Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard has finished some of the very best of all time.
Few fighters are considered to have impacted the boxing world as much as Leonard has.
From getting revenge for his devastating loss to Roberto Duran to Leonard’s epic bout with Marvin Hagler, ‘Sugar’ will be remembered in the sport for decades to come.
With so many iconic performances and battles with the very best, some of the outings from Leonard can often get overlooked. This can even include Leonard defeating Wilfred Benitez to become a world champion.
However, another amazing performance from Leonard was when he came up against an undefeated champion in 1981.
Sugar Ray Leonard dethroned Ayub Kalule in 1981
In June 1981, Leonard would be matched up with Ayub Kalule (36-0) in Houston as he moved to the super welterweight division.
‘Sugar’ had made one defense of his WBC World Welterweight title, following reclaiming the belt in his rematch with Duran. However, Leonard then went on to add another belt to his collection.
Kalule was a Ugandan fighter who was the holder of the WBA World Super Welterweight title in 1981. However, despite his perfect record, he had not faced an opponent like Leonard before.
The step up in quality was clearly too much to handle for Kalule, as Leonard led the fight through eight rounds. Then, at the end of the ninth round, a right hand would put Kalule down and unable to beat the count.
Despite it being the second weight class in which Leonard claimed a world title, he vacated the belt to pursue a unification bout with Thomas Hearns.
Sugar Ray Leonard returned to welterweight to face Thomas Hearns
Despite winning a super welterweight title, Leonard would move back down to welterweight to take on Thomas Hearns.
Leonard was still the holder of the WBC title, while Hearns was the WBA champion. This meant that when the two met in Las Vegas in September 1981, the bout was a unification title fight.
The fight delivered for fight fans, as Leonard and Hearns had an incredible fight. However, it would be ‘Sugar’ who was victorious, winning via 14th-round TKO.
Leonard and Hearns would rematch in 1989, with the fight ending in a split draw. There was never a trilogy for the pair, however, Leonard and Hearns almost fought on Mike Tyson’s podcast years later.