Quotes by Sugar Leonard

• Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.
• Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.
• Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger.
• 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.
• Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.
• 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.
• 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.
• Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.
• 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.
• Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.
• Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.
• Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.
• I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
• We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.
• 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 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'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter.
• I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.
• I've never believed in tying myself up in a long-range contract, and I've been very outspoken on that subject.
• 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 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.
• It's hard to talk about yourself.
• No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran.
• I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.
• To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and focusing on training.
• 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.
• When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.
• When I'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight.
• 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.
• Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
• You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.
• Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.
• Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.
• I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
• I think I've become one of the best finishers in boxing; if I hurt a guy, I normally take him out.
• They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.
• It's different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.