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Boundless Bravado. The flashiest U.S. fighter was Light Welterweight "Sugar Ray" Leonard, a 20-year-old dazzler from Palmer Park, Md. An A.A.U. and Golden Gloves champion, Leonard has a kind of snake charmer's style that seems to numb his opponents into passivity. Typical was his quarterfinals match. Angered by a close decision that went against a teammate, Leonard pranced into his own bout doing "the Palmer Park shuffle" and immediately unleashed a flurry of blows that he later described as "for Davey, my parents, my girl friend and the people of the United States." The assault left his East German opponent befuddled for two rounds. By the third, the revived East German had figured out that Sugar Ray could be hit—but it was too late. Although his bravado is boundless in the ring, Leonard is disarmingly modest outside it. Recalling the blows he had taken from the burly East German, Sugar Ray confessed: "I felt like he was a grown man and I was just a baby in the cradle."
Team Manager Roland Schwartz calls Leonard "the greatest amateur I've seen in my 38 years of boxing." But Sugar Ray, who was originally named after Singer Ray Charles, is not considering a professional career. "My mama said I could box until I win this one," says Leonard. "And that's it."
Palmer Park is also the home town of Bantamweight Finalist Charles Mooney, 25, an Army sergeant who prays before each bout that his opponent "stay out of harm's way and that I do too." It took a prayer for him to make the finals; he had survived two previous fights despite a nasty cut above his left eye. The other U.S. finalists were Lightweight Howard Davis, 20, of Glen Cove, N.Y.; Light Heavyweight Leon Spinks, 23, a Marine corporal stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; his younger brother, Middleweight Mike Spinks, 20, of St. Louis; and Flyweight Leo Randolph, 18, of Tacoma, Wash. Heavyweight "Big John" Tate, 21, a glowering, slow-footed truck driver from Knoxville who bombed his way into the Olympics after only 18 months of boxing experience, was blasted out in the first round of the semifinal by Cuba's formidable Teofilo Stevenson, the first heavyweight ever to win the gold medal twice.
On Saturday night for the finals the Garden involved was Montreal's 16,000-seat Forum, but it might well have been Madison Square. The pace was furious, patriotism rampant and the result golden for Leonard, Davis, Randolph and the Spinks boys.
The equestrians were jumping in the Grand Prix the next day, but by the time the last gloved hand was raised in victory Saturday night, almost all of the 6,000 athletes who had marched so hopefully in the opening ceremonies had come to the end of their Olympic odyssey. Plumped largely by their wrestlers and weight lifters, the Russians had once again amassed the largest team medal totals. East Germany had pried loose the 20-year superpower stranglehold, challenging the U.S. in medal totals. The credit for this went largely to East Germany's women, who took nine of the 14 track and field events as well as eleven swimming golds. Equestrian Tad Coffin, Shooter Lanny Bassham, Wrestler John Peterson and Archers Darrell Pace and Luann Ryon added five individual golds to those won by American swimmers, boxers and track and field stars.