It’s “Homecoming Weekend” for Ray Leonard.
The former five-division world champion returns Saturday night as a color commentator to the network -- CBS -- that broadcast the very first fight of his Hall of Fame career 40 years ago.
“I loved that,” he said. “It pumped me up because I loved the exposure. I loved the attention. I loved the fights and that’s what also helped me to be the fighter that I became.”
Now 60, Leonard will be ringside for the welterweight unification bout matching WBA champion Keith Thurman and WBC title-holder Danny Garcia from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The same two belts were on the line in one of “Sugar Ray’s” signature bouts -- an epic 14th-round TKO of Thomas Hearns at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in September 1981. A once-beaten Leonard entered that fight as the WBC claimant, while Hearns, who’d not lost in 32 outings, was the WBA’s kingpin.
Both Thurman, at 27-0, and Garcia, at 33-0, are unbeaten.
And they’ve combined for 41 knockouts, which is helping fuel the legend’s pre-fight fire.
“It is an out-of-body experience,” he said. “It’s déjà vu. Like holy, I am 60. It’s a kind of thing that is so special and it’s so rare of a unification it seems like. It speaks volumes to me as far as the significance of it. And these guys, Keith and Danny, they know it. They realize it.”
The CBS broadcast will begin at 9 p.m. and will meld Leonard with host Brian Custer, play-by-play man Mauro Ranallo, analyst Al Bernstein and reporter Jim Gray. The show will also include a 12-round bout at 154 pounds between unbeaten Erickson Lubin and once-beaten Jorge Cota.
“(Thurman and Garcia) is the perfect matchup,” Leonard said. “You have two incredible fighters, each one of them with their own style and confidence with Keith and Danny. What also raises an eye is the unification. That’s big time for any fighter. And if these fighters can live up to their expectations, I think it’s going to be a home run, without question.
“These are the type of fights that are going to bring boxing back to where it used to be. It’s going to require these type of fights, these type of individuals, these type of athletes, these type of potential super stars, to really change and make boxing what it used to be.”
Leonard was 25 years old and Hearns was just 22 when they met -- for the first time -- in a fight that was later labeled 1981’s best by Ring Magazine. The longer, leaner Hearns controlled the early going with his superior reach before Leonard rallied and nearly KO’d his foe with big shots in the middle rounds.
Hearns regained the upper hand by using the movement and boxing skill that most experts figured would be Leonard’s paths to victory, forcing Leonard to stalk his man in pursuit of game-changing punches as his left eye swelled nearly shut. Leonard’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, provided a highlight for the ages before Round 13 when he told his fighter, “You’re blowin’ it now, son. You’re blowin’ it.”
Trailing on all three official scorecards, Leonard hurt Hearns badly in the 13th, then followed up and ultimately forced referee Davey Pearl to step in at 1:45 of the 14th.
“I was in an era where there was just a lot of guys out there who were so talented. If given the chance they would prove to be champions,” Leonard said.
“I always thought that we had to continue to raise the bar as a fighter, as a champion, and continue to fight better and better competition. When I was fighting, I swear, I wanted to be the underdog --psychologically, spiritually and mentally. If I wasn’t challenged, if I wasn’t considered somewhat of an underdog, I couldn’t perform the way I normally would. It’s what would get me going.”
Leonard fought once after the Hearns fight prior to a two-year retirement that stemmed from a detached retina in his left eye. He returned for one fight in 1984, then was away for three more years before coming back to shock middleweight champion Marvin Hagler via split decision in 1987.
He won two more belts with a TKO of Donny Lalonde in 1988, fought to a disputed draw in a 1989 rematch with Hearns -- in which he was knocked down twice -- and won just one more fight before losing his last two, against Terry Norris in 1991 and by TKO to Hector Camacho in 1997.
Thurman and Garcia, now both 28, turned pro within eight days of each other in 2007.
Garcia was a two-belt champion at 140 pounds and reigned until 2014, then jumped to welterweight and won his WBC title with a unanimous decision over Robert Guerrero in January 2016. Thurman, meanwhile, has fought in the same division his entire career and ascended to the WBA’s full-fledged title status upon Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s retirement.
He’s defended once, with a 12-round defeat of Shawn Porter, last June in Brooklyn.
Pushed for a prediction, Leonard leans to Thurman. But not by much.
“I do favor Thurman because he just seems to be a little bit more poised and collected,” he said. “He just seems to be that kind of guy. My gut that tells me that Keith is a little bit more solid than Danny. Both guys are great champs and both of them could take punches. So, I don’t know. Put it this way, I wouldn’t bet my house.”
