Sugar Ray Leonard

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

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

I’ve always been quiet and kind of shy. I’m sociable, but I would probably migrate to a corner.

Sugar Ray Leonard

If I hadn’t had the talent, the networks wouldn’t have televised my fights. No one has made me; I made myself. I paid my dues.

Sugar Ray Leonard

In Italy, I had an Afro, and a lot of the kids came up and felt my hair. It really was funny. I wish I had understood Italian.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Inactivity is the biggest sin in boxing.

Sugar Ray Leonard

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

It’s different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.

Sugar Ray Leonard

It’s hard to talk about yourself.

Sugar Ray Leonard

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