Quotes by Sugar Ray Leonard - Page 3 | QuoteForever

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The Ricky Hatton that beat Kostya Tszyu in 2005 can beat Floyd Mayweather, he was so focused and in such amazing physical shape that he would have given anybody at that level a tough time.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Levels
Shapes
Tough Times
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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 / Professional Boxer
One On One
Primal
Me People Live
Me People Nothing
Champ
Me Live People
Compares
Fighters
Vicariously
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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 / Professional Boxer
Camps
Couple
My Time
Needed
Time Myself Fight
Choreograph
Group
Normally
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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 / Professional Boxer
Luther
Teddy
Time Music Song
Michael
Ipod
Jackson
Usher
Van
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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 / Professional Boxer
Old School
Blue
Champion
Epitome
Fighter
Collar
Total
Frazier
Joe
Pound
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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 / Professional Boxer
Relationship
Boxing
Complexion
Decision
Genuine
Sincere
Ali
Connection
Pro
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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 / Professional Boxer
Boxing
Instant
Outspoken
Myself Me Way
Ate
Connection
Expressing
Right Away
Slept
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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.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Current Events
Diabetes
Foundation
Obesity
Share
Stories
Success Stories
Sugar
Child
Also
Announcement
Current
Fight
Footage
Help
Pictures
Ray
Sugar Ray Leonard
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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.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Deep Within
Knowing
Years
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It was a whole different world, and Montreal was an absolutely beautiful setting unlike anywhere I'd ever been before. So, Montreal in '76 was an encompassing experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Beautiful
Different
World
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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 / Professional Boxer
Running
Backwards
Legs
Muhammad
Train
Because
Go
Your Me Sometimes
Ali
Try
Back
Back Up
Ring
He
Run
Me Sometimes Your
Imitate
Learned
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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 / Professional Boxer
Boxing
Mystique
Pure
Ring
Holds
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I'm so opposite of my profession. No one - particularly my mother and father - ever thought I was going to be a boxer because I always felt that football and baseball were too dangerous. I was just such a quiet kid.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Baseball
Football
Mother
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I only wish that I had had the courage and the knowledge to have gotten that out of my system, out of my mind or my heart years earlier. But there is no book, there is no manual to tell you how to deal with sexual abuse.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Book
Heart
Years
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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 / Professional Boxer
Olympics
Experience World Me
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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. On the downside, you meet a lot of really bad people in boxing, at all stages of your career.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Bad People
Boxing
Compare
Ultimate
Time Yourself Your
Ring
Time Yourself Step
Downside
Stages
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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.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Determined
Family Man
Focused
Outgoing
Quiet
Sugar
Individuals
Ray
Sugar Ray Leonard
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I retired and came back in '97. Woo! I mean, come on! I don't know, man. A six-year layoff? That was crazy! My career was relatively short, whether you look at either its length in years or the number of fights I had. But it was brutal.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Crazy
Fighting
Mean
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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 / Professional Boxer
Bus
Five
Miles
Behind
Disciplined
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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 / Professional Boxer
Borrowed
Boxing
Charisma
Display
Entertainment
Showmanship
Sugar
Studied
Ali
Watched
Ray
Robinson
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I found boxing when I was 14 years old. I went down to the gym because my brother, who used to beat me up all the time, introduced me to boxing. I found boxing to be a sport that I felt safe in because I controlled what was in those four squares.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Sports
Brother
Squares
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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.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Men
Real
Warrior
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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 / Professional Boxer
Opportunity
Advice
Awe
Boxing
Given
Muhammad
Privileged
Ask
Talk
Time God Always
Ali
Although
Questions
God Time Me
Icon
Idol
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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 / Professional Boxer
California
County
Orange
Orange County
Sweat
Weather
Oceans
Thoroughly
Trees
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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 / Professional Boxer
Confidence
Boxing
Discipline
Following
Happened
Leader
Outspoken
Self
Always Me Confidence
Definitely
Gave
Neighborhoods
Sense
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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 / Professional Boxer
Optimistic
Boxing
Persons
Believed
Dim
Favor
Push
Seemed
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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 / Professional Boxer
Legal
Crowds
Dramatic
Looking Back
Realistic
Boxer
Excite
Punch
Recommend
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I was just such a quiet kid. I found boxing when I was 14 years old. I went down to the gym because my brother, who used to beat me up all the time, introduced me to boxing. I found boxing to be a sport that I felt safe in because I controlled what was in those four squares.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Boxing
Gym
Quiet
Squares
Introduced
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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 / Professional Boxer
Attributes
Determined
Discipline
Household
Introverted
Quiet
Shy
Maintain
Working Hard
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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 / Professional Boxer
Boxing
Homework
Stuck
Teacher Always Me
Substitute
Occupations
Technician
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I learned that I had character defects, that I was allergic to alcohol and drugs, and that I had an obsession with all the bad stuff. But thank God that I woke and that I had good people around me to support me. There's not much more I can say about it. You have to want to be a better person.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Character
People
Support
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I'm not in favor of that [mandating protective headgear ] because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that's why there's a third man in the ring, the referee. And that's why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn't allow guys in the ring who don't belong there.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Men
Boxing
Strong
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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 / Professional Boxer
Boxers
Former
Gold
Medal
Ended
Further
Go Home
Gold Medal
In The End
Intentions
Whatsoever
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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 / Professional Boxer
Sports
Boxers
Developing
Focus
Versus
Life Work Sports
Life Work Focus
Heroes
Fighters
Personalities
Pitting
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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 / Professional Boxer
Basketball
Boxing
Brother
Felt
Football
Gloves
Gym
Introverted
Momma
Natural
Quiet
Roger
Three
Athletes
Football Me Day
Encouraged
Older
Inclined
Older Brothers
Tried
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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 / Professional Boxer
Boxing
Cooking
Meals
Versus
Time Family Great
Time Family Mom
Big Family
Camp
Concept
Corner
Family Time Great
Prep
Trainer
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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 / Professional Boxer
Half
Hungry
Monument
Survival
Trash
Walk Look Street
Cans
Washington
Street
North
Northwest
Sandwich
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This kid [Janks Morton, Jr.] was so special, although he's not a kid anymore, obviously, but he was there from day one of my rise through boxing. You know how the years go by and then, when you stop to reflect, you realize that someone was a part of your whole evolution as an individual? That's what I share with Junior.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Kids
Boxing
Years
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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 / Professional Boxer
Adulation
Comeback
Likes
Looking Back
Mountain
Percent
Spheres
Tick
Anyway
Close
Edge
Yes
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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 / Professional Boxer
Kids
Impact
Thinking
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I saw Todd Bridges talk about being abused on Oprah. Something that he said, or an expression that he made that gave me that little boost I needed to be open about it and to talk about it as transparently as I did. When I told my wife, she couldn't believe it. She was petrified, because it's such a no-no, taboo, a hands-off subject. But I'd have to say hearing Todd Bridges on Oprah was my watershed moment.
Sugar Ray Leonard / Professional Boxer
Believe
Expression
Hands
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