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Sugar Ray Leonard (born 1956) is an United
States|American former boxing|boxer. He was one of
the leading boxers in the world in the 1970s and
1980s, winning world titles at multiple weights
and triumphing in contests with such celebrated
opponents as Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and
Marvin Hagler. Born Ray Charles Leonard, named for
the singing legend Ray Charles, Leonard later
adopted the nickname used by Sugar Ray Robinson.

==Early Career==
Leonard won gold at the 1976 Summer Olympics in
Montreal, Canada. Sugar Ray wanted to go to
Harvard and become a lawyer, but he was convinced
to do otherwise by boxing promoters, being offered
$40,000 for his first professional fight against
tough Puerto Rican Luis Vega. The fight was
televised nationally, and Leonard could display
his talents, winning a 6 round decision. 

Leonard built a string of wins until he was able
to challenge world welterweight champion Wilfredo
Benitez. Among his first opponents were top
contenders Andy Price and Marcos Gerardo. He and
Benitez met in the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on
November 3, 1979 and after a brilliantly fought
battle, Leonard was declared world champion for
the first time with a technical knockout in round
15, with 6 seconds left in the fight. 

==World Champion==
Leonard won his first defense by knocking out
United Kingdom|British challenger Dave Green
(boxer)|Dave Green in 4 rounds in Landover,
Maryland|Landover, Maryland. Green was frozen with
a right to the chin.  The fight was broadcast to a
national audience in the United States. Next,
Leonard went back to the Stade Olympique|Olympic
Stadium in Montreal to defend his title against
Roberto Duran, in the first superfight of the
1980s. Leonard fell prey to Duran's courage,
toughness and superior skills. Duran punished and
humiliated Leonard, inflicting his first loss.

Leonard came back for their rematch in New Orleans
on November 25, 1980. He ran from Duran,
frustrating him from the opening bell, and with 17
seconds to go in round 8, the unthinkable
happened: Duran turned around, walked to his
corner and gave up, saying the now famous words:
no más. Referee Octavio Meyran, perhaps as
incredulous as was the rest of the world at what
he was seeing, asked Duran if he was sure, and
Duran repeated: No más, no más. It was later
discovered that Duran was suffering from food
poisoning - a fact often downplayed or ignored by
the media.

Leonard was a world champion again and, after
avenging his only defeat, once more on top of the
world.

Next came his fight with Ayub Kalule, world junior
middleweight champion. Kalule gave Leonard a tough
fight and it was closely contested, but in round
9, Leonard connected a right to the chin that sent
Kalule down. He was stopped in that round, and in
celebration of his second world title, Leonard did
a back flip.

Friend and ring arch-rival Thomas Hearns,
meanwhile, was tearing apart the Welterweight
division and had won the WBA world title knocking
out the Hall Of Famer, Jose Cuevas|Pipino Cuevas.
A unification bout was set for September 16, 1981,
once again at the Caesar's Palace hotel. In a bout
showcased by Home Box Office|HBO, Leonard and
Hearns fought one for the ages. Superfight 1981,
was full of surprises, as after starting out
banging, Hearns decided to change from puncher to
boxer from round 6 onward, with Leonard also
trading roles, from boxer to puncher. With an eye
completely closed, trailing on all 3 score cards,
Leonard nonetheless started closing the gap until
he floored Hearns twice in round 13, the second
one almost causing Hearns to fall out of the ring.
The spent Hearns could barely get up for round 14,
and after a rain of punches caught him against the
ropes, referee David Pearl had no choice but to
stop the fight, making Leonard the undisputed
world welterweight champion. For his performance,
he also received Sports Illustrated magazine's
"Sportsman of the Year" award.

Defenses against Larry Bonds and Bruce Finch
followed, but his next defense, vs Roger Stafford,
had to be postponed. Doctors discovered Leonard
had suffered a retinal detachment|detached retina,
and he underwent surgery at Johns Hopkins
Hospital|Johns Hopkins hospital in July 1982 to
repair the problem. By then people were constantly
talking about a fight with world Middleweight
champion Marvin Hagler.

==Retirement and Comeback==
Leonard decided to take a job as a commentator
with Home Box Office|HBO, and a few months after
pondering his future, he invited Hagler and other
boxing dignitaries to an event in Washington D.C.,
where he announced his retirement. Hagler left the
conference disappointed, and Leonard, who said
"Unfortunately, that fight (vs Hagler) will never
happen", would later learn to never say never
again.

In 1984, after media darling Leonard had spent
part of 1983 announcing such enterprises as Golden
Skillet chicken and Franklin sporting goods, he
announced a comeback. With Hagler in attendance,
Leonard was dropped for the first time in his
career, by journeyman Kevin Howard, and although
he got up and scored a 9 round technical knockout
win, in the press conference after the fight, he
announced that he would go back into retirement.

1983 saw the creation of the Sugar Ray Leonard
network, a short-lived TV station from Maryland
commandeered by Leonard and dedicated to 24 hour
boxing news, interviews and fights.

1986 came, and rumors surfaced that Leonard was
training again and considering a fight with
Hagler. It was a given by many boxing fans that
Hagler would easily manage the laid off boxer, who
had not been at his best in his last fight 3 years
before. But once again, Leonard surprised the
experts in their April 6, 1987 fight, hanging on
to win a controversial split decision to become
the world's middleweight champion, and the boxer
who came back after the longest lay-off in history
to win a world title in his first fight back.

Leonard went up in weight again on November 7,
1988 and came off the canvas to win two world
titles the same night, the vacant world Super
Middleweight championship, and Don Lalonde's world
light heavyweight championship, knocking Lalonde
out in the ninth round, and then in 1989 he
embarked on a trip that would take him through two
meetings with old enemies. He met Hearns again at
Caesar's Palace and had to endure two falls and a
rocky start to pull out a twelve round draw, and
then five months later, patiently  fought Roberto
Duran for a third time, at the Mirage hotel, also
in Las Vegas, winning a twelve round unanimous
decision. 

==Déjà-Vu?==
Leonard then retired, but true to his fashion,
came back in 1991, to try his fortune with world
junior middleweight champion Terry Norris at the
Madison Square Garden, Leonard's first outing
there. Leonard suffered two knockdowns but lasted
the distance and was respectful in defeat.

Ahead were very difficult times: after the fight,
Leonard admitted to a stint with cocaine that
lasted from 1984 to 1989. He fell victim to the
drug, and reports surfaced of violence against his
wife Juanita. Leonard admitted that his problems
were caused by a need to be involved in the sport
of boxing during the periods he was away from it,
and immaturity. He kicked his habit for good after
1989.

He and Juanita later divorced, and Leonard tried
to embark on another comeback. This time, his
opponent, Hector 'Macho' Camacho was too fast and
powerful for him. Camacho beat Leonard to a bloody
pulp and knocked him out in the 5th round. For
Leonard, it was finally enough, and he has not
fought since.

Leonard is now the head of a budding boxing
promotion company that includes the likes of
Camacho's son, Hector Camacho Jr.|'Macho' Camacho
Jr., world cruiserweight champion Vassiliy Jirov
and former world middleweight champion James
Toney.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of
Fame. He is now involved in the TV reality series
on boxing The Contender (television series)|The
Contender. He along with Sylvester Stallone serves
as host and boxing mentor to the aspiring
fighters.

==See Also==
*No Más Fight|The No Más Fight
*Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns
*http://www.xessmagazine.com/sugar_ray_leonard.htm
l Q&A

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Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12,
1989), better known in the boxing world as Sugar
Ray Robinson, was a boxing|boxer who was a native
of Detroit, Michigan.

Robinson is the holder of many boxing records,
including the one for the most times being a
champion in a division, when he won the world
Middleweight division title 5 times. He also won
the world Welterweight title once.

Robinson is regarded by many boxing fans and
critics as the best boxer of all time. His
supporters argue that while Muhammad Ali did more
for the sport on a social scale, Robinson had a
better style. Ali has said without hesitation many
times that he feels that Robinson is the greatest
fighter of all time, Ali simply considers himself
to be the greatest Heavyweight Champion.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Robinson appeared
several times on the cover of Ring Magazine, and
he joined the Army for some time.

Robinson made his debut in 1940, knocking out Joe
Eschevarria in 2 rounds. He built a record of 40
wins and 0 losses before facing Jake LaMotta, in a
10 round bout. The bout, which was portrayed in
the Hollywood movie Raging Bull (which was based
on LaMotta's life), was the second of six fights
between these opponents, and LaMotta dropped
Robinson, eventually beating him by decision.
Robinson had won their first bout and would go on
to win the next four. Between his debut fight and
the second LaMotta bout, Robinson had also beaten
former world champions Sammy Angott, Fritzie Zivic
and Marty Servo.

The LaMotta loss occurred on February of 1943, and
later that year, he faced LaMotta again, beating
him on points, and three time world champion Henry
Armstrong, also a points victim to Robinson. After
his first career loss, he made 28 fights before
challenging for his first world title, winning 27
and drawing one, versus Jose Basora of Puerto
Rico. Then, on December 20, 1946, he and Tommy
Bell were matched in New York, New York, for the
vacant world's Welterweight title. Robinson became
a world champion by beating Bell by a 15 round
decision.

In 1947, he toured the United States, boxing 10
times in different locations from Miami to Los
Angeles, California|Los Angeles, but only one of
them was a world title defense. In 1948, he fought
five more times, but once again,with only one
defense. However, among the fighters he defeated
in non title bouts was another former world
champion, Cuba's Kid Gavilan.

In 1949, he boxed 16 times, including 12
sanctioned bouts (in which he went 11-0-1) and
four exhibition fights. His only defense that year
was against Gavilan, who was once again beaten on
points, this time over the championship distance
of 15 rounds. The only boxer to come out of the
ring without a defeat after fighting Robinson that
year was Henry Brimm, who boxed him to a 10 round
draw in Buffalo, New York|Buffalo.

In 1950, Robinson made 19 fights, including 3
defending his title. Among the boxers he defeated
that time were Basora and Carl Olson, a world
Middleweight champion whom Robinson would meet and
beat four times during his career. The Basora
rematch set a record that would stand for a very
long time: It was the fastest knockout ever in a
world title fight, lasting only 50 seconds. That
record stood for 38 years.

In 1951, four events that became very important in
his life happened: among his 12 bouts that year,
three fights marked his career, and he began a
tour of Europe. On February 14, he and LaMotta met
for the sixth time, in a fight that would become
known as boxing's version of The St. Valentine's
Day Massacre. This bout was also portrayed in The
Raging Bull, and Robinson conquered the world's
Middleweight title for the first time, with a 13
round technical knockout win. After that, he
embarked on his European tour, which would take
him to Paris, Zürich, Antwerp (city)|Antwerp,
Liège (city)|Liège, Berlin, Turin and London
among other places. During his fight in Berlin,
versus Gerhard Hecht, he was declared a loser
after hitting his opponent on the kidneys, but
this was later changed and the fight declared a
no-contest. And in London, he lost the world
Middleweight title to Randy Turpin.

Three months later, he beat Turpin in a New York
rematch to recover the title, on a tenth round
knockout. That would be the last fight for him
that year.

Then in 1952, he met Olson again, knocking him out
once again, and then he retained his title with a
three round knockout of Rocky Graziano, another
former world champ. In his last fight that year,
he challenged world Light Heavyweight champion
Joey Maxim for the title at Yankee Stadium, and,
in a day where the outside heat and the ring's
lights combined to have a 140 degree heat inside
the ring, Robinson built a points lead, but
collapsed at the end of round 13 and failed to
answer the bell for the next round, suffering his
only knockout defeat ever. After the fight, he was
diagnosed with heat exhaustion at a local
hospital.

After that bout, he retired, but in 1954, he came
back, and made one fight. In 1955, he won five
fights and lost one, before challenging Olson for
Olson's world Middleweight title, and Robinson won
the title for the third time, with a knockout in
two rounds. In 1956, he had two fights, including
a fourth fight with Olson, where Robinson risked
his title and won again, by a knockout in four. In
1957, he lost to Gene Fullmer  while defending his
title, but he won the title for a record fourth
time by knocking out Fullmer in five rounds in the
rematch. Boxing critics have referred to the punch
with which Robinson knocked out Fullmer in their
rematch as The Perfect Punch. He made two
exhibition bouts, and then lost his title to
Carmen Basilio to end the year.

In 1958, he made only one fight, recovering the
title once again and breaking his own record, by
beating Basilio on points at Chicago, Illinois.

In Robinson's only bout in 1959, he beat Bob Young
in Boston by a 10 round decision, but in 1960, he
lost the title for the last time, to Paul Pender,
also in Boston. He tried to break his own record
and win the world Middleweight title a sixth time
in a rematch with Pender, but lost on points once
again. Then, on December 3, he and Fullmer met
once again, with Fullmer once again as king of the
Middleweights, in another Robinson attempt to
break his own record. But the fight ended in a 15
round draw, and Fullmer retained the title.

One more attempt to break his own record came in
1961 in Las Vegas, with a fourth bout versus
Fullmer, who beat him on points the last time they
met inside the ring. The rest of the 1960s were
spent fighting 10 round bouts, including a win
versus future world champion Denny Moyer and a 10
round decision loss to former world champion and
fellow hall of famer Joey Giardello. He toured
Europe once again, and visited cities like Rome
and Wien on his second European boxing tour.

In 1965, Robinson had 14 bouts, going 8-5 with one
no contest during that span. After his last bout,
a ten round loss at the hands of Joey Archer, he
announced his retirement for good.

Robinson suffered from diabetes mellitus and was
an insulin user. During a period of his life, he,
like fellow boxing legend Joe Louis, had a problem
with drug addiction. He was also a very good
friend of Frank Sinatra and had close ties to The
Rat Pack. 

Legend has it that one time during the '70s,
Robinson walked into a gym in Miami and he was
impressed by a young boxer he saw there. That
boxer's name is Alexis Arguello.

Legend also has it that one day, a young aspiring
boxer walked into Robinson's restaurant in Harlem,
Manhattan|Harlem and asked for an autograph. When
the young child asked for an autograph, Robinson
supposedly denied it, and the kid was so
frustrated according to the legend, and he swore
never to deny anyone an autograph if he ever
became a champion. That young kid was Cassius
Clay. 

Robinson retired from the ring with a record of
179 wins, 19 losses, 6 draws and 2 no contests in
206 professional bouts, with 109 knockout wins,
ranking him among the most prolific knockout
winners of all time according to The Ring
Magazine, which,as a matter of a fact, named him
number eleven in the list of all time greatest
punchers in boxing history in 2003.

He died in Los Angeles at the age of 68 and was
interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery,
Inglewood, California.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of
Fame.