Leonard, Lalonde Camps Engaged in War of Words

One depressing possibility about the Sugar Ray Leonard-Donny Lalonde fight Monday night is that most of the action already will have taken place.

The flurries of anger between rival promoters, the war of words between the fighters themselves, an attempt by Lalonde’s former promoter to tie up Lalonde’s purse with a claim that the fighter owes him money. None of this figures to be memorable by late Monday after the 3-1 favorite Leonard finishes with Lalonde.

The prefight buildup has included a secret tape of a conversation between Lalonde and his old promoter apparently trying to settle their financial differences. Lalonde’s people say the tape has been handed over to police.

Meanwhile, charges have been rampant that some of Lalonde’s early opponents had only a hazy knowledge of the sport. To these criticisms, Leonard rallied to his opponent’s defense, saying that he, too, had fought some stiffs. “I knew that, once I got in the ring,” said Leonard. “I could just look at a guy and tell he should be working at a hotel.”

Some prefight comments have been worthy of David Letterman. A sample of comedy from Lalonde’s manager, Dave Wolf, assessing Lalonde’s boxing future: “We know that after this fight, Donny is going to have some very attractive alternatives.”

The heaviest artillery has been fired up and down The Strip by Michael Trainer, Leonard’s manager and the promoter of Leonard-Lalonde, and Bob Arum, promoter of Friday night’s card featuring Thomas Hearns. Trainer has accused Arum repeatedly of trying to “trash” his fight, while Arum scoffs at Trainer being the promoter instead of hiring a traditional promoter--such as Arum himself.

With no such promoter working the Leonard-Lalonde fight, and with trainer Angelo Dundee out of the Leonard camp for the first time in a dispute over money, Arum says of Leonard: “I guess he feels he doesn’t need anybody.”

Then there’s the Leonard-Dundee spat. Dundee, who has been at odds with Trainer for years, says he was underpaid grossly at $175,000 for his work last year in preparing Leonard for Marvelous Marvin Hagler; this time, he wanted a written contract and more money. Leonard this week said he would not phone his old friend and mentor.

“I feel I shouldn’t have to,” said Leonard. “Mainly, because of the quotes that I’ve been reading. Apparently, the relationship that Angelo and I had was not that solid anyway. I would be a fool to call him and then to be insulted by Angelo, saying that Mike Trainer calls the shots. I don’t need that.”

Firing a salvo at Arum and others, Trainer says the fight is a financial “home run” for Leonard and Lalonde and that “it’s very irritating to people who would like to have their fingers in the pie.”

Arum ridicules Trainer, pointing out that Leonard-Lalonde is up against Monday Night Football. Trainer counters that Arum wishes he could be part of the Leonard-Lalonde “success,” but that he is bypassing both Arum and closed-circuit exhibitors around the country in favor of pay-per-view television.

Leonard-Lalonde on pay per view, said Trainer, “is a casual buy, and the people who have this system have the money to make the casual buy.”

Amid everything else, a fourth boxing sanctioning body known as the World Boxing Organization popped up this week to certify Hearns-James Kinchen as a super middleweight title fight. A WBO official said that the new group was formed last month in Venezuela by unhappy delegates to a World Boxing Assn. convention.

As for Lalonde’s former promoter, Jay Coleman, his lawyers have filed a motion in a court here to attach Lalonde’s purse. The case will be heard Monday. Said Wolf: “Coleman’s claims are completely frivolous, baseless and unfounded. Neither Lalonde nor Wolf intends to pay Coleman one red cent.”

Yet another war of words involves Wolf and Trainer, who have publicly agreed on little and professed exasperation with each another. This bickering can be treated most lightly of all because the two are partners in the fight.

Thanks to Leonard-Trainer, Lalonde has been guaranteed $5.1 million. This, very simply, is the most mind-boggling payday for a fighter of his caliber in the entire history of the sport. It’s $2 million more than Larry Holmes got for fighting Mike Tyson. Before he met Tyson, Michael Spinks could only dream of such a payoff during his admirable career. Meanwhile, Trainer insists that Leonard is certain to make more than the $12 million-plus he did against Hearns.

It could happen only in America, only in boxing.