Sugar Ray Leonard Biography

Sugar Ray Leonard, christened Ray Charles Leonard, was born to Cicero and Getha Leonard. He was only three years old when his family moved to Washington, D.C., and settled in Palmer Park, Maryland, where his father worked as a supermarket manager and his mother as a nurse.

Leonard began boxing in 1969, at the Palmer Park Recreation Center with his elder brother Roger, who helped him train. Soon, he was coached by Dave Jacobs, a former boxer, and Janks Morton, both of whom volunteered as his boxing coaches.

This great boxer represented the U.S. Olympic Team in 1976, as a light welterweight contestant, and went on to win the Olympic Gold Medal.

He won the World Boxing Council's welterweight title in November 1979, and in the following decade he wrestled in some of boxing's most notable bouts, winning almost all of them.

His first retirement from boxing came in 1984, when this prodigious boxer decided to study business administration and communications after receiving a scholarship from the University of Maryland.

However, he made a comeback on March 1, 1997, for the IBC Middleweight Championship to fight Héctor Camacho. He lost the bout and declared that it was indeed his final fight.

In 1976, he won an Olympic gold medal after an impressive 5-0 win against Kazimierz Szczerba in the semifinals and another 5-0 win against Andrés Aldama in the final round.

He defeated Wilfred Benitez on November 30, 1979, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in the WBC Welterweight Championship. The victory earned him a whopping $1 million and he was given the ‘Fighter of the Year’ title.

He married his childhood sweetheart Juanita Wilkinson in 1980, and couple had two children before they got separated in 1990.

He married Bernadette Robi in 1993, and currently lives with his four children and wife in Southern California.

Sugar Ray Leonard's birth name is Ray Charles Leonard Jr., named after his father.

Leonard won a gold medal in boxing at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, despite suffering a broken hand earlier in the competition.

Outside of boxing, Leonard has been involved in various philanthropic efforts, including establishing the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation to support juvenile diabetes research.

Leonard had a brief acting career, appearing in movies such as "The Fighter" and TV shows like "The Simpsons" and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."

In retirement, Leonard has become a successful motivational speaker, sharing his experiences and insights with audiences around the world.