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| Date | June 25, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Astrodome, Houston, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA and The Ring light middleweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leonard wins via 9th-round technical knockout | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ayub Kalule vs. Sugar Ray Leonard , billed as Astrowars, was a professional boxing match contested on June 25, 1981 for the WBA and The Ring light middleweight titles. [1]
In January 1981, it was announced that reigning WBC welterweight champion "Sugar" Ray Leonard would move up in weight in order to pursue his second world title in his second different weight class by challenging WBA light middleweight champion Ayub Kalule. [2] Eventually, WBA welterweight champion Thomas Hearns was added to the card, dubbed Astrowars as it was held in Houston's Astrodome, defending his title against Pablo Baez in the co-main event. [3]
In late March, Leonard and Hearns reached an agreement to face each other later in the year during the fall in a long-awaited unification bout in which both their respective welterweight titles would be on the line. [4] However, Leonard insisted on continuing forward with his fight against Kalule much to the chagrin of promoter Bob Arum, who blasted Leonard's decision to fight Kalule before facing Hearns later in the year as "idiotic" and predicted Kalule would defeat Leonard and thus hurt both the gate and dim the anticipation of the Leonard–Hearns fight, proclaiming to the media that the Kalule–Leonard bout would go down as one of the biggest blunders in boxing history. I'm somewhat sorry this Leonard-Kalule fight is taking place." [5]
As part of the agreement Hearns was added to the card as the co-main event defending his WBA welterweight title against virtual unknown Pablo Baez. Originally, Baez was selected to face Hearns in a 10-round non-title bout in what was supposed to be no more than a tune-up for Hearns before facing Leonard in September. However, not happy with taking a backseat in the promotion of the event while Leonard participated in the main event, Hearns and his manager/trainer Emanuel Steward approached Arum about making his fight with Baez a title fight which would then be upgraded to co-main event status, which Arum accepted. Arum also agreed for Hearns to receive equal billing with Leonard on the fight posters but declined Hearns and Steward's request to have his fight with Baez go on last. [6]
The co featured bout saw Hearns make the 3rd defence of his title, stopping the No. 9 ranked Baez in the 4th round. [7]
Leonard had little trouble with Kalule through the first six rounds of the fight, abandoning his usual elusive style and instead fought Kalule aggressively, controlling the fight with his left jab to start and hurting Kalule several times over the early part of the bout with power punches. However, Kalule came on strong in the seventh round and stunned him midway through the round after landing a short right hand flush to Leonard's head. The two fighters fought a close eighth round and continued to trade punches with one another into the ninth, however, Leonard stunned Kalule with a right towards the end of the round. Kalule tried to clinch Leonard, but Leonard landed a three-punch combination that sent Kalule down on his back with seconds left. Though Kalule was able to get back up as the round ended, he told referee Carlos Berrocal that he did not want to continue, giving Leonard the victory by technical knockout. [8]
Confirmed bouts: [9]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Ray Leonard | def. | Ayub Kalule (c) | TKO | 9/15 | note 1 |
| Welterweight | 147 lbs. | Thomas Hearns (c) | def. | Pablo Baez | TKO | 4/15 | note 2 |
| Welterweight | 147 lbs. | Pipino Cuevas | def. | Jørgen Hansen | TKO | 1/10 | |
| Light Middleweight | 154 lbs. | Tony Ayala Jr. | def. | Jerry Cheatham | TKO | 6/10 | |
| Welterweight | 147 lbs. | Milton McCrory | def. | Steve Hearon | TKO | 8/10 | |
| Middleweight | 160 lbs. | Tadashi Mihara | def. | Ramon Dionisio | KO | 5/10 |
^Note 1 For WBA and The Ring Light Middleweight Titles
^Note 2 For WBA Welterweight Title
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | NBC |