Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 15

mm fOwcington ffiraiter LadOgtao Kjf Friday June 21 ISM 0 Obituaries Section 'Fight of the Century 9 can't live up to advance billing th BY WILL GRIMSLEY i that honor to AIL Duran is a savage once inside the ring Like the late Marciano who retired undefeated he bores in constantly holding throwing punches from every direction playing the ropes intimidating his foes with force and fury The nickname "Manos de Piedra" (fists of stone) was given him by street pals in Panama who saw him slay a horse with a single punch just to impress a girl bob from his socks He Is the epitome of neatness and class Outside he likes to talk to kids about dedication sacrifice going to school and working hard The precepts would have fallen on deaf ears with Duran Abandoned by his father he quit school at 14 and went into the streets to grub for nickels and dimes tq keep his family in food He hustled and stole He painted houses for 1 JO a day He survived with his fists He once did a month in the hoosegow for belting a cop He naturally gravitated to the ring where he became the world's best in the lightweight division long-acclaimed "pound for pound the best fighter in the hour's work $8 to $10 'million for Sugar Ray 62 million for the Panamanian But to the fighters themselves and to the watching world intangibles far exceed the monetary considerations This is a contest of fierce personal pride a faceoff of opposing backgrounds philosophies and techniques a clash of the and the It has divided the populace The establishment has swarmed quite naturally to the camp of Leonard the slick combination fighter-businessman sole owner of his own corporation Sugar Ray Inc which deals only hi million-doUar contracts Out of the ring Sugar Ray strikes up a Wall Street image in his neat white shirts and pinstriped suits His mother had hoped he would go to college and move bom there to a career as a singer So she named him after blind singer Ray Charles her favorite In the ring red white and blue i Commentary Isons contrasts and antitheses rolling off the typewriter keys and glib tongues of broadcasters until the bottomless reservoir of cliches is exhausted The fight has all the ingredients of a classic destined for immortality The tlte: the Olympic city where in 1976 Sugar Ray then a stringy 20-year-old battled his way into the nation's conscious by winning an Olympic gold medal and be- coining an overnight TV celebrity The principals the Olympic kid with a cherubic smile and the dour alley fighter from the slums of Panama the jet-haired bearded Duran whom promoter Don King dubbed "the little kMer" The stakes: more money than any fighter of any weight ever made for an MONTREAL Stone Hands" against the The Roberto Dunui-Sugar Ray Leonard fight for the WBC version of the world welterweight championship tonight in Montreal's Olympic Stadium is doomed for disappointment No earthly event possibly could mea-J sure up to its advance notices and expecta-i tions "Fight of the Century Dream Bout" "Le Face a FaceHistorique (Confrontation for History)' as the billboards proclaim here 7 The Bull and the Matador The Beauty and the Beast "The Rapier against the Meat "The Miniature Marciano against the Watchfob AIL" i On and an they go the i compar- Leonard is truly a vest-pocket Ali a classical puncher with lightning speed in hands and feet Yet he has a soporific punch in either paw He lacks Ali's braggadocio and bombast "He is America's an Arizona promoter said another Shirley Temple Everybody falls in love with Hero versus villan white hat against black hat We like the mean guy in la Except for Muhammad Ali he would have been darling of the 1970s Yet he shares no other similarities with the man who calls himself "The Greatest" He con- fr i i 1 1 3 Training their minds final goals -JY A iV- -1 7 'v jr "4 1 surrounded himself with family members his wife mother and father are with him friends tapes of disco music and his tap-dancing shoes Tap dancing is the latest of passions hem taking lessons about six weeks as if he is trying to one-up Muhammad Ali in ring dancing added a new kid-See FIGHTERS I this sectioe Trainer has Duran close to greatness Page B-f million He is guaranteed 685 million share might top 62 million He is guaranteed 61-5 million is predicated rest now" said me of Leonard's Advisors Charlie rot man after Thursday's nm Leonard retreated to his suite of rooms at the Hyatt Regency and i 'i i 7 Z- 7 3 -t TW if 4 7' Hr'- H- 1 -X-' By LEWIS FREEDMAN Hitts Nraqiqirn MONTREAL The physical preparation is over No more rounds in the gym No more swipes at the speed bag Sugar Ray Leonard ran a few miles in the crispness of dawn Thursday morning and that was it From the time he toweled the sweat off his finely tuned body until the moment tonight that he climbs through the ropes into the outdoor ring at the Olympic Stadium the only remaining training will be cloistered and private in the recesses of his mind The champion named after singer Ray Charles and nicknamed for Sugar Ray Robinson went into semiseclusion 96 hours before his scheduled 15-round World Boxing Council welterweight (147 pounds) title showdown against Roberto Duran Duran is the one-time lightweight king whose name is his own but whose hands have taken on an identify of their own in comparisons to stone Big-money match-up The fight scheduled to begin at 10:40 pm EDT before an expected crowd of 50000 fans paying from 620 to 6500 and more than 15 million more watching on closed-circuit TV in the US Canada and Latin America is expected to yield the largest gross of any boxing match in history Co-promoter Bob Arum said the take will top 630 million Of that Leonard could collect as much as 610 V1' t- ''4 iS1 a pprtspcak mm LadnftM LcaderE MARTIN JESSEE Welterweight champ Sugar Ray Leonard on why women who shake his hand in hotels squeeze harder than men: VThe men seem to be concerned about not hurting me more than the Wise the wizard University of Kentucky player Lea Wise put on a dribbling exhibition before members of the Transylvania basketball camp Thursday: Wise will be returning for her sophomore year at UK She was an all-state player at Lafayette High School Double duty Has Donnie in doldrums Lntagtn LcadwCHRISTY PORTER Lexington Stallions vs Fort Wayne 7 pjn Saturday and Sunday at Southland Park Rardin to its nickname of the Huggfo-Bears Fort Wayne hasn't looked too grizzly this season with a 2-12 record lucky got Fort Wayne at Rardin said "They haven't been playing well and maybe we can get back on the winning track against he expects expansion that might include the Louisville-based Kentucky Bourbons "The other league (American Professional Slo-Pitch League) is in he said of their six teams are hurting financially If they go under possible that our league would absorb a team like the Bourbons That would be great for us because it would give us a natural In the meantime Rardin must worry about selling the Stallions not mly to local fans but also to business people NASL president Ted Stepien owns most of the teams in the league but he wants the franchises to find local ownership Hardin is hoping to fold investors for the Stallions among the horse or coal people "Worrying about things like that make it tough to concentrate when he said "But not complaining I'm really enjoying what I'm doing It's good business experience for me never been one to take the initiative or be outspoken but now I'm in that position I've got to help sell this team" Rardin has an advantage He can do some selling with his bat and glove too By MIKE FIELDS Leader staff niter One of these weekends ell going to catch up with Donnie Rar-din Jr probably end up sliding head first into an airport terminal or arguing with an umpire about check-out time Softball use to be so complicated for Hardin For three yean as an all-pro with the Kentucky Bourbons and Cincinnati Suds his job was simple: play bafl "If all changed now" said Bardin who does double duty as the Lexington Stallions' third baseman and goienl manager "Tm finding very difficult to adjust I'm struggling having trouble concentrating during games 1 help but worry about getting to the airport on time checking out of the motel and taking care of all the little things And I think my performance on the field has suffered for If that's true if not reflected in his statistics Rardin leads the Stallions in batting (473) hits and runs batted in He also ranks among the leaders in the North American Soft-baB League in the same categories "I don't care what my statistics say 1 know Im not playing like I he said been kind of Back in the water Laureen Welting has returned to competition with the Thor oughbred Swim Team after a three-year layoff She hopes to improve her times in the Bluegrass Invitational which began today at Tates Creek pod See story on Page B-L Foster finds his swing Reds find another defeat has him batting less than 230 "I hate to hit a ball that good and have nothing to show for it' but it felt good "It was a familiar swing a swing with authority I haven't had a swing like that for a while Even though it was an out it felt good The last two times up I stayed back on the ball and had the bat speed I once displayed in the past" Foster hit the ball after Ken Griffey had singled with two outs and left fielder Ken Henderson said "I went to the warning track took one look and thought it was out Then I See REDS Page 4 fids section CHICAGO George Foster the Cincinnati terrorist who once hit 52 home runs didn't get a hit Thursday as the Reds dropped their fifth decision in the last six games but there is a ray of hope Foster has his swing back The boxscore will show he was 6-for-4 in 5-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs but he hit a shot in the fifth inning that have been in said Cub man-ager Preston Gomez "if it hadn't been for a 21-irph wind blowing in with even stronger "It was gone" said Foster who has been mired in a slump which disappointed in how done I feel like I should be helping Ironically Rardin was at his best last weekend when the Stallions lost six straight games to Milwaukee and Chicago He hit the ball better than he has all year but it was all in vain Lexington which began the weekend me game behind Western Divison leader Chicago is now six games behind with a 11-6 record "We really expect to lose an those he said "We knew Milwaukee and Chicago were good but not good enough to sweep us afraid this is going to hurt our confidence We were going good until this but I think all the traveling finally caught up with After three straight weekends on the road the Stallions return home for dcubleheaders Saturday and Sunday against Fort Wayne Livmg up Despite its dismal record Fort Wayne Is according to Rardin me of the more stable franchises "Fort Wayne Chicago and Milwaukee seem to be well-run he said to tell you the truth I'm disappointed in the way a couple of the other teams are being run They seem to be struggling Their organization people aren't doing as good a job as 1 Nevertheless Rardin is optimistic about the new league Within a year.