Leonard Ray: success with a taste of "sugar"

Period from 1970 to 1980in the world box can be safely called the golden era It was during these years that many great battles took place. And in many cases fights formed a real confrontation, not only in the square of the ring, but also in life. This article will deal with a man named Leonard Ray, a boxer whose name is permanently entered into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Birth

"Sugar" (the nickname of an athlete) came into beingMay 17, 1956. His birthplace is the city of Rocky Mount, located in the US state of North Carolina. In his family he was the fifth child. In all, apart from him, there were six more children. His future childhood champion spent in Wilmington.

Career in amateurs

Leonard Ray began boxing on the advice of hishis elder brother in 1969. His first amateur bout was in 1972. During the performances in amateur boxer was able to win twice the most prestigious world tournament called "Golden Gloves". It happened in 1973 and 1974. And in one of the finals Leonard Ray was able to defeat the future world champion among professionals - Hilmer Kenti.

In 1976, our hero participated in the selection forOlympics in Montreal. According to the results of these battles, Ronnie Shields (later he became the world welterweight champion), Bruce Curry was defeated. At the same Olympics, Leonard Ray wins "gold", beating Ulf Karlsson, Valery Limasov, Clinton Mackenzie, Ulrich Bayer, Kazimierz, Scherba, Andres Aldama on his way.

Go to the pros

For the first time in the ring in the status of professional Sugar RayLeonard set foot in February 1977. His first mentor at such a high level was Angelo Dundee, who coached Mohammed Ali himself. This turn of events immediately attracted the public's attention to the young and promising boxer.

The first title

At the end of 1979, aa duel between two undefeated boxers - an ambitious and aggressive challenger who, as you may have guessed, is called Sugar Ray Leonard, and the youngest champion in the history of boxing - Wilfred Benitez. The fight took place for the WBC Welterweight title. As a result, Ray knocked out the champion in the final three minutes.

Confrontation with Panamanians

After conquering the belt, Leonard spent onlyone defense, knocking out Dave Green. And then in half a year left on a duel with the best at that time the boxer of a planet without dependence from a category of Roberto Durant. Experts considered it a favorite of Panamanians. However, the bookies were of a different opinion. By the way, as for the financial issue, Duran was owed "only" $ 1 million, while Ray received over 7.5 - the amount that no one in boxing ever earned him.

Many believed that Ray would tryoutbox experienced and assertive panaman. But, as the fight showed, everything turned out not so. Boxer Ray Leonard accepted the invitation to fight "in the bone", than put himself in a very disadvantageous position. Still, Ray gave Duran real resistance. And eventually lost on points, with a minimum backlog. Ahead of both boxers was waiting for a second duel.

Revenge

The next battle of two magnificent fighters foreshadowed something unusual. Their second meeting was a real event in the boxing world, which turned out to be historical.

During the battle, Sugar was calm and relaxed, thatallowed him to fully control the course of the fight. At times, Leonard simply frankly scoffed at the champion. This time, Ray did not fight Duran. He, as they say, boxed - pulled out from side to side, dodged, threw out multi-shot combinations, sharply broke the distance, forcing the panaman to pound through the air. In addition, Durant was also too exhausted, because before the fight he spent a monstrous weight loss, losing 17 kilograms. Round after round Ray increased his advantage. This led to the fact that the Panamanian in the 8th round refused to continue the battle, saying the sign: "No mas".

On the top

After that, there were still interesting fights. Ray Leonard in 1983 moved to the first middleweight, where he was able to knock out the WBC champion Ayub Kalul. However, Ray still returned to the welterweight division. In the fall of 1983, he met with another champion, Thomas Hearns. This fight allowed Shugar to unite the belts at welterweight. During the bout, Ray lost on points, but still managed to knock out Hirns in the 14th round. After this battle, Leonard found problems with vision, as a result of which he was forced to leave the sport for 4 years, and then go back in spite of the doctors.

Sugar Ray Leonard, whose fights have always beenspectacular, continued his victorious series in April 1987, when in the confrontation against Marvin Hagler managed to win by a separate judicial decision. A year later he fought with light heavyweight Donny Leylound, who was able to knock out in the 9th round. His career as a sportsman Ray finally ended in 1997, losing to Camaro, and knockout. This defeat was the first and last pre-term in his career.

Life outside sports

Today Leonard pays attention to young peopleathletes, coaching them. He is also often invited to television. He writes his autobiography. By the way, in his book "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring", Ray wrote some very sensational statements, which he described as "not sugar". So, by his own admission, he used cocaine, went to the worst car accident in childhood, was subjected to domestic violence. No doubt, the book will be interesting for all boxing fans.