A pair of replica franklin 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. These are exactly the same trunks that
Sugar Ray Leonard used to wear in the boxing ring! Look
Great Framed. See the photos below.
Sugar Ray Leonard £175.00
WE ONLY HAVE 5 PAIRS
FOR SALE!
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.
