Boxing's a poor man's sport. We can't afford to play golf or tennis. It is what it is. It's kept so many kids off the street. It kept me off the street.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.
I learned to run backwards from Muhammad Ali. He told me about running backwards because you try to imitate everything you do in the ring, so sometimes you back up. So you have to train your legs to go backwards.
Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing.
You don't appreciate things until they're gone. For me, I miss my friends; I don't miss boxing, I miss the camaraderie.
People can do more than they ever believe they can do. Physically, mentally, academically. You have to be pushed. It hurts. But it's worth it, and it's a great thing.
I'm a competitor and a very proud man. If a guy beats me once, he'll have to do it again to make me believe him.
I am excited to share my archive pictures and footage. I'll also share announcements about current events and success stories from the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation to help fight diabetes and child obesity.
When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.
To say what I would have been if I wasn't boxing, I don't know why, but I always wanted to be an x-ray technician or a substitute teacher. Those two occupations always stuck with me, maybe because my substitute teacher didn't give us homework, or because I've always had x-rays of my hands.
I always expect unexpected challenges. Boxing is not an easy sport.
Ray Leonard is more the family man, kind of quiet. He's not as outgoing as Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray Leonard was very determined, very focused, very outgoing and very selfish, if you will. There are two different individuals there.
Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger.
I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of.
Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.
Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.
At 14, I was the most disciplined guy around. I would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and run five miles, and then go to school. Sometimes I would run behind the school bus, and the kids thought I was just crazy. I knew what I wanted.
Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.
When I was fighting, I would look to excite the crowds with a bolo punch or something taunting. Looking back, they were legal - but not sportsmanlike. I don't recommend another boxer try them. But we looked more to make the robot fights dramatic first and realistic second.
I don't hold any regrets whatsoever about my life besides hurting people I loved.
Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.
I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.
When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.
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.
Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.
To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and focusing on training.
Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.
I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
There will always be something about two men in the ring - a mystique because it's pure man-to-man competition. Because of the history boxing has and the tradition it holds, boxing will always have a that mystique.
Joe Frazier was the epitome of a champion. I mean, here is a guy who was total old school, blue collar, who would fight anybody. You know, he didn't tell you he was the best fighter pound for pound.
Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring. On the downside, you meet a lot of really bad people in boxing, at all stages of your career.
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.
When I'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight.
I wanted to be like Bruce Jenner.
I came from nothing and achieved humungous fame and fortune. But I worked hard. I had discipline and determination. I had that ice in me.
I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.
The time to stop is when the other guy hits you more than you hit him.
I never met a person as determined as my mother. From working hard for six kids to just trying to keep the household down or maintain my father's discipline, my dad, I'm so much like my father too. My father was so introverted, quiet, shy, nice. I got attributes from my father and mother.
Without boxing, because of my neighborhoods, who knows what would have happened to me. It was always about following the leader. And I definitely was not a leader. Boxing gave me discipline; a sense of self. It made me more outspoken. It gave me more confidence.
I'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter.
Boxing will always be in my life.
Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.
Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.
I wanted to win the gold medal and then go home and further my education in college. I had no intentions whatsoever to become a professional fighter because I had heard horror stories about former boxers who made money but, in the end, ended up with nothing. I didn't want to be one of those guys.
I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
I wouldn't change anything because the mistakes and the hurt are as important as all the great fights. They made me who I am today.
I remember all the important fights. Vividly. In detail.
We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.
Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.
