Sugar Ray Leonard Famous Quotes
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I want to be great, something special.
Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
Tommy Hearns seemed like an indestructible machine, so to beat him, I think that was my defining moment, the pinnacle.
Normally, I would run with a group of guys in my camps. A couple of days before the fight, I would run by myself. That was my time to choreograph the fight in my head, so I needed to be myself.
Ray Leonard is more the family man, kind of quiet. He's not as outgoing as Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray Leonard was very determined, very focused, very outgoing and very selfish, if you will. There are two different individuals there.
I made mistakes, but I'm luckier than most. I've got a successful business, lots of fans who think a lot of me and a family who loves me.
Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.
I always expect unexpected challenges. Boxing is not an easy sport.
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.
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've always believed that you can be whatever you want to be if you are willing to sacrifice and dedicate yourself.
When the trainer talks to the fighter, there's a connection. You don't always have to say much.
Boxing is individual, although there's a team concept because you need a great corner, you need a great trainer, you need a great prep man, you need all of these things, but it's more of a Mano a Mano; it's more you versus me. I miss that time in training camp and Dad and Mom cooking meals. It was one big family.
Boxing will always be in my life.
I always designed my robes and how I would present myself at every fight.
The time to stop is when the other guy hits you more than you hit him.
At 14, I was the most disciplined guy around. I would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and run five miles, and then go to school. Sometimes I would run behind the school bus, and the kids thought I was just crazy. I knew what I wanted.
Everything you want to know about a fighter is in his eyes. The look in his eyes tells the truth.
Without boxing, because of my neighborhoods, who knows what would have happened to me. It was always about following the leader. And I definitely was not a leader. Boxing gave me discipline; a sense of self. It made me more outspoken. It gave me more confidence.
Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.
I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.
The Olympics meant everything to me. Going through them is like nothing else you will ever experience. For those few weeks, you are in another world. At that point, I couldn't see how there could ever be anything better.
I lay around and wonder why you were always there for me.
I don't hold any regrets whatsoever about my life besides hurting people I loved.
I came from nothing and achieved humungous fame and fortune. But I worked hard. I had discipline and determination. I had that ice in me.
I was not from a middle-class family at all. I did not have middle-class possessions and what have you. But I had middle-class parents who gave me what was needed to survive in society.
I made an instant connection with boxing right away. Boxing became such a part of me. I ate boxing, I slept boxing, I lived boxing. Boxing was a way of expressing myself because I was not that outspoken.
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.
Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.
I wanted to be like Bruce Jenner.
I think an athlete should be honest. I know it's difficult, but if a guy knocked me on my can, I couldn't very well say, I slipped.
I never met a person as determined as my mother. From working hard for six kids to just trying to keep the household down or maintain my father's discipline, my dad, I'm so much like my father too. My father was so introverted, quiet, shy, nice. I got attributes from my father and mother.
I'm one of the most optimistic persons in the world. I always believed that - there's another shot, another chance. In boxing, I never gave up. I kept trying, kept trying. Even when things seemed so dim, I continued to push forward to make something happen in my favor.
It's different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.
I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.
I remember all the important fights. Vividly. In detail.
The thing about boxers is that there's respect there. You beat me, and I may not like it, but you know what, deep down inside, I respect you. And that's the code of honor.
My very best memory of Montreal was the moment inside the Olympic arena when I was waiting under the stadium and those majestic gates opened up. It was a whole other world.
In Italy, I had an Afro, and a lot of the kids came up and felt my hair. It really was funny. I wish I had understood Italian.
I had a drug problem. I'd go to parties, take a leak, and there was cocaine right there. I was 25 when it started, rich, famous, and retired.
When I was fighting, I would look to excite the crowds with a bolo punch or something taunting. Looking back, they were legal - but not sportsmanlike. I don't recommend another boxer try them. But we looked more to make the robot fights dramatic first and realistic second.
When you're a boxer, there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity.
I was not athletically inclined. I was very quiet, introverted, non-confrontational. My three older brothers were athletes - basketball, football - but I was kind of a momma's boy. Then one day, my brother Roger encouraged me to go to the boxing gym with him. I tried the gloves on, and it just felt so natural.
Spread your love and fly.
I run three to four times a week. I go down to Orange County in California and I run all the time ... all the time. You see the oceans, the trees. I like running in hot weather. I like to sweat and get all those toxins out of my system. I thoroughly enjoy it.
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.
Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing.
I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.
I asked my kids, 'Do you know what Papa used to do.' They said, 'You were a boxer, you won the Olympics!' And that's what they know.
People try to live vicariously through fighters, but it's one-on-one; it's primal. There's no other feeling like it. The problem for me was accepting it - that nothing compares to being champ.
Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.
You have to know you can win. You have to think you can win. You have to feel you can win.
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 consider myself blessed. I consider you blessed. We've all been blessed with God-given talents. Mine just happens to be beating people up.
I've always been quiet and kind of shy. I'm sociable, but I would probably migrate to a corner.
Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.
People can do more than they ever believe they can do. Physically, mentally, academically. You have to be pushed. It hurts. But it's worth it, and it's a great thing.
A fighter never knows when it's the last bell. He doesn't want to face that.
I watched Ali, studied Ali, and I studied Sugar Ray Robinson. I watched them display showmanship. I watched them use pizzazz, personality, and charisma. I took things from them and borrowed things from them because boxing is entertainment.
You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too.
You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.
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.
Boxing's a poor man's sport. We can't afford to play golf or tennis. It is what it is. It's kept so many kids off the street. It kept me off the street.
I am excited to share my archive pictures and footage. I'll also share announcements about current events and success stories from the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation to help fight diabetes and child obesity.
I tried the gloves on, and it just felt so natural. From that moment I became so embedded in boxing. I found a friend in boxing.
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.
To say what I would have been if I wasn't boxing, I don't know why, but I always wanted to be an x-ray technician or a substitute teacher. Those two occupations always stuck with me, maybe because my substitute teacher didn't give us homework, or because I've always had x-rays of my hands.
I enjoy the school run and being a dad. Boxing will always be with me. I like that.
I learned to run backwards from Muhammad Ali. He told me about running backwards because you try to imitate everything you do in the ring, so sometimes you back up. So you have to train your legs to go backwards.
Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.
There will always be something about two men in the ring - a mystique because it's pure man-to-man competition. Because of the history boxing has and the tradition it holds, boxing will always have a that mystique.
Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest.
They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.
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.
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.
The only way for a fighter to get back in shape is to fight his way back.
Inactivity is the biggest sin in boxing.
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.
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.
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.