Dancing with the Stars – Season 12 Snap Judgments

Sugar Ray Leonard – Sugar Ray is one of the greatest boxers of all time, and also the godfather of Khloe Kardashian.  How does a thing like that happen, do you suppose?  Even though he’s been retired from boxing for years, he served as the mentor and host on four seasons of The Contender, which was a surprisingly compelling show.  He’s been actively working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and he had a memorable cameo in last year’s The Fighter.  The guy’s really charming and has a great camera presence.  And Contender showed that he’s still got some moves.  We haven’t seen a boxer on this show since Floyd Mayweather’s stint a few years back, and he was mostly memorable for being angry at the judges.   All in all, it seems like his ring skills should translate pretty well.  Not the hitting, of course – the footwork.  He’s got the combination of likeability, athleticism, and popularity.  I think he’ll do pretty well.  And who’s his partner?  Why, it’s my favorite, Anna Trebunskaya!  I am obviously biased here, but Anna has a great record with athletes.  She went to second place with Jerry Rice and Evan Lysacek (and had my favorite dance ever on the show in paso doble with Evan), fell just short of the finals with Kurt Warner, and even got a couple of nice performances out of Chuck Liddell.  This is a pretty great pairing, and in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve already joined their fan page on Facebook.  And between this and his scene with Christian Bale in The Fighter, Sugar Ray Leonard has worked with both Batman and Anna in the last year, making him my hero. (EJ)