Does Leonard's Honesty Hurt His Fanbase?

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Firstly i've often stated I don't like Leonard's personality outside the ring.

I find him a bit slimy and the way he describes using what I would call 'unsporting tactics' to win i.e. winding up Duran and 'stealing' rounds against Hagler etc just winds me up.

Something i've thought about for a while is that Leonard is just extremely honest and says things many others do or think it's just that he's not afraid to admit it.

An example is Leonard saying he agreed to fight Hagler after he saw him look less than perfect against Mugabi. Many boxers do this i.e. only fight a fighter after they look beyond their prime but it is seldom they actually admit it.

I've softened to Leonard recently with the view that his honesty should be praised rather than used as a source to criticise and that many of the greatest boxers have probably done some things not perfect but because they won't admit it they are treated a little different.

Your thoughts?

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Think I saw it in an article in the ring magazine, detailing fights of the 1980's that never happened.

I may have ssen said same source.

Have also been told selfsame thing by people who were alive at the time, if that helps.

I cant believe Hagler rehydrated to 175 seeing as the weigh in was on the day of the fight. That level of rehydration would take more than 24 hours.

Ask windy when he gets back from the Telegram office

azania wrote:I cant believe Hagler rehydrated to 175 seeing as the weigh in was on the day of the fight. That level of rehydration would take more than 24 hours.

I can't believe that either, just for the reason that you have stated. Also Hagler weighed in as low as 157lbs for a couple of fights. So that means he weighed in officailly 3lbs under the limit, only to go and rehydrate 18lbs to fight at 175lbs. Not only that, he he managed to be a career middleweight, so was he doing this for his whole career, a full 14 years?

Atila wrote:

azania wrote:I cant believe Hagler rehydrated to 175 seeing as the weigh in was on the day of the fight. That level of rehydration would take more than 24 hours.

I can't believe that either, just for the reason that you have stated. Also Hagler weighed in as low as 157lbs for a couple of fights. So that means he weighed in officailly 3lbs under the limit, only to go and rehydrate 18lbs to fight at 175lbs. Not only that, he he managed to be a career middleweight, so was he doing this for his whole career, a full 14 years?

It doesn't add up. Someone said Hagler was a massive MW. He simply wasn't. He was actually a small MW. Also I dont thnk rehydrating 18lbs on the day of the fight is humanly possible.

Hagler was a shortish middleweight but well built and quite stocky. I wouldnt have really described him as a small middleweight but his frame seemed well suited to that weight. Im not sure he could have added on another 15lbs comfortably in the same way someone like Hearns or Hopkins had larger frames to fill out. I would agree its odd though that he might get as big as 175lb for a fight when he was weighing in a couple of pounds below the limit in many cases?

I'm pretty much in line with Manos, here; Hagler was, to me, a decent-sized Middleweight, but no more. Certainly never looked like anything around the 175 lb mark in any fight of his I've seen. If he was, he must have carried the weight supremely well.

azania wrote:I cant believe Hagler rehydrated to 175 seeing as the weigh in was on the day of the fight. That level of rehydration would take more than 24 hours.

Me neither especially back then. People on here seem obsessed with fighters dehydrating & then re hydrating, not every fighter does, some walk around at a weight not that much higher than what they fight at & then just lose it naturally during training camp, its possible to lose a reasonable amount safely in 12 weeks.