For other boxers named "Sugar Ray", see Sugar Ray (disambiguation).
Sugar Ray Leonard
Leonard in 1998
Born
Ray Charles Leonard[2]
(1956-05-17) May 17, 1956 (age 67)[2]
Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.[2]
Other names
Sugar
Statistics
Weight(s)
Welterweight
Light middleweight
Middleweight
Super middleweight
Light heavyweight
Height
5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1]
Reach
74 in (188 cm)[1]
Stance
Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights
40
Wins
36
Wins by KO
25
Losses
3
Draws
1
Medal record
Men's amateur boxing
Representing United States
Olympic Games
1976 Montreal
Light welterweight
Pan American Games
1975 Mexico City
Light welterweight
Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning world titles in five weight classes; the lineal championship in three weight classes;[3] as well as the undisputed welterweight championship.[4] Leonard was part of the "Four Kings",[5] a group of boxers who all fought each other throughout the 1980s, consisting of Leonard, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler. Leonard also won a light welterweight gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
The "Four Kings" created a wave of popularity in the lower weight classes that kept boxing relevant in the post-Muhammad Ali era, during which Leonard defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Hearns, Durán, Hagler, and Wilfred Benítez.[6][7] Leonard was also the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, and was named "Boxer of the Decade" in the 1980s.[8]The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1979 and 1981, while the Boxing Writers Association of America named him Fighter of the Year in 1976, 1979, and 1981. In 2002, Leonard was voted by The Ring as the ninth greatest fighter of the last 80 years.[9] In 2016, he was voted by The Ring to be the greatest living fighter.[10] BoxRec ranks him as the 14th greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound.[11]
^ abShowtime Championship Boxing tale of the tape prior to the Terry Norris fight.
^ abcEvans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Sugar Ray Leonard". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
^"The Lineal Boxing World Champions". Cyber Boxing Zone.
^"Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard lead the way". SkySports.com. August 18, 2005. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
^Ross (January 21, 2015). "The Fabulous Four – Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and Leonard". RossBoxing.com. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
^"Sugar Ray was ring artist". ESPN. July 11, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
^"ESPN 50 Greatest Boxers of All Time". ESPN. November 5, 1994. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
^"Mark Grossinger Etess Award". Boxrec.com. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
^Eisele, Andrew. "Ring Magazine's 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years". About.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
^Gray, Tom (August 9, 2016). "Who is the greatest fighter alive? No. 1 revealed". RingTV.com.
^"BoxRec ratings: world, pound-for-pound, active and inactive". BoxRec. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as SugarRayLeonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional...
Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as SugarRay Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965...
the WBA Champion, with a 32–0 record (30 KOs), fought WBC Champion SugarRayLeonard (30–1) to unify the World Welterweight Championship in a bout dubbed...
retire in the face of being challenged by SugarRayLeonard. Hagler's next challenger was SugarRayLeonard, who was returning to the ring after a three-year...
four. Perhaps the most famous amateur light welterweight champion is SugarRayLeonard, who went on to an impressive professional career. 1952 – Charles...
(just one loss) he challenges SugarRayLeonard, dubbed as the "Fighter of the Year." However, Durán is disrespectful to Leonard, describing him as a "clown"...
(1960–1981), he also worked with 15 other world boxing champions, including SugarRayLeonard, Sean Mannion, José Nápoles, George Foreman, George Scott, Jimmy Ellis...
Stan Leonard (1915–2005), Canadian golfer Stephen B. Leonard, American politician Steve Leonard (born 1972), English TV personality SugarRayLeonard (born...
"Sugar" Ray Seales, (born September 4, 1952) is an American former boxer. He was the only American boxer to win a gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics...
welterweight championship, which had become vacant after the retirement of SugarRayLeonard. Curry suffered a flash knockdown in the seventh round but otherwise...
18, 1978, against SugarRayLeonard at the Hynes Memorial Auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts. He went the distance against Leonard, who eventually won...
Global Information
