Sugar Ray Leonard

I'll think, If this is his first punch, how are the others gonna feel? That's the only fear I have for myself.

I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.

I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.

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.

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.

You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.

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.

When the trainer talks to the fighter, there's a connection. You don't always have to say much.

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.

My very best memory of Montreal was the moment inside the Olympic arena when I was waiting under the stadium and those majestic gates opened up. It was a whole other world.

I watched Ali, studied Ali, and I studied Sugar Ray Robinson. I watched them display showmanship. I watched them use pizzazz, personality, and charisma. I took things from them and borrowed things from them because boxing is entertainment.

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.

I've never believed in tying myself up in a long-range contract, and I've been very outspoken on that subject.

I wanted to be like Bruce Jenner.

Although it was a great accomplishment to win a gold medal, as soon as they put it on you, that's it; your career is over.

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.

The Olympics meant everything to me. Going through them is like nothing else you will ever experience. For those few weeks, you are in another world. At that point, I couldn't see how there could ever be anything better.

Sugar Ray Robinson was probably the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.

To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and focusing on training.

I was just such a quiet kid. I found boxing when I was 14 years old. I went down to the gym because my brother, who used to beat me up all the time, introduced me to boxing. I found boxing to be a sport that I felt safe in because I controlled what was in those four squares.

Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.

Looking back, yes, I made too many comebacks. But each comeback I was 100 percent sure that I would win. I never came back for the money, because I didn't need it. The adulation I was getting anyway in other spheres. But I'm a guy who likes to see how close he can get to the edge of the mountain - that's what makes me tick.

Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.

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.

To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and just focusing on training.

I was not athletically inclined. I was very quiet, introverted, non-confrontational. My three older brothers were athletes - basketball, football - but I was kind of a momma's boy. Then one day, my brother Roger encouraged me to go to the boxing gym with him. I tried the gloves on, and it just felt so natural.

For the most part, I think video games do a good job of capturing the essence of boxing. However, I'd like to continue to see them push the realism, emphasizing the skill involved.

We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.

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.

I was not from a middle-class family at all. I did not have middle-class possessions and what have you. But I had middle-class parents who gave me what was needed to survive in society.

I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.

A fighter never knows when its the last bell. He doesnt want to face that.

I remember all the important fights. Vividly. In detail.

Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.

Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.

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'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight.

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.

I went through real darkness, but the ring was my light. That was the one place I felt safe. I could control what happened in the ring. My heart turned icy.

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.

It's hard to talk about yourself.

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.

Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.

Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.

You don't appreciate things until they're gone. For me, I miss my friends; I don't miss boxing, I miss the camaraderie.

For some reason, I was drawn towards boxing. Or maybe boxing drew me towards it - because once I put those gloves on, after about six months, boxing was my life.

Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.

Boxing is individual, although there's a team concept because you need a great corner, you need a great trainer, you need a great prep man, you need all of these things, but it's more of a Mano a Mano; it's more you versus me. I miss that time in training camp and Dad and Mom cooking meals. It was one big family.

I think an athlete should be honest. I know it's difficult, but if a guy knocked me on my can, I couldn't very well say, I slipped.

I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.

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.

Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.

I watched Muhammad Ali, how when he would speak, how it was such a thing of beauty. It sounded so wonderful. And I wanted to be like him.

The time to stop is when the other guy hits you more than you hit him.

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 is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special.

Boxing should focus on pitting champion versus champion - those are the fights that everyone wants to see. The sports also needs to work on developing new heroes and personalities. I'd like to see more vignettes on fighters, focusing on their lives, goals and stories. Boxers need to be larger than life.

Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.

I made the decision to turn pro, and I remember what Ali said to me: 'Get Angelo Dundee. He's the right complexion with the right connection.' He knew boxing. Our relationship was so genuine, so sincere.

They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.

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.

Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing.

I think I've become one of the best finishers in boxing; if I hurt a guy, I normally take him out.

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.

Boxing was not something I truly enjoyed. Like a lot of things in life, when you put the gloves on, it's better to give than to receive.

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

No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran.

I'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter.

When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.

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.

When youre a boxer there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity.

Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger.

Boxing will always be in my life.

I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of.

I always expect unexpected challenges. Boxing is not an easy sport.

When you're a boxer, there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity.

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.

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.

Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.

I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.

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.