Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Ray Charles "Sugar" Leonardis an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he won world titles in five weight divisions, including a run as the undisputed welterweight champion. Leonard was part of "The Fabulous Four" a group of boxers who all fought each other throughout the 1980s, consisting of himself, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. "The Fabulous Four" created a wave of popularity in the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth17 May 1956
CountryUnited States of America
Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.
I'm a competitor and a very proud man. If a guy beats me once, he'll have to do it again to make me believe him.
I saw Todd Bridges talk about being abused on Oprah. Something that he said, or an expression that he made that gave me that little boost I needed to be open about it and to talk about it as transparently as I did. When I told my wife, she couldn't believe it. She was petrified, because it's such a no-no, taboo, a hands-off subject. But I'd have to say hearing Todd Bridges on Oprah was my watershed moment.
It is wonderful. It truly is. It is the only thing that is real! It's you against me, it's challenging another guy's manhood. With gloves. Words cannot describe that feeling of being a man, of being a gladiator, of being a warrior. It's irreplaceable.
My intention was to fight Durán ASAP because I knew Durán's habits. I knew he would indulge himself, he'd gain 40–50 lbs and then sweat it off to make 147.
While each of us faces enormous challenges every day, it's not the sins we commit that will define us, its how we respond to them.
I retired and came back in '97. Woo! I mean, come on! I don't know, man. A six-year layoff? That was crazy! My career was relatively short, whether you look at either its length in years or the number of fights I had. But it was brutal.
I always expect unexpected challenges.
I learned how to sumon, from somewhere deep within, the extra will I didn't know I possessed. Knowing it was there, and could be tapped again, gave me the boost of confidence I would rely on for years to come.
Everything you want to know about a fighter is in his eyes. The look in his eyes tells the truth.
I'm not in favor of that [mandating protective headgear ] because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that's why there's a third man in the ring, the referee. And that's why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn't allow guys in the ring who don't belong there.
When I was 15 or 16 and I started climbing up the ladder of success in amateur boxing, a reporter asked me, "What do you want to be?" I think he was expecting me to say, "A champion." I said, "I want to be special." I don't know why I said that, but I didn't just want to be a fighter. I wanted to have an impact with people, particularly kids.
Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing.
When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.