"Mike Trainer, pursue a third fight, but Hearns said that he could no longer make the weight and was returning to light-heavyweight. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns are considered to be two of the best boxers of all-time. They fought twice, with Leonard winning in 1981 and a draw in 1989. Both fights are considered to be classics. Sugar Ray Leonard won the WBC welterweight title with a fifteenth-round knockout of Wilfred Benítez in 1979. He lost it to Roberto Durán by a close decision in June 1980 and regained it five months"
"Sugar Ray Leonard 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 from 1977 to 1997, winning world titles in five weight divisions; the lineal championship in three weight divisions; as well as the undisputed welterweight title. 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"
"Ring"", published in June 2011, Leonard reveals that as a young boxer he was the victim of sexual abuse from an Olympic trainer as well as another man, a benefactor. He has since made public appearances to bring attention to the issue of child sex abuse, declaring himself a ""poster child"" for the cause and encouraging victims to report their abuse. Sugar Ray Leonard 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"
"who took such a beating that he wasn't allowed to continue in the trials and never boxed again. Sarge Johnson, assistant coach of the US Olympic Boxing Team, said to Dave Jacobs, ""That kid you got is sweet as sugar"". The nickname stuck. However, given his style and first name, it was probably only a matter of time before people started calling him Sugar Ray, after the man many consider to be the best boxer of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. In 1973, Leonard won the National Golden Gloves Lightweight Championship, but lost to Randy Shields in the lightweight final"
"Ray Leonard in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 30, 1979. It was a scientific fight by both fighters, who demonstrated their defensive skills throughout the bout. Benitez suffered a third-round knockdown and a cut on his forehead, which was opened by an accidental head butt in round six. Leonard put Benitez down again in the fifteenth round and the referee stopped the fight with six seconds left in round fifteen. After that loss, Benitez again moved up in weight, and on May 23, 1981, at age 22, he became the youngest three-time world champion in boxing history by knocking out"
"Roger Leonard Roger Leonard (born July 21, 1953) is a retired professional boxer from Palmer Park, Maryland. He is the older brother of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who he introduced to boxing. Nicknamed ""The Dodger,"" Leonard had over 100 amateur bouts. He won four United States Air Force Championships and the 1978 National AAU Welterweight Championship,beating rival Clint Jackson. While in the Air Force he was teammates with another Palmer, Park native, Henry Bunch. Leonard turned professional in 1978. He regularly fought on the undercards of his famous younger brother, including when Sugar Ray fought Wilfred Benitez and Roberto"
"champion is Sugar Ray Leonard, who went on to an impressive professional career. Light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, in which boxers weigh above 135 pounds and up to 63.5 kg or 140 pounds. The first champion of this weight class was Pinky Mitchell in 1946, though he was only awarded his championship by a vote of the readers of the ""Boxing Blade"" magazine. There was not widespread acceptance of this new weight division"
"other fighters who took the nickname ""Sugar"" in homage to him such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Shane Mosley, and MMA fighter ""Suga"" Rashad Evans. !colspan=3 style=""background:#C1D8FF;""|World titles Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr.; May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create ""pound for pound"" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of"
"Duran. Leonard was 15-0 and ranked second in the world as a junior middleweight when he was stopped in ten rounds by Mario Maldonado in February 1981. He retired after winning an eight-round decision against Herbie Wilens in March 1982. His professional record was 16-1 with 7 knockouts. rogerthedodgerleonard.com Roger Leonard Roger Leonard (born July 21, 1953) is a retired professional boxer from Palmer Park, Maryland. He is the older brother of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who he introduced to boxing. Nicknamed ""The Dodger,"" Leonard had over 100 amateur bouts. He won four United States Air Force Championships and"
"1925, as the reigning World Lightweight Champion partly because his mother wanted him to leave boxing due to her failing health. He lost most of his considerable fortune from real estate investments, boxing, and his work as an actor, in the stock market crash of 1929. As a result, between 1931-2, he made an ill-advised comeback, defeating a total of 19 handpicked opponents who were unlikely to end his comeback hopes. In a second round technical knockout in Queens, New York on October 6, 1931 he won against Pal Silvers, an opponent who would have been vastly inferior to Leonard"
"Sugar Ray Leonard retirement. He won the vacant WBC belt—and became the first Kronk Detroit-born champion—in a rematch with Colin Jones, drawing with him in the initial matchup. He defended the title four times before losing the belt via KO in a unification match with Donald Curry in 1985. He later moved up to Light Middleweight and challenged Mike McCallum for his WBA Light Middleweight title in 1987, but lost via 10th-round TKO. He retired in 1991 after losing 2 of his last 4 fights. In his last bout, he scored a first-round knockout of Robert Curry. Milton McCrory Milton"
"and most recently ""The Fighter"" (2010), starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg. This movie brought back memories of his fight with Dicky Eklund. He also worked as an adviser in the 2011 robot boxing film ""Real Steel"". Leonard served as host and mentor to the aspiring fighters on ""The Contender"". Sylvester Stallone, who co-hosted during the first season, was one of the executive producers, along with Mark Burnett. When Leonard left the show, he was replaced as host by Tony Danza for the final season. In 2001, Leonard launched Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Inc., a boxing promotional company, and announced"
"on December 7, 1989 in Las Vegas, with Leonard retaining the WBC Super Middleweight Championship in a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision. The fight - along with the Leonard/Durán rivalry in the 1980s - was highlighted in the ""30 for 30"" episode ""No Más"" from 2013. Both the first fight between Duran and Leonard and this bout are featured prominently in ""Hands of Stone"", a 2016 bio-pic about Duran. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán II Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán II, also known as the ""No Más"" Fight, is one of the most famous fights in boxing history. It"
"With neither parent able to work, with his child and the mother of his child to support, and without any endorsement opportunities, Leonard decided to become a professional boxer. When Leonard decided to turn professional, Janks Morton introduced him to Mike Trainer, a friend of his who was an attorney. Trainer talked 24 of his friends and clients into underwriting Leonard's career with an investment of $21,000 to be repaid within four years at 8% interest. Trainer then made Leonard the sole stockholder in Sugar Ray Leonard, Inc. Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali's trainer, was brought in to be Leonard's trainer"
"Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán II Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán II, also known as the ""No Más"" Fight, is one of the most famous fights in boxing history. It took place on November 25, 1980 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, United States and was the second of three bouts between the pair. It gained its famous name from the moment at the end of the eighth round when Durán turned away from Leonard towards the referee and quit by apparently saying, """"No más"""" (Spanish for ""No more""). Their first fight took place on June 20,"
"made $40,000 for his first professional fight (then a record) against Puerto Rican Luis Vega. The fight was televised nationally on CBS-TV, and the novice Leonard won by a 6-round unanimous decision. For decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s, world championship matches in professional boxing were scheduled for fifteen rounds, but that changed after a November 13, 1982 WBA Lightweight title bout ended with the death of boxer Kim Duk-koo in a fight against Ray Mancini in the 14th round of a nationally televised championship fight on CBS. Exactly three months after the fatal fight, the WBC reduced the"
"Muhammad Ali, then Sugar Ray Leonard...We believe that he epitomizes that style of fighting"". After capturing the title Mayweather defended it against contender Angel Manfredy with a TKO in round two, giving Manfredy his first defeat in four years. By the end of 1998 Mayweather was ranked by ""The Ring"" as the #8-ranked pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, and became one of the youngest recipients of ""The Ring's"" Fighter of the Year award (21, the same age Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali were when winning their first awards). In 1999, Mayweather continued his domination of the super featherweight"
"on March 21, 1982. His next title defense was against the undefeated Akio Kameda of Japan. The fight took place on July 4, 1982. Once again, Pryor was knocked down in the first round but came back to score a sixth-round knockout. Pryor signed to face Sugar Ray Leonard for the undisputed welterweight championship in the fall of 1982 for $750,000. But before fighting Pryor, Leonard first had to defend his title against Roger Stafford in Buffalo, New York, on May 14, 1982. The Sunday before that bout, Pryor was driving to Buffalo from his Cincinnati home to taunt Leonard"
"out the victor, with a knockout in the eleventh round. Many boxing fans consider this to have been the toughest contest of Hagler's career. Sugar Ray Leonard's decision to come out of retirement and challenge Hagler for the Middleweight Championship was heavily influenced by Hagler's performance in the Mugabi fight. After his first loss, Mugabi retired to Uganda and ballooned in weight to 190 lbs. In September 1986 he contacted Mickey Duff, stating that he was ready to fight again. Mugabi went down in weight and was given an opportunity by the WBC to win their world light middleweight title,"
"Carlos de León Carlos de León, also known as ""Sugar"" de Leon, (born May 3, 1959) is a Puerto Rican former boxer who made history by becoming the first Cruiserweight to win the world title twice. Subsequently, he kept breaking his own record for the most times as Cruiserweight champion by regaining it twice more. De León, a native of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, first won a world title when faced with WBC world champion Marvin Camel on November 25, 1980, at the undercard of Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán's second fight in New Orleans. De León outpointed Camel"
"only boxer to hold titles in three different weight classes at the same time (featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight). His attempt at winning the middleweight title would be thwarted in 1940. The Second World War brought a lull in competitive boxing, and champion Louis fought mostly exhibitions. After the war, Louis continued his reign, but new stars emerged in other divisions, such as the inimitable featherweight Willie Pep, who won over 200 fights, and most notably Sugar Ray Robinson, widely regarded as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951 and the"
"divisions. The second man was Ray Charles Leonard, who on November 7, 1998 won his first championships at Welterweight (147 lbs), Light Middleweight (154 lbs), Middleweight (160 lbs), Super Middleweight (168 lbs) and Light Heavyweight (175 lbs). There are five titles in five divisions but his case is extremely rare: Leonard fought for two different belts in two different weight divisions the same night: Super middleweight (168 lbs) and Light heavyweight (175 lbs) against Don Lalonde so any of the titles can be attached as his fourth title. The legendary Leo Gamez was the first champion to win all the"
"Canzoneri became a three-division world champion by knocking Berg out in the third round on April 24, 1931. Canzoneri, Barney Ross and Henry Armstrong were the only boxing champions in history allowed to hold two or more world titles simultaneously. (Sugar Ray Leonard became both the vacant World Super Middleweight and the World Light Heavyweight Champion in one night in 1988, but he could keep only one and chose to keep the Super Middleweight title.) Canzoneri lost his world Light Welterweight Championship to Johnny Jadick and he lost to Jadick again in a rematch. Meanwhile, Canzoneri kept retaining his lightweight"
"ninth greatest fighter of the last 80 years; BoxRec ranks him as the 27th greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound. Leonard, the fifth of seven children of Cicero and Getha Leonard, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was named after Ray Charles, his mother's favorite singer. The family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was three, and they settled permanently in Palmer Park, Maryland when he was ten. His father worked as a supermarket night manager and his mother was a nurse. He attended Parkdale High School, Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time"
"7, 1988, Lalonde fought Sugar Ray Leonard at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was by far the biggest fight of his career. Lalonde's purse was six million dollars. They fought for Lalonde's WBC Light Heavyweight Championship and the newly created WBC Super Middleweight Championship, which meant that Lalonde had to make 168 lbs. Some were concerned that moving down from the light heavyweight limit of 175 lbs would weaken Lalonde, but he told HBO's Larry Merchant after the fight that he had no trouble making weight, and he felt great on the night of the fight. Lalonde's size"
"three occasions (his brother Mike Ayala also made allegations of using drugs before his world title fight against Danny Lopez). In the summer of 1981, teenager Ayala was featured in a cover story of Sports Illustrated as a rising star in boxing. Veteran boxing writer Michael Katz claimed he was the best young fighter he had ever seen, Muhammad Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee said he thought Ayala could have been one of boxing's greatest fighters. On September 16, 1981, Ayala fought on the undercard of the legendary fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns. After defeating Carlos Herrera at"
"home town of Portland. Moyer was outpointed, making the world title shot his first defeat. He continued to box in the best company for two years, and then won the vacant World light-middleweight title by gaining a points win over Joey Giambra. After two successful defenses, he lost the title to Ralph Dupas on points. Perhaps the most distinctive place in the history of boxing the boxing Moyer boys from Portland will hold is that all three boxed the famous Sugar Ray Robinson. Uncle Tommy Moyer lost to Sugar Ray in New York as an amateur. Denny Moyer fought Sugar"
"Title when he had beaten Vince Hawkins in 1948 for the British Middleweight Title, following the removal of the colour bar that had been in place. In 1951 Sugar Ray Robinson who is considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time embarked on a European tour. The final leg of the tour was a fight for the world title with Randolph Turpin in London. Few people gave Turpin a chance of winning against Robinson and in fact many people thought that it was a mismatch and that Turpin could be badly hurt. Robinson had been unbeaten as"
"Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr.; May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create ""pound for pound"" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time and in 2002, Robinson was ranked number one on ""The Ring"" magazine's list of ""80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years"". Robinson was 85–0 as"
"one day short of a year later, on 8 Mary 1923, when he K.O.-ed Tiger Flowers in the at 2:50 in the first round of a scheduled 12-rounder in Springfield, Ohio. The title then went into abeyance. John Henry Lewis became the first black world light heavyweight champion in 1935. World Colored Light Heavyweight Championship The World Colored Light Heavyweight Championship was a title created in 1921, when African American boxers were prevented from contending for the world light heavyweight title by the color bar. On 30 May 1921, Kid Norfolk fought Lee Anderson for the new colored light heavyweight"
"the ring. The ringside physician, Dr. Vicent Nardiello, attempted to revive him unsuccessfully. He was only 51 years old. Leonard was interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, New York. A majority of Jewish boxing historians still consider him the greatest Jewish boxer of the twentieth century for his astounding record of wins during his long reign as lightweight champion. Leonard was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1979), the World Boxing Hall of Fame (1980), the International Boxing Hall of Fame (1990), the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1996), and the Ring Magazine Hall of"
"Singletary for the International Boxing Federation version of the title. The World Boxing Association created its version of the super middleweight title when reigning ""Lineal"" champion Chong Pal Park defeated Jesus Gallardo in 1987 (Park had been IBF champion before relinquishing the title to fight for the inaugural WBA version). The World Boxing Council crowned its first champion in 1988 when Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Donny Lalonde in a fight that was also for its version of the light heavyweight title. Since the early 1990s, there has been a highly competitive super middleweight division in Britain and Ireland, including the"
"were crowned before Joe Louis began his legendary run as Heavyweight champion in 1937. He retired in 1949, still holding the title of World Heavyweight Champion. Boxing began expanding into Latin America in the 1930s: Sixto Escobar became the first world champion from Puerto Rico by defeating ""Baby Casanova"", who had also been crowned at the start of the decade. ""Baby Arizmendi"" conquered the first world title for Mexico in 1934. For his part, ""Kid Chocolate"" became the first world champion from Cuba. Three world champions won world titles in three different divisions, a feat no single fighter had accomplished"