Leonard Positive His Return to Ring Is the Right Decision

Bernadette Leonard said only one sentence about her husband Thursday after his Planet Hollywood media conference, but no words were wasted: “I’m totally supportive. And stay positive, don’t ask Ray any of those negative things.”

So, with that spirit of non-negativity in mind, here’s a strictly positive quizzing of Sugar Ray Leonard about his latest comeback to the ring, for a February bout at an undetermined site against Hector Camacho:

OK, you’ve fought six times since 1982, your last bout was a lopsided loss to Terry Norris in February 1991, and, at 40, you’ve got nothing left to prove and are a millionaire many times over. . . . Are you positively nuts, or what?

Leonard, with a sly smile, says he was crazy to retire in the first (or second, or fourth) place.

“I always accepted the public’s perception or the media’s perception,” Leonard said. “I was trying to stay away from the stereotypical old boxer. But you’re doing such an injustice to yourself by not doing what you enjoy doing.

“In retrospect, after the Terry Norris fight, I didn’t want to retire. People can say what they want, but I was going through a horrible divorce, I had a hard time making 154 pounds, I had an injury, I fractured my rib, in training I wore a pad. If I’d said those things after the fight, I would have been called a whiner.”

Look at the sport, Leonard says, and who else, even as he moves on to the middleweight division--and middle age--deserves the spotlight more than he does? Bruce Seldon? James Toney? Riddick Bowe?

“How much of this is about pride? A lot,” Leonard said. “I mean, we’re fighters. I’m a grandfather. This is about what the other guys don’t show. I’ll tell you, look in the ring and sometimes you see no pride at all.

“Look at the heavyweights, they’re not in shape, they’re not focused. They’re in there for a quick shot, get out. I think that’s why boxing’s in a pathetic state right now.

“I’m touched by the thousands of people who are saying, ‘Don’t do this, man, you’ll get hurt.’ But I tell them boxing is something I love doing, and something I’m doing to help people.”

With HIV-positive heavyweight Tommy Morrison announcing his comeback, starting on the Nov. 2 George Foreman card in Japan, to increase awareness about the virus that causes AIDS and to help his own foundation, and with the new Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation set up for children’s causes, is this where boxing is headed?

Maybe, Leonard says, boxing has sunk so low in the public esteem that this is where the sport must head. Maybe--excepting Oscar De La Hoya’s dash to glory--boxing is so empty now, it needs new goals.

Leonard says his decision to get back into the ring was motivated by his long-held desire to set up a foundation to provide money for children in need.

“If it’s worthwhile, if it’s for the underprivileged, the unfortunate, so be it, man,” Leonard said. “If you can make boxing to help make a difference, then I do support it.

“I honestly believe that some of the guys have become more conscious of their surroundings. I think Tommy Morrison, he knew he’d be shot down, he knew that he would meet opposition, right away. But, if he has enough determination to say, ‘I believe in this, I’m affected by this . . . ‘ I think it’s great.”

Are you positive you’re going to stay away from Roy Jones Jr., or any of the other young guns around who could deposit you back into retirement?

Yes, Leonard is positive. Positive, positive, positive.

“It doesn’t make any sense for me to fight a young kid,” Leonard said. “What do I get out of that? I’ll fight guys in my range. The Camachos, guys like that.”

And definitely no more Terry Norrises.

Do you have an answer for all the people in boxing who are positive that this is less about charity work than about your own ego and a particular lack of glory in endless rounds of golf with your buddies?

Leonard: “We’re fighters. This is what we are, this is what we do. Whether we’re 35 or 45, wouldn’t you rather have us in the ring than trying to rob your house?”

Is it possible, Leonard implies, that nobody should be ashamed about pursuing something--and pursuing it probably longer than is healthy, expected or desired by those around him--that he loves?

Leonard’s good friend and associate, J.D. Brown, equates this comeback with the wait before Leonard’s most amazing comeback--his return after a long layoff to beat the heavily favored Marvin Hagler (like Camacho, a left-hander) in 1987.

“I think Ray enjoys playing golf, Ray is getting better--in fact, he said if he started a little younger, they might be calling him Tiger Leonard now,” Brown said. “But I don’t think he’s bored with life.

“Because Ray has a lot of things to keep him busy. I think this situation just happened at the right time, like everything in history. The Marvin Hagler fight, it was so many years coming, so many years coming, it never happened. Then all of a sudden, boom, it happened. And it came at the right time.

“I think this is the same thing with this Camacho fight. It just, boom, happened.”

Boxing Notes

The Roy Jones Jr.-Mike McCallum HBO-televised bout will be in Tampa’s Ice Palace on Nov. 22, and, pending negotiations with the World Boxing Council, it could be for the soon-to-be vacated WBC light-heavyweight title. Super-bantamweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera will fight Junior Jones on the undercard.

Forum Boxing has another one of its quick-turnarounds coming up: On Saturday, Nov. 16, Johnny Avila, who recently defeated prospect Hector Quiroz, is scheduled to fight veteran Hector Lopez on Channel 9, and featherweight Arnulfo “Chico” Castillo is set to fight Jorge “Cocas” Ramirez. Two days later, former bantamweight champion Jorge Julio faces undefeated Barrera stablemate Nestor Garza.

On Nov. 1 at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Danny Romero makes the first defense of his International Boxing Federation junior-bantamweight title against Polo Saucedo. Lightweight prospect Shane Mosley is also scheduled to be on the card. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, introducing a six-pound, 21-inch bundle of announcing genes: James Frederick Lennon III, born last Tuesday to Christine and Jimmy Lennon Jr., who, of course, is the ring announcing son of the late and legendary announcer Jimmy Lennon Sr. “We’ve already got him with a microphone,” Jimmy Lennon said of Lennon III. So will he be ring announcer, Part III? “Of course, it’s up to him, but it’s been such a great experience for me, if he can take advantage of the Lennon genes, that’d be great.”

Calendar

Monday: Vince Phillips vs. Juan Rodriguez, welterweights; Carlos “Bolillo” Gonzalez vs. Mark Lewis, welterweights; Forum, 7:15 p.m.

Thursday: Johnny Vasquez vs. Edgar Decena, junior-bantamweights; Mike Semaza vs. Oscar Saenz, featherweights; Irvine Marriott, 7:30 p.m.