Sugar Ray Leonard Quotes

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Sugar Ray Leonard

Profession : Boxer

Birth : May 17, 1956

I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing was not something I truly enjoyed. Like a lot of things in life, when you put the gloves on, it's better to give than to receive.

Sugar Ray Leonard

It's different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Although it was a great accomplishment to win a gold medal, as soon as they put it on you, that's it; your career is over.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.

Sugar Ray Leonard

They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.

Sugar Ray Leonard

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.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I think I've become one of the best finishers in boxing; if I hurt a guy, I normally take him out.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I'll think, If this is his first punch, how are the others gonna feel? That's the only fear I have for myself.

Sugar Ray Leonard

For some reason, I was drawn towards boxing. Or maybe boxing drew me towards it - because once I put those gloves on, after about six months, boxing was my life.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I watched Muhammad Ali, how when he would speak, how it was such a thing of beauty. It sounded so wonderful. And I wanted to be like him.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I wanted to win the gold medal and then go home and further my education in college. I had no intentions whatsoever to become a professional fighter because I had heard horror stories about former boxers who made money but, in the end, ended up with nothing. I didn't want to be one of those guys.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I went through real darkness, but the ring was my light. That was the one place I felt safe. I could control what happened in the ring. My heart turned icy.

Sugar Ray Leonard

I wouldn't change anything because the mistakes and the hurt are as important as all the great fights. They made me who I am today.

Sugar Ray Leonard

To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and just focusing on training.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing should focus on pitting champion versus champion - those are the fights that everyone wants to see. The sports also needs to work on developing new heroes and personalities. I'd like to see more vignettes on fighters, focusing on their lives, goals and stories. Boxers need to be larger than life.

Sugar Ray Leonard