SUGAR RAY AND HIS PAYDAYS : Leonard Is at $83.5 Million and Counting--but He Might Have Come Along Too Soon

LAS VEGAS —  Twelve years after he chose professional boxing for a career, it has become clear why Thomas Hearns’ opponent Monday night took the name Sugar Ray Leonard.

Not only has Leonard earned more money than anyone else in the history of the sport--$83.5 million, according to his lawyer--but one more of these big pay-per-view shows, he says, could put Leonard into nine digits.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, a representative of Mike Trainer, Leonard’s attorney, will appear when the doors open at New York’s Chemical Bank. He will produce a letter of credit signed by Chemical Bank, plus one newspaper clipping as proof that Leonard did indeed participate in an agreed-to boxing match with Hearns the night before in Las Vegas.

Once those two items are presented, about $12.6 million posted as collateral by promoter Bob Arum will be converted to Leonard’s interest-bearing account in the Washington area.

Thursday, Trainer matter-of-factly said that if Leonard beats Hearns Monday and if Leonard then chooses to take two more fights, almost certainly against Roberto Duran and possibly Michael Nunn, the boxer would earn another $30 million.

And yet Arum, the promoter, said that in another decade or so, such sums will cause many to take pity on poor Sugar Ray Leonard, who came along too soon.

“When Muhammad Ali came along, people were saying, ‘Poor Joe Louis, if only he’d been around today.’ And now, people say, ‘Poor Ali, if only he’d been around today.’

“I really believe 10 years from now, people will look at the money Ray and Tommy make for this fight as small potatoes. By 1995, with cable TV many times what it is now in the U.S. and by then also well established in Japan and Europe, there could be 100 million pay per view homes around the world.

“So, with a $40 fight and a 15% penetration, figure it out. That’s a $600-million fight.”

In other words, maybe some of the 1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalists such as Kennedy McKinney, Ray Mercer and Andrew Maynard--all of whom will box on Monday’s undercard--might catch a $600-million fight, but poor Sugar Ray will be behind a ringside mike, graying at the temples. Leonard came out of the 1976 Olympic Games with a gold medal at a time when network television was looking for a star. He earned $40,000 for his first bout, stepped up quickly to six-digit purses and by late 1979 had earned, according to Trainer, about $7.5 million for his first 25 fights, before he’d had a single million-dollar purse.

In November 1979, he became a million-dollar fighter. Based on round figures used by promoters and Trainer, here are Leonard’s million-dollar purses thus far:

Nov. 30, 1979--Wilfred Benitez (KO-15), $1 million.

March 31, 1980--Dave Green (KO-4), $1 million.

June 20, 1980--Roberto Duran (L-15), $10 million.

Nov. 25, 1980--Roberto Duran (KO-8), $7 million.

March 28, 1981--Larry Bonds (KO-10), $1 million.

June 25, 1981--Ayub Kalule (KO-9), $2.5 million.

Sept. 16, 1981--Thomas Hearns (TKO-14), $12 million.

Feb. 15, 1982--Bruce Finch (KO-3),$1 million.

May 11, 1984--Kevin Howard (KO-9),$2.5 million.

April 6, 1987--Marvin Hagler (W-12),$12 million.

Nov. 7, 1988-- Donnie La Londe (KO-9), $13 million.

June 12, 1989--Thomas Hearns$13 million (guaranteed).

The total comes to about $83.5 million in gross income from boxing. Ali earned an estimated $60 million. Mike Tyson, the heavyweight champion, is closing fast but hasn’t reached $50 million.

Trainer said Leonard’s total earnings could be close to nine digits when endorsement income is included. Leonard is in the ninth year of an arrangement with Franklin Sports, a sporting goods manufacturer, that has earned him, Trainer said, several million dollars.

There is also a complicated Leonard-Coors relationship that earned Leonard a significant income when he was retired, from 1983 into 1987.

His annual announcing income from HBO is said to be a six-digit figure.

Leonard does a daily, two-and-a-half minute radio commentary for Mutual Broadcasting that is carried by about 75 stations in the United States.

And soon to appear in a computer store near you: Sugar Ray Leonard’s computerized boxing game.

How much longer will this go on? If Leonard beats Hearns Monday, a Duran bout beckons, with the promise of Leonard’s biggest payday.

“After every fight, Ray comes to my office and he evaluates his performance for me,” Trainer said.

“After the La Londe fight, for example, he told me he was very pleased with his performance, that he was happy he was able to overcome La Londe’s short, quick right hand.

“He said he wanted to fight again, that he wanted to proceed on a one-fight-at-a-time basis and that he definitely did not want to fight anyone else who was significantly bigger than he was, like La Londe was.”

“Significantly bigger,” Trainer said, meant six to eight pounds. La Londe weighed 166 pounds for his Leonard bout, and Leonard officially weighed 162. But as a gag, he had several rolls of slot machine tokens in his pockets, since the weight limit for that fight was 168.

All week, both camps have been mum about an alleged secret side agreement, whereby neither Leonard nor Hearns can come in at over 164 pounds, even though the main fight contract calls for a 168 limit. It was reported two months ago that Hearns had agreed not to come in at more than 164, or pay a penalty, pegged by some at $500,000 a pound.

Through all the years and all the millions, Leonard remains the sport’s most charismatic figure.

When Hearns worked out Saturday in Caesars Pavilion, there were about a thousand spectators. After Hearns left, Team Leonard arrived--and soon all the bleacher seats were occupied, by about 2,500 people, cheering and whistling as their man tatooed the speed bag.

Said Arum: “I haven’t seen a full house for a boxing workout since the Ali days.”