I have had the honor and privilege of meeting and talking boxing with the Great Sugar Ray Leonard a few times.

Today in Sugar Ray’s 63rd Name Day, we reflect on his great boxing career and look at the great torch he is carrying. 

Looking at Sugar Ray’s boxing skills, boxing IQ,  speed, fighting in a golden age, creating his own purses by being his own boss / leveraging his A-Side, character, post career achievements and being simply a nice guy; Sugar Ray Leonard must be the greatest to ever put on the gloves or at least somewhere in the top five.

Sugar Ray Leonard was born on May 17, 1956. After winning an Olympic Gold Metal in the Light Welterweight division in 1976, Sugar Ray began his professional career at 20 years of age and was set to be a star.

Boxing Record:

Sugar Ray Leonard career spanned 20 years. After winning Olympic gold, Sugar Ray won world titles in five different weight divisions, he also held all major titles in the Welterweight division making him a rare undisputed Champion. Sugar Ray is one of the Fab Four that put the lighter weight divisions in the forefront and in the boxing spotlight. He along with Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler took the boxing world by storm.

Sugars Ray was Award Boxer of the decade in the 1980’s and is Boxing Action Magazine #11 Greatest Boxer Of All Time. Sugar Won his first 27 professional bouts and finished with a career record of 36-3-1. If you don’t count his losses at the end of his career, he only lost one time to Roberto Duran and he avenged that single loss twice. When someone mentions Leonard’s name, you can’t help but open your eyes wide and get excited.

Leonard’s first world title came against WBC welterweight Champion Wilfred Benitez in November, 1979 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The fight was spectacular as Leonard hurt Benitez early in the fight. Benitez made some terrific adjustments but Leonard was to much and stopped him in the 15th round with 6 seconds to go in the phenomenal fight.

In June, 1980 Leonard fought the great Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran in the first fight of what turned out to be a trilogy. Duran’s relentless pressure and physical style handed Leonard the first loss of his career. Leonard would come back and beat Duran twice to avenge the loss.

Later Leonard would have epic matches with Thomas The Hitman Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. The fights between the Fab Four will forever go down in boxing lore as some of the greatest fights ever in the sport.

Business Man Original:

Sugar borrowed $21,000 to kick of his career with a plan to pay the loan back in four years. Leonard had his first professional fight against Luis Vega in front of over 10,000 fans at the Civic Center in Baltimore and earned $40,000 that evening and paid back his loan putting him in the driver’s seat of his boxing career.

In June 1980, Leonard fought the great Roberto Duran who had a record of 71-1 and considered the best boxer on the planet. Duran ranked Boxing Action Magazine’s #1 P4P at the time. Duran made a guaranteed $1,500,000 while Leonard shared in the closed-circuit revenue earning almost $10 million.

Sugar Ray bought the worlds attention back to boxing with his lighting fast speed and determination. Sugar was the first Boxer to earn more the $100 million in purses making him the ultimate Boxer/boxing entrepreneur.

Post Boxing Career:

Leonard boxing IQ, Stardom and boxing analysis was so thought after, he worked for every network in the alphabet, including NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN, HBO and is currently with DAZN. Leonard has been involved in multiple movies and TV shows including co-hosting the hit television series, The Contender with Sylvester Stallone (The Contender later got bought out by ESPN).

Sugar has also been in commercials endorsing everything from clothings, sneakers, soda, make-up, food products and cars.

Sugar Ray Leonard is one of the most inspirational people on the planet and is constantly being sought after by Fortune 500 companies for speeches and motivational inspiration.

Age is Only a Number:

Now, Sugar Ray continues to impress even at the age of 63 years old. Leonard is as Sharp as a pencil working for DAZN, analyzing the latest boxing fights and giving us special perspectives that only he can.

Leonard is also in tremendous shape as his daily workouts are ground breaking for his current age. Even at his current age of 63, he can still school most boxers in the ring if he wanted to.

Nice Guy:

Talking to fans and always taking pictures and signing memorabilia; Leonard continues to inspire by showing his love for boxing and people. The way he takes time out for his fans is nothing short of spectacular.

He is also a student of the game, always studying and watching the latest prospects and always looking back at Boxing greats and history. Leonard always talks about the guys that paved the way for his career. Sugar is also a great historian of the Sweet Science.

Always the Straight and Narrow:

Throughout boxing there has been guys with worldly talent, there has been super nice guys with tremendous character and there has been guys who know how to promote and make money. We have seen some of the richest boxers lose everything and some of the best boxers have addictions that short changed there career. Sugar Ray Leonard is the Cream Of The Crop because he was successful in all aspects of a boxers life (respect, character, skills, talent, making money, selling, staying out of trouble, etc.)

Is Sugar the Greatest?

So I ask, is Sugar Ray Leonard the greatest of all time? If you put together his complete boxing career from the amateurs and professional levels and include his longevity in boxing along with being boxings great ambassador, I believe the record shows, Sugar Ray Leonard is the Undisputed Greatest of All Time.