Promoter Bob Arum has compared an unbeaten world champion to the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard.
‘Sugar Ray’ rose to prominence in the early 1980s, with perhaps the most famous victory of his career coming against Roberto Duran in 1980 when he forced the Panamanian great to quit during the eighth round of their rematch to reclaim the WBC welterweight title.
Leonard would go on to pick up victories against Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns in the years that followed his iconic win over Duran, before he eventually locked horns with ‘Hands Of Stone’ in their trilogy bout at the end of 1989, defeating him via unanimous decision in a defence of his WBC super-middleweight crown.
After being such a huge influence on the sport throughout his tenure, many of the most prominent figures in the sport have regarded Leonard as one of the greatest fighters of all time, but legendary promoter Arum has now compared ‘Sugar Ray’ to an unbeaten world champion who has taken the boxing world by storm in recent years.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Arum admitted that newly-crowned WBO lightweight champion Keyshawn Davis reminds him of a younger version of Leonard.
“We only realised what a great talent he was and you know, we brought him along relatively slowly, but he reminds me very much of Sugar Ray Leonard, when he was starting his great career, and Keyshawn is a marvelous, marvelous talent, and he has a great personality.”
Davis – undefeated in 13 with nine knockouts – captured world honours for the first time on February 14 when he blasted out Ukraine’s Denys Berynchyk in the fourth round of their bout in New York to capture the WBO lightweight title.
The 26-year-old from Norfolk, Virginia is set to make the first defence of his crown on June 7 when he faces Edwin De Los Santos in his hometown.
