On his seventieth birthday today, Sugar Ray Leonard stays one in all the few fighters who could carry boxing\u2019s most famous nickname without sounding presumptuous. After Sugar Ray Robinson retired in 1965, \u201cSugar\u201d stopped being just one other boxing nickname and have become something attached to greatness.<\/p>\n
Leonard had already built a significant amateur popularity before becoming an expert star. He won national Golden Gloves titles, captured two AAU championships, and later won gold on the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City before becoming a household name in the course of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.<\/p>\n
Much of Leonard\u2019s early skilled profession was guided by legendary trainer Angelo Dundee, who immediately saw championship potential in him after joining the group that helped finance his move into the skilled ranks.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know which title we\u2019re going to win. He\u2019s a teen, so he may turn out to be a junior welterweight champion, a welterweight champion, or a middleweight champion. As a matter of fact, he could turn out to be a heavyweight champion.\u201d The Ring<\/a> quoted Angelo Dundee as saying early in Sugar Ray Leonard\u2019s skilled profession.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Leonard eventually became the central figure of boxing\u2019s celebrated \u201c4 Kings\u201d era within the Nineteen Eighties, constructing victories over Roberto Dur\u00e1n, Thomas Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and Wilfred Ben\u00edtez. Unlike many fighters from earlier generations, Leonard fought far less often, with only 40 skilled bouts in comparison with Robinson\u2019s 201, but his profession became one in all the game\u2019s most rigorously managed and efficient runs on the elite level.<\/p>\n Leonard\u2019s last 15 fights were spread across an 18-year period marked by retirements and returns that usually became the topic of criticism and jokes. Even after becoming financially secure, Leonard repeatedly returned to the ring, something The Ring described as a part of the mindset shared by elite fighters who struggle to walk away from competition completely.<\/p>\n One story followed Leonard throughout his profession. Early in his skilled run, Leonard approached Robinson and asked permission to make use of the \u201cSugar\u201d nickname. Robinson agreed and told him to \u201ctake care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Few fighters were ever trusted with a nickname that carried more weight. Leonard spent the remainder of his profession proving why Robinson gave his approval.<\/p>\n
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