Boxing Memorabilia > Boxing Gloves / Trunks / Robes >
Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Trunks
A real tough autograph to obtain. A pair
of black custom boxing trunks signed by this boxing legend
and comes complete with our Certificate of Authenticity
and a photograph of Sugar Ray Leonard signing, so you can
be rest assured you are buying a genuine autograph.
Sugar Ray Leonard
£125.00
He was named after singer Ray Charles and
even called up the one and only Sugar Ray Robinson to ask
if it was OK to borrow his moniker, "Sugar Ray."
Ray Charles Leonard was born on May 17, 1956. When his boxing
career concluded he would be best known for winning a gold
medal during the 1976 Olympics and winning world titles
in five different weight classes as a pro. Over the years
since Sugar Ray Robinson, born Walker Smith Jr., many fighters
have adopted the ring name Sugar Ray. Only one of them has
measured up to what the name stood for and represented:
Sugar Ray Leonard.
As a fighter, Sugar Ray Leonard had it all. He could box
and he could punch. He was most identified by his blinding
hand and foot speed. Leonard was versatile and capable of
fighting effectively inside or outside. Along with that
he possessed a great chin and had the heart and courage
worthy of an all-time great fighter. Something else that
he had an abundance of was ring savvy. Sugar Ray Leonard
was a ring genius, who often implemented a Plan B, changing
his attack plan during the fight.
Another trait of his was his killer-instinct. Sugar Ray
Leonard was at his most dangerous when his opponent was
hurt or showed him too much respect. Once he had an opponent
in trouble, he raised the rent and finished them off.
If fate hadn't smiled down on him enough, he just so happened
to fight during the best non-heavyweight era in boxing history,
which afforded him the chance to measure himself against
other great fighters and champions. His record is a virtual
who's who list of great fighters.
If all of the above wasn't enough to make anyone envious,
he also had crossover appeal and was arguably the biggest
draw of any non-heavyweight fighter in boxing history. Yes,
even bigger than Oscar De La Hoya. Sugar Ray Leonard is
actually the fighter Oscar measures himself against regarding
his star appeal and accomplishments, although he'd never
admit it publicly.
After Sugar Ray Leonard won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer
Olympics, he was brought to Hall Of Fame trainer Angelo
Dundee to help guide and teach him the pro game. What was
it that Marvin Hagler said about him leading up to their
fight in 1987? "He was named after Ray Charles, stole
Sugar Ray Robinson's name, and had Ali's trainer."
Guess Hagler called it. What most don't know is that his
trainer really was Janks Morton who was aided by Dave Jacobs.
But Morton was the one who had finally say. Dundee just
came to camp a week or two out from the fight to help Ray
and Janks with an attack strategy for the opponent in the
upcoming fight.
Some fans and media members found Sugar Ray Leonard hard
to take and very condescending. He was good looking, had
a shark for a business manager named Mike Trainer and was
an overall media darling. It was also perceived that Leonard,
like De La Hoya today, had the powers-that-be in his corner.
There also may be some truth to that, but none of them ever
got in the ring with either and helped them fight. Forget
the image, Sugar Ray Leonard could flat out fight and must
be given credit for being a truly all-time great fighter.
Fighting as a welterweight, Sugar Ray Leonard was as close
to unbeatable as a fighter could be. Look who it was who
gave him his only loss at 147, Roberto Duran, who is the
best pound-for-pound fighter since Sugar Ray Robinson. It
is the opinion of this writer that only Ray Robinson trumps
Ray Leonard as an all-time welterweight great.
It's been mentioned by some that Leonard fought hand-picked
opponents during his career. This is wrong and in fact Leonard
only faced two fighters who were under .500 when he fought
them, and they were both within his first seven pro fights.
How many other greats can that be said about? On the way
up the welterweight ranks Leonard was matched against fighters
who had varying styles and more experience than he did.
Leonard fought toughie Rafael Rodriguez, slick Floyd Mayweather
Sr. who was 16-1, the durable Randy Shields, and three-time
title challenger and veteran Armando Muniz before he challenged
for the welterweight title.
Five months after stopping Muniz, Leonard decisioned middleweight
Marcos Geraldo over 10 rounds. The same Geraldo would go
the distance with top-ranked middleweight contender Marvin
Hagler a short time later. In fairness, I must include that
three years after losing to Leonard, Geraldo was KO'd by
Thomas Hearns in one round. However, that was Hearns who
punched harder than either Leonard or Hagler. Before challenging
for the welterweight title, Leonard stopped 30-3-1 junior
middleweight Tony Chiaverini, and devastated third-ranked
contender Andy "The Hawk" Price in one round on
the Larry Holmes-Earnie Shavers title fight undercard.
After destroying Price, Leonard fought 38-0-1 WBC welterweight
champ Wilfred Benitez. Benitez is the youngest fighter in
history to win a world title, doing so at age 17. Leonard
challenged Benitez 10 months after he took the title from
Carlos Palomino. Wilfred was a master boxer who had radar
for defense and made fighters miss him with their punches,
including Leonard, without moving his feet.
When Leonard and Benitez finally clashed, it was a chess
match strategically. The difference was Leonard was the
superior offensive fighter. Leonard took the title when
the fight was stopped with only six seconds remaining in
the 15th round.
In his first defense of the title, Leonard scored one of
the most chilling knockouts ever when he stopped former
title challenger 33-2 Dave "Boy" Green with a
dynamite left hook to the chin in the fourth round. The
Green KO was so brutal, some thought Leonard killed Green
before their eyes.
In his second title defense, Leonard met former undisputed
lightweight champion Roberto Duran, who was 71-1 and hadn't
lost in eight years.
On June 20th 1980, Leonard and Duran met in what was titled
"The Brawl For It All" in Montreal. Leading up
to this fight, Duran did a number on Leonard psychologically
by taunting his wife and making fun of him and challenging
his manhood. Leonard already believed he could go through
Duran before their fight; by the time they got into the
ring he wanted to kill him. This played right into what
Duran wanted. Roberto lured Ray into a toe-to-toe fight
which he won by a close majority decision. Although Leonard
lost, no one ever questioned his toughness again.
Five months later they met in a rematch, only this time
Ray won the head game and totally frustrated Duran making
him say "no mas" in the eighth round to regain
his WBC title. Leonard may have been the sharpest and fastest
he ever was in the rematch with Duran. He was totally wired
and cat-quick. Anyone who's not sure or doesn't remember
this, go back and watch the tape, I did. Seven months after
winning the title back from Duran, Leonard stopped 36-0
Ayub Kalule, who was making his fifth title defense to win
the WBA junior middleweight title. Shortly after winning
the title, Leonard vacated it and went back down to welterweight,
seeking the ultimate showdown.
Three months prior to Leonard beating Duran in their rematch,
Thomas Hearns destroyed WBA champ Pipino Cuevas in two rounds
to capture the title. Hearns was 32-0 (30) and a true killer
who looked invincible at welterweight. On September 16th
1981, Leonard and Hearns met in what was the most highly
anticipated welterweight championship fight in history,
titled "The Showdown".
In the fight, Hearns started off very fast, scoring with
his long hard jab which kept Leonard from getting inside.
Hearns clearly had the advantage for the first five rounds,
and up until that time it looked as if he was too big and
strong for Ray. In the sixth round, Leonard got inside and
landed a stinging right uppercut that shook Hearns. From
this point on, Hearns became the prey and Leonard the predator.
However, Hearns regrouped and maintained his lead in the
fight, due to his underrated boxing ability. Knowing that
he was behind in the scoring, Leonard stormed out of his
corner at the start of the 14th round and opened up with
a flurry of punches, hurting Hearns. Leonard, being a tremendous
finisher, never let Hearns recover, which led to the fight
being stopped late in the 14th round.
After making one defense of the unified welterweight title
against Bruce Finch, Leonard retired with a detached retina.
Leonard came out of retirement 23 months later and stopped
ranked Philly welterweight contender Kevin Howard after
suffering the first knockdown of his career during the fight.
Leonard retired again shortly after the Howard fight.
After not fighting since May of 1984, Ray was bitten by
fighting again and came back to challenge undisputed middleweight
champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Hagler had been ruling the
middleweight division for seven years and was unbeaten over
11 years. Ray was laughed at when he told everyone that
he could take Hagler's middleweight title despite never
having fought above 154 pounds, and only fighting once in
the past five years. Leonard entered the ring against Hagler
on April 6th 1987 as a 4-1 underdog. A fight with Leonard
was a fight Hagler longed for since Leonard retired in November
of 1982, and promised to destroy him.
In what is the biggest and supposedly the toughest fight
of Leonard's career, he fought the most brilliant fight
of his life. Look, this fight was very close. If you were
rooting against Leonard, you can say he lost and really
believe it in your heart. However, there can be no dispute
that Leonard won the first three rounds, which cost Hagler
the fight in my opinion. Hagler had to win seven of the
last nine rounds and he didn't. This is the crowning moment
of Ray's career; nobody ever thought this fight would be
left up to the judges before the bell rang for the first
round.
Leonard had studied Hagler and knew exactly how to fight
him. The boxing world thought the way to beat Hagler was
to back him up, which Leonard showed was a fallacy. Hagler,
being a counter puncher, was vulnerable, as I like to say,
when he had to be the Joe Frazier in the fight.
After Hagler, Ray fought and won the super middleweight
and light heavyweight titles with a ninth-round stoppage
of light heavyweight champ Donny LaLonde. After LaLonde,
Leonard fought a rematch with Thomas Hearns that ended in
a disputed draw. Hearns even dropped Leonard twice during
the bout, but even that doesn't eclipse the larger than
life image of Sugar Ray. Six months after Hearns, Leonard
fought Roberto Duran for the third time. This time both
fighters were way past their best fighting days and Leonard
handled Duran, who was making the first defense of the middleweight
title he had won from Iran Barkley 10 months earlier.
Ray retired after winning a decision over Duran, only to
un-retire a year and a half later to fight Terry Norris.
Norris showed Ray that it was time to move on, giving him
a one-sided thrashing over 12 rounds. Once again, Ray couldn't
accept that it was over (none of the greats ever can, that's
part of what makes them great), and after a six-year absence
from the ring at age 41, he fought Hector Camacho and was
stopped in five rounds. Leonard retired for good after the
Camacho debacle.
Like him or loathe him, Sugar Ray Leonard at his peak fighting
as a welterweight is without question one of the greatest
fighters in fistic history, regardless of weight division.
