Leonard, Camacho Take To Ring

Hector “Macho” Camacho says he and Sugar Ray Leonard are two of the most colorful boxing personalities this side of Muhammad Ali.

Then, sounding not like a publicist but like a fighter who knows what he’s up against, Camacho said of the 40-year-old Leonard, “He ain’t going to be any better than he was the last fight.”

Leonard’s last fight was six years ago, and he looked old and slow while being battered for 12 rounds by Terry Norris.

Leonard is not expecting a Norris-like performance from Camacho, whom he will challenge for the fringe IBC middleweight title tonight at the Convention Center. Norris knocked Leonard down twice Feb. 9, 1991, at Madison Square Garden.

Camacho has never been a power puncher, and at 160 pounds and age 34 he has lost some of the speed and movement that made him a spectacular boxer in the 1980s when he was the WBC super featherweight and lightweight champion. He has 31 knockouts on his 63-3-3 record, but only four in 16 fights for various world titles.

The 5-foot-10 Leonard does have power - it’s one thing fighters maintain. He has 25 knockouts on a 36-2-1 record, but the 5-6-1/2 Camacho said, “I ain’t going to run. I can’t run any more, and if you run from a man older than you, you’re in trouble.”

Camacho has been quite active in the past six years, fighting 27 times. That’s only 13 times fewer than Leonard has fought in a career marked by big fights. Since Leonard won the WBC welterweight title from Wilfred Benitez in 1979, he has fought only 13 times.