picking up here as larry bonds continues to dance
01:03:48line still shouldn't be dancing like that there with his hands down not with the speed of ray leonard
01:03:55gets off the ropes again leonard has done the most damage on the ropes
01:04:00bonds throws a left hand and now leonard does a little hoops
01:04:08a couple of right hands that time by larry bonds again now gets his man in the corner right hand solid
01:04:14right hand to the jaw of larry bonds bonds in the corner right above us again leonard tries to
01:04:18measure him slips a right hand i believe what's going to take a toll on bond i believe his face
01:04:23is going to start swelling in a little while then it had his nose bleeding around before and i believe
01:04:30that his face is going to take a big toll maybe puffy around the eyes and it's kind of hard when you're
01:04:35in there because you can't see leonard rookies right into the eyes of this man now back to the stomach
01:04:39he goes right to the kidney right to the face of larry bonds bonds goes flat-footed now then it's
01:04:45back in here right now using the straight right hand again right hand right to the nose of larry bonds
01:04:49and a left and a right two punches solidly scoring bonds and another right hand to the face bonds tries
01:04:54to get out of trouble along the ropes takes another right hand spins away legs wobbly combination again
01:04:59scores by the champion and bonds ties him up
01:05:02and as marvin hackler said a little puffiness around the eyes now of larry bonds i don't think
01:05:10that he can see very well right now and i think lennon knows that because his eyes
01:05:15they're shut closed in a little while eyes really tell a story don't they
01:05:23leonard having it his way has had it his way most of the fight the only thing he hasn't been able to do
01:05:27is put his man away i believe the point that lennon should be using more right now is the left hook
01:05:32on the side of that swollen eye well he has bonds hands down around his waist
01:05:36bond tries to fight back bonds is hurt now doubles up in the corner combinations down goes
01:05:40bonds later the hands over his head and i don't know if bonds is going to get up from this one
01:05:44i don't think so because he was that belly shot that did it right to the solar plexus and it'll be
01:05:50all bonds can do to get up arthur mercanti wipes his gloves off and we will continue but bonds
01:05:56is hurt no question about it he knows he can't shake coming up on 15 seconds in a round leonard
01:06:02is trying to put his man away hammering bonds arthur mercanti jumps in says that's it that's it
01:06:08the fight is over and sugar ray leonard retains the championship against the dead game larry bonds
01:06:15and it was the blows to the stomach marvin that really made the difference in the fight was took
01:06:19all the fight right then right out of him and lennon knew it he just stood there and he tried to hang
01:06:24in there with him but he knew he was outclassed and he was out beaten now let's talk about what
01:06:28the critics are going to say if you were a critic of this fight what would you say about the performance
01:06:32of the champion well literally looked very good today and like i said you can tell that he trained
01:06:37for this fight no way he took barns that lightly well larry bonds i think you have to say was a dead
01:06:44game competitor he was unable to really put his man away marvin let's take a look at the last moments of
01:06:49this fight good right hand there good combinations and down he went but as you mentioned earlier it
01:06:54was the blows to the stomach just before that that really put the man in trouble it is right there
01:06:59that was the right to the solar plex and those there you can't shake you just can't catch your
01:07:03breath and it's the kind of thing that just puts you away almost before the last punch put him away
01:07:08one more look and the champion is still a champion sugar ray leonard retaining his title against a very
01:07:14tough guy who was really not expected to be quite as tough as he was larry bonds was never really any
01:07:19kind of an offensive threat right from the opening round leonard dictated the pace of the fight and
01:07:23he controlled the fight but nonetheless you have to say it was really something for the challenger
01:07:27from denver who has not had a fight in 11 months to stay around as long as he did against sugar ray
01:07:33leonard tonight done very well i thought and this man here should be given the credit that he deserved
01:07:38by even getting in there with a guy like sugar ray leonard and i think it'll not only be a good payday
01:07:42for him it'll be good for his career too because as larry merchant said he's going to start to get
01:07:46fights now sure well at least he's a hundred thousand dollar richer today well he is that
01:07:50it was a good payday for him i'm sure more fights are going to come because as larry mentioned it was
01:07:54a point well taken that now other people are going to say look it took sugar ray leonard ten rounds to
01:07:59knock this guy out i can do it in five i can do it in four so i think it's going to be good news all the
01:08:03way around for the man the challenger larry bonds one more look at the last flurry in the fight the
01:08:08right hand up to the side of the cheek but really it was the blow to the stomach that really made
01:08:12the difference and the champion sugar ray leonard remains so
01:08:18so bond's a game fighter and that's really i guess really what you have to say about the man he was
01:08:23that stayed around a lot longer than he was i don't know if he had an earlier plane reservation
01:08:27larry bond's going to have to stay over because you can't get out of syracuse on saturday night
01:08:34well right here once again it's catching him with some very good shots here he's taking his time
01:08:40he's just putting all his punches together now what do you see sugar ray leonard doing against
01:08:46a guy like kaluli who he can't quite throw caution to the wind against the guy like that as much as
01:08:51he could against larry bonds well i think that right here this fight here helped leonard to try to figure
01:08:55out the southpaw style but he can't realize i mean he can't understand what kept this guy in there that
01:09:01long it would have to be his southpaw style would you have liked to have sugar ray leonard on a night like
01:09:06this oh beautiful with a crowd like this of 20 000 people it's got to be great money
01:09:13okay we are just about set to go now to the center of the ring and ring announcer dick tobin
01:09:19for the official announcement dick the time two minutes 22 seconds of the 10th round the winner by a knockout
01:09:32sugar ray leonard sugar ray leonard well the crowd booze a little bit i think they might have
01:09:39wanted to see an earlier knockout but i still think you have to be at least somewhat impressed
01:09:43by sugar ray leonard's performance he was sharp he didn't waste punches he stalked his man he did
01:09:47everything he could everything one step short of putting his man away for keeps well the thing is
01:09:52right now he got the job done and that's what counted that is the bottom line right now let's go up to
01:09:56larry merchant and the champion sugar ray leonard ray was that a longer tougher workout than you
01:10:02anticipated well see larry now i think the uh press old live bonds uh apology i think he put up a
01:10:10tremendous fight here i'm giving a guy a once in a lifetime opportunity to fight for the uh welterweight
01:10:16championship of the world and he put he put up a hell of a fight i uh why do you think people are
01:10:23booing at the end well larry bond was a total underdog i was a heavy favorite i think they
01:10:29expected much more out of me because the press didn't give live bonds so much of a credit is that
01:10:34the first time you've ever been booed no no i've been booed all my life where what now uh this is a
01:10:42workout for you it's part of a longer strategy can you tell us where the tommy hearns negotiations
01:10:49are at this point well after i uh fight kalule in june for the uh junior middleweight then we can
01:10:56talk hearns uh they say this is just a tune-up for kalule none of my fights are tune-ups i bring
01:11:02out the best in all my opponents it's never a tune-up it's a real fight man as you can see that
01:11:06was it awkward for you to have to fight the fight of a duran of a guy who had to chase the other guy
01:11:12who's a complete reversal of your last fight i couldn't i tell you fighting bonds or fighting any
01:11:17guy of this particular style i couldn't lay back and try to box him it would be no action i would
01:11:22not have been effective i had to revert to pretty much bullying tactics i don't like that style though
01:11:30you're not a bully you're a you're a pretty boy and you just like to box but you got to fight a
01:11:35boxer as angelo din dundee told you between rounds you got to fight this guy well a guy like bronze he's
01:11:42you know uh with the use of his uh long arms and by him being unorthodox it's quite difficult to get
01:11:48inside and become effective unless you bully the guy i mean bonds could stay out and pop pop and jab
01:11:53all night long thank you very much sugar ray leonard i should report to you however on the stage of the
01:11:59negotiations with tommy hearns there will be a fight i believe later in the year one promoter has offered
01:12:06sugar ray leonard i understand 10 million dollars to fight hearns another promoter has offered hearns
01:12:12four million dollars with the rest to go to leonard it's just a matter of dollars it will be
01:12:17settled you can be sure that there will be a consolidated well-await champion before the end of
01:12:22this year let's go to ringside now marvin hackley let's talk about your reactions to some of sugar
01:12:28ray's comments he was saying that he's been booed all his life i guess that's just a cross you have to
01:12:33bear well like he said you know he knows that like what i like when he said was that out of every
01:12:38fight and every fighter that he fights he brings the best out of them and i think that was a true
01:12:43statement that he had there i have to ask you what effect you feel it would have on sugar ray leonard
01:12:48moving up to the middleweight division and i hearken back to the likes of roberto duran who dumped
01:12:53everybody when he was a lightweight but as soon as he moved up to the welterweight division it wasn't
01:12:56quite as easy for him he had to struggle a little bit more is that going to be the case with sugar
01:13:00ray leonard moving up a notch no i think he's going to do all right in the junior middleweight
01:13:04behind the fact that he knows now that he got a little bit more pounds to work with and he don't
01:13:08have to sweat as hard to uh keep that weight does it surprise either one of you larry merchant has
01:13:13joined us here at ringside again it's a surprise either one of you now that the welterweight division
01:13:17and the middleweight division is really starting to be the division that the public is watching
01:13:21when in years past recent years past it has been all the heavyweights well to me oh i'm sorry larry no
01:13:26that's quite all right i indicated my thoughts on that earlier that if you're a big strong athlete
01:13:32the chances are today that you're going to go into football or basketball or baseball there may be
01:13:38fewer really good athletes in the bigger divisions and this is a division where guys this size don't
01:13:43have much of an option if they're athletes i'm going anywhere else i think the best athletes now are
01:13:49in a well-awaited division and a lot of up-and-coming middleweights i think incidentally that leonard may
01:13:55not have as tough a time fighting for the junior middleweight championship as you think uh the
01:14:00champion of that division kaluli is not going to be running like this he's going to be there to fight
01:14:05and leonard will be able to show his stuff to greater advantage nobody ever looks good fighting
01:14:11larry bonds that's why he has difficulty getting fights let me ask you though and marvin and i were
01:14:16talking about this while you're up in the ring with sugar ray kaluli is a guy though who can hit so you
01:14:20would have to think that ray is going to have to have a little more respect for him well he's been in with
01:14:24guys who can hit he just fought two fights against the the fighter many people regard as the best
01:14:29fighter of the 70s i don't think that will bother him as much i think it's a question of styles and
01:14:34kaluli will be a better style for ray leonard how much of a factor let's look down the road marvin you
01:14:39have fought a great deal of your fights in boston you are probably the most popular personality in
01:14:44boston right now is that really a big advantage to a fighter to have the home crowd well to me uh sometimes
01:14:50it's not uh the fight there with alimento i believe that that's what hurt alimento behind him being
01:14:55home uh sometime a fighter fights better when he's away from home and uh with me uh i fight the same
01:15:01way i fight better i think when i'm away from home but i can fight just as well at home and uh it is a
01:15:08it's a little bit more pressure when you're in your own backyard because you really want to
01:15:12depress everybody and be out to uh you know put a good show on to thank everybody in a sense for coming
01:15:18out i think there's another thing and it's a point that you made earlier in the fight marvin and that
01:15:22is everybody has always said one of the keys to marvin have a success is how well he trains
01:15:27and i think we got a good indication tonight that sugar ray leonard did the same thing because this
01:15:30was a fight that everybody said well it's easy for him to slough off and yet obviously it became
01:15:35obvious that he trained well for this fight difference in champions and others we've seen sugar
01:15:40ray leonard fight a lot of fight i don't fights i don't think i've ever seen a fight
01:15:44sugar ray leonard was in including duran in which he didn't try to dominate almost every minute of
01:15:50the fight he didn't let this man dominate him for a single second in this fight but it was not a
01:15:56disappointing fight at all sugar ray leonard once again retaining his welterweight championship
01:16:00technical knockout coming in the 10th round against the very game larry bonds and that just about wraps
01:16:05it up from here at the carrier dome in syracuse so for larry merchant and marvin hagler i'm barry
01:16:10tomkins and we'll see you next time around on championship boxing april 11th it all takes
01:16:15place in las vegas the heavyweight championship and we'll see you then
01:16:23so be sure and tune in two weeks from tonight another night of world championship boxing as
01:16:27we mentioned larry holmes the wbc heavyweight champion of the world defending his crown against
01:16:31canadian heavyweight champion trevor burbick that is live saturday april 11th 10 o'clock eastern
01:16:36nine central seven o'clock pacific
01:16:46the executive producer of hbo sports is michael fuchs this show was produced by ross greenberg
01:16:52directed by bob fitzpatrick associate producer was linda jackson the assistant to the producer
01:16:59rick bernstein rick bernstein and the production manager was melissa hoffman
01:17:12he's the invincible winner and you know that you were born to be
01:17:20you're a heartbreaker
01:17:26this has been a presentation of hbo sports
01:17:44the network of champions
01:17:52you're the right kind of sinner
01:17:54to really find in the fantasy