Leonard and Bowe: Dumb And Dumber?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Sugar Ray Leonard wants to fight again.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Riddick Bowe wants to join the Marines.

And this is not old news.

Unfortunately.

Leonard wants to fight even after getting pounded by Hector Camacho on March 1 at Atlantic City, N.J.

Bowe wants to get into the Marines even after lasting only three days in basic training last month.

What’s next, Wilt Chamberlain filling in until Shaquille O’Neal returns to the Lakers?

Maybe Yogi Berra was wrong. Even when it’s over, it’s not over.

LEONARD: NO LEG TO STAND ON

Leonard, who will be 41 in May and has retired five times previously, says he’s not ready to go back into retirement just yet.

Leonard has said he doesn’t think the Camacho fight was a fair test because he went into it with a pulled calf muscle.

“I was not Ray Leonard,” he said. “That’s what bothers me. That’s what eats at me.”

Leonard, who is wearing a cast on his right leg while the injury heals, said he hopes to fight in May or June. He said that this time he will have a tune-up or two before facing another world-class opponent.

He also said he knew his decision to continue fighting would be met with scorn.

But it didn’t have to be that way.

Not if he had been honest with himself, the promoters and the spectators, both in Atlantic City and across the nation on pay-per-view, and admitted that he’d had an injury.

It was serious enough for Leonard to be hospitalized in the weeks before the fight, although he managed to keep that a secret. It was serious enough for Leonard to have taken pain-killing shots before the fight.

Why didn’t he just postpone the match? Camacho wasn’t going anywhere. Not with a $2-million paycheck awaiting him.

Beyond acting for his own benefit, Leonard had an obligation to those who shelled out money to watch him.

In Leonard’s mind, his return was more than just a one-shot deal. There was talk of a matchup against Oscar De La Hoya in September. The names of potential opponents ranging from Roy Jones to Terry Norris were being tossed out in the euphoria before the Camacho fight, when Leonard was actually made the betting favorite.

But for any of that to happen, no matter how ridiculous it might have turned out, Leonard knew he had to win impressively.

Now Leonard carries the extra burden of trying to prove that the little he showed against Camacho is not all that he has to offer.

Even if all the blame can legitimately be put on the injury, there has to be concern over another part of Leonard’s anatomy--his chin.

Leonard was knocked down once by Camacho and found himself helpless on the ropes in the fifth round when referee Joe Cortez mercifully stepped in to stop the bout.

Counting the Camacho fight, the total is six knockdowns in five fights, with another that was about to occur until Cortez stepped in.

The injured calf muscle is a sign that Leonard’s body can no longer withstand the strain of getting ready to step back into the ring.

The fragile chin is a sign that Leonard is no longer able to withstand the blows of a competent opponent once he does get back into the ring.

Give it up, Ray.

BOWE DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE

Bowe’s problem is not age. His difficulties run deeper. Much deeper.

Last month Bowe, a multimillionaire with a wife and five children, and a heavyweight title on his resume, decided to live out a childhood fantasy by joining the Marines.

Dreaming of going from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, Bowe never made it past the shores of Parris Island, S.C.

The Marines had sliced through all sorts of red tape to make the Bowe experiment happen, admitting him even though at 29 and carrying 250-plus pounds on a 6-foot-5 frame, he did not meet the requirements of this branch of the service.

But after only three days of intensive training, of getting up at dawn and working hours that made a boxing training camp look like a vacation, and being exposed to the demanding discipline of superiors, Bowe went home.

Charges flew back and forth as to whether Bowe asked to leave or was asked to leave.

But on one point, there can be no dispute: Bowe couldn’t cut it.

Now, as if all this didn’t happen, Bowe said the other day that he wants to give it another shot. Bowe said that if he got a second chance, “I know I can do it.”

Don’t hold your breath, Riddick, waiting for that chance. This was not a fantasy camp, with unlimited privileges to come and go as one pleases.

Bowe vs. the Marines was a one-time event. Bowe got knocked out early.

OTHERS IN DENIAL

Item: Former heavyweight champion George Foreman will fight Lou Savarese April 26.

Comment: What’s the point? Foreman has already proved he could win the title back in his mid-40s by beating Michael Moorer. Foreman, 48, doesn’t need the money. It doesn’t appear that he will ever get his long-sought match against Mike Tyson.

Item: Former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes loses a match at 47 to the dreaded Brian Nielsen.

Comment: The only thing worse than fighting nobodies, as Foreman keeps doing, is losing to nobodies.

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Calendar

Monday--Hector Lopez vs. Carlos Gonzalez, junior-welterweights; Rodney Jones vs. Oscar Gonzalez, NABO junior-middleweight title, Forum, 7:15 p.m.

Thursday--Ruben Castillo vs. Rudy Zavala, lightweights, Reseda Country Club, 7:30 p.m.