Editing Sugar Ray Leonard (section)

====Leonard vs. Lalonde====
{{main|Donny Lalonde vs. Sugar Ray Leonard}}
On November 7, 1988, Leonard made another comeback, facing [[Donny Lalonde]] at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. They fought for Lalonde's WBC [[Light Heavyweight]] Championship and the newly created WBC [[Super Middleweight]] Championship, which meant that Lalonde had to make 168&nbsp;lbs. Many were critical of the fact that Lalonde's light heavyweight title was on the line when the weight limit of the fight with Leonard was at 168 pounds, and critical of Leonard for stipulating that his opponent—a natural 175-pounder—should weigh less than his usual fighting weight, which could possibly weaken him. However, Lalonde later told [[HBO]]'s [[Larry Merchant]] that he didn't have any trouble making weight.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_LR7s-Ui4 HBO "Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Donny Lalonde"</ref>

Lalonde, 31–2 with 26 knockouts, was guaranteed at least $6 million and Leonard was guaranteed over $10 million.

This would be Leonard's first professional fight without [[Angelo Dundee]]. For Leonard's fight with Hagler, Dundee worked without a contract and received $175,000, which was less than 2% of Leonard's purse. Dundee was unhappy with that amount. He requested a contract for the Lalonde fight and Leonard refused. "I don't have contracts. My word is my bond", Leonard said. Janks Morton and Dave Jacobs trained Leonard for the Lalonde fight.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mQAQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6857,1391955 |title=Parting of the Ways: Leonard and Dundee Split Over Money |work=New Sunday Times |via=news.google.com |date=October 21, 1988 |access-date=April 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/06/sports/sports-of-the-times-leonard-s-missing-voice.html |title=Sports of The Times; Leonard's Missing Voice |first=Dave |last=Anderson |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1988 |access-date=April 2, 2018}}</ref>

Lalonde's size and awkwardness troubled Leonard. In the fourth round, a right hand to the top of Leonard's head dropped him for just the second time in his career. Early in the ninth, Lalonde hurt Leonard with a right to the chin. Leonard fired back and hurt Lalonde with a right. He drove him to the ropes and unleashed a furious assault. Lalonde tried to tie up Leonard but got dropped with a powerful left hook. He rose but was soon down again, and the fight was stopped. Judges Chuck Giampa and Franz Marti had Leonard ahead by scores of 77–74 and 77–75, respectively. Judge Stuart Kirshenbaum had Lalonde ahead 76–75.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/08/sports/leonard-knocks-out-lalonde-to-win-two-titles.html |title=Leonard Knocks Out Lalonde to Win Two Titles |work=The New York Times |date=November 8, 1988 |access-date=April 2, 2018 |first=Phil |last=Berger}}</ref>

After the fight, Leonard vacated the light heavyweight title, but kept the super middleweight title. Also, Leonard and Janks Morton split because of personal differences. Morton was replaced as co-trainer by Pepe Correa, who had worked with Leonard for most of the previous fifteen years.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2ZMcAAAAIBAJ&pg=6893,5209299 |first=Mike |last=DeCourcy |title=Leonard is getting old, but it's hard to tell |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=June 9, 1989 |via=news.google.com |access-date=November 4, 2011}}</ref>