Sugar Ray Leonard Quotes & Sayings

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

It's hard to talk about yourself. — Sugar Ray Leonard

When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Looking back, yes, I made too many comebacks. But each comeback I was 100 percent sure that I would win. I never came back for the money, because I didn't need it. The adulation I was getting anyway in other spheres. But I'm a guy who likes to see how close he can get to the edge of the mountain - that's what makes me tick. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

My toughest fight was myself. For me to disclose and let things out was not easy because we don't want to seem weak or like we are different, but I learned that it's okay. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Inactivity is the biggest sin in boxing. — 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

When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Everything you want to know about a fighter is in his eyes. The look in his eyes tells the truth. — 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

Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I used to walk to the Washington Monument from North L Street Northwest. And I was so hungry at times, I would stop and look into the trash cans, and if there was a half a sandwich, I would take that sandwich and eat it. It was just a matter of survival. I didn't think much of it, but it was just the way things were. — 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'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I always expect unexpected challenges. Boxing is not an easy sport. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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

When the trainer talks to the fighter, there's a connection. You don't always have to say much. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

The time to stop is when the other guy hits you more than you hit him. — Sugar Ray Leonard

We're all endowed with God-given talents. Mine happens to be hitting people in the head. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I want to be great, something special. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Robinson was probably the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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

For the most part, I think video games do a good job of capturing the essence of boxing. However, I'd like to continue to see them push the realism, emphasizing the skill involved. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

You just don't heal that easy unless you're young. — Sugar Ray Leonard

When I'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I've never believed in tying myself up in a long-range contract, and I've been very outspoken on that subject. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Muhammad Ali was a god, an idol and an icon. He was boxing. Any kid that had the opportunity to talk to Ali, to get advice from Muhammad Ali, was privileged. He's always given me time to ask questions, although I was so in awe that I didn't ask questions. — Sugar Ray Leonard

When you're a boxer, there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I lay around and wonder why you were always there for me. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I run with music all the time. I cannot run without my iPod. I have everything. Teddy Pendergrass. Luther Van Dross. Michael Jackson. Outkast. If an Usher song comes on and it's fast, I go fast. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I've always believed that you can be whatever you want to be if you are willing to sacrifice and dedicate yourself. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I wanted to be like Bruce Jenner. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Spread your love and fly. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Fighters display two things. They display confidence, or they display a look that says, 'I'm not sure.' — Sugar Ray Leonard

Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy. — 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

I remember all the important fights. Vividly. In detail. — 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 enjoy the school run and being a dad. Boxing will always be with me. I like that. — Sugar Ray Leonard

We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I've always been quiet and kind of shy. I'm sociable, but I would probably migrate to a corner. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct. — Sugar Ray Leonard

You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — 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 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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

If I hadn't had the talent, the networks wouldn't have televised my fights. No one has made me; I made myself. I paid my dues. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Joe Frazier was the epitome of a champion. I mean, here is a guy who was total old school, blue collar, who would fight anybody. You know, he didn't tell you he was the best fighter pound for pound. — Sugar Ray Leonard

A fighter never knows when it's the last bell. He doesn't want to face that. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — 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

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

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. — 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

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Boxing will always be in my life. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Tommy Hearns seemed like an indestructible machine, so to beat him, I think that was my defining moment, the pinnacle. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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

Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are. — 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

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I made the decision to turn pro, and I remember what Ali said to me: 'Get Angelo Dundee. He's the right complexion with the right connection.' He knew boxing. Our relationship was so genuine, so sincere. — Sugar Ray Leonard

You don't appreciate things until they're gone. For me, I miss my friends; I don't miss boxing, I miss the camaraderie. — 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

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable. — Sugar Ray Leonard

No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I always designed my robes and how I would present myself at every fight. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

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. — Sugar Ray Leonard

The only way for a fighter to get back in shape is to fight his way back. — Sugar Ray Leonard

I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it. — Sugar Ray Leonard