Sugar Ray Leonard biography

By his mid-teens Leonard proved adept at boxing, and, as an beginner, he received 145 of 150 bouts and garnered two National Golden Glove championships (1973, 1974), two Amateur Athletic Union championships (1974, 1975), and a gold medal on the 1975 Pan American Games. Following his Olympic victory in 1976, he introduced his retirement from the game however reentered the ring as knowledgeable on February 5, 1977.

In November 1979 Leonard defeated the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion, Wilfred Benítez, solely to lose the title in June 1980 in a well-known match towards Roberto Durán. Five months later Leonard regained the title by defeating Durán, and he efficiently defended it thereafter, profitable the World Boxing Association (WBA) model of the title with a victory over Thomas Hearns in 1981. Earlier that very same 12 months he had received the WBA junior-middleweight title with a ninth-round knockout of Ayub Kalule.

Leonard retired from prizefighting in 1982 and once more in 1984 however was enticed to return in April 1987 to face the up-and-coming Marvelous Marvin Hagler, whom he defeated to seize the WBC middleweight title in what was thought of one of many biggest skilled boxing matches of all time.

Leonard retired once more in 1991 after shedding a WBC tremendous welterweight title bout, however he returned to the ring as soon as extra in 1997, at age 40, and misplaced by a fifth-round technical knockout. He retired after the battle with a document of 36 wins (25 by knockout), 3 losses, and 1 draw. Later in 1997 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. After his last retirement, Leonard served as a boxing commentator and tv host. In his memoir, The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring (2011; cowritten with Michael Arkush), Leonard mentioned his struggles with medicine and alcohol and alleged that he had been sexually abused by an “Olympic boxing coach.”