Sugar Ray Leonard
“Sugar”
Titles & honours
- Olympic Gold (1976)
- WBC Welterweight Champion (1979, 1980)
- Five-weight world champion
Biography
Ray Charles Leonard, born Wilmington, North Carolina in 1956, took Olympic gold at 1976 Montréal and turned pro the next year to support his family. By 1979 he had taken Wilfred Benítez's welterweight title — handing Benítez (already a former champion at 140) his first loss — and from 1980 to 1989 he fought four of the greatest welterweights and middleweights of the era: Roberto Durán (twice — losing 'No Más' in November 1980 and avenging it eight months later), Thomas Hearns ('The Showdown,' September 1981, a 14-round TKO), Marvin Hagler ('The Super Fight,' April 1987, a split decision that ranks among the most controversial in boxing history). Leonard won world titles at five different weights — the first fighter ever to do so. Retired definitively in 1997 at age 41.