LAS VEGAS — On many occasions your liquor-nipping correspondent has partied like a champ, but until this week the Imbiber had never actually partied WITH one. But anything’s possible here in this effulgent desert-dry den of iniquity, especially in the wee hours of the morning in the Shadow Bar at Caesar’s Palace, which is where I found myself hunkered down in a private booth next to the one and only Sugar Ray Leonard. The Hall of Fame pugilist hasn’t fought professionally in quite some time, his last win coming back in 1989 against Roberto Duran. But the guy appears to be in tip-top shape, and I suspect that if push ever came to punch he’d mop floor with any of the young boxers from his TV show, “The Contender” or, without a doubt, a mouthy out-of-shape newspaper columnist. So it was with a fair amount of trepidation (and beer muscles) that I called the champ out on what I observed to be some surprisingly lightweight drinking habits.
“No mas!” I shouted, hearkening back to Ray’s most memorable encounter with Duran, though I was referring to the Cape Codders he kept ordering.
“What’s wrong with a Cape Codder? I really enjoy them,” the champ replied, instantly topping my list of Top 10 Things I Never Thought I’d Hear a Guy Who Kicked Marvin Hagler’s Ass Say.
“You’re one of the toughest fighters of all time, man. You should be drinking something harder than Cape Codders!”
“Well,” he said, “I like merlot, too.” It dawned on me that it was only a matter of time before the words “Shirley Temple” came out of the mouth of the guy who once KO’d Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns, and I didn’t want to see Ray go out like that. Word was spreading that Justin Timberlake was in the bar, and I’d be damned if I was going to sit idly by while Sugar Ray Leonard professed a love of boy bands.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 27, 2005. Read the original PDF.