Sugar Ray Leonard<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Big Fight\u201d Interview<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most prodigious pugilists of all time, Sugar Ray Leonard was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on May 17, 1956 to Cicero and Getha Leonard. The fifth of seven kids, his family moved to Washington, DC in 1959 before settling down seven years later in Palmer Park, Maryland where his father was employed as a supermarket night manager and his mother as a nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though shy as a young child, Ray followed his brother Roger\u2019s footsteps into boxing, ultimately eclipsing his elder sibling in terms of potential and finding fame by capturing the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He went on to become the first fighter to earn over $100 million over the course of an enviable career, winning world championship titles in five different weight classes while squaring-off in classic showdowns with such formidable opponents as Roberto \u201cNo Mas\u201d Duran, Tommy \u201cThe Hitman\u201d Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Wilfred Benitez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ray retired from the ring in 1997 with a record 36-3-1, with 25 of those wins coming by knockout. Today, he lives in California with his wife, Bernadette, and their children, Camille and Daniel. Here, he discusses his moving memoir, \u201cThe Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kam Williams: Hi Sugar Ray, I\u2019m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. How\u2019re you doing, champ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sugar Ray Leonard: I\u2019m alright, Kam, how\u2019re you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Great! I understand our mutual friend, filmmaker Janks Morton, Jr., the son of your first boxing coach, gave you a call on my behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Yeah, man, this kid was so special, although he\u2019s not a kid anymore, obviously, but he was there from day one of my rise through boxing. You know how the years go by and then, when you stop to reflect, you realize that someone was a part of your whole evolution as an individual? That\u2019s what I share with Junior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Yeah, he told me you guys go way back. I have a lot of questions from fans who sent in questions for you. Editor\/legist Patricia Turnier says: I am from Montreal where you won your gold medal at the \u201976 Olympics. What is your best memory of the city?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: 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. Kam, I was just a youngster from the ghetto. I suddenly felt like a star. It was emotionally overwhelming. It was something I\u2019d wanted, but it was also something I didn\u2019t understand. It was a whole different world, and Montreal was an absolutely beautiful setting unlike anywhere I\u2019d ever been before. So, Montreal in \u201976 was an encompassing experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Patricia also says: It is widely known that it is very difficult for men to talk about sexual abuse. What made you decide to go public with your story, and was it a cathartic and healing experience to write about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: It was cathartic, Patricia. I only wish that I had had the courage and the knowledge to have gotten that out of my system, out of my mind or my heart years earlier. But there is no book, there is no manual to tell you how to deal with sexual abuse. I saw Todd Bridges talk about being abused on Oprah. Something that he said, or an expression that he made that gave me that little boost I needed to be open about it and to talk about it as transparently as I did. When I told my wife, she couldn\u2019t believe it. She was petrified, because it\u2019s such a no-no, taboo, a hands-off subject. But I\u2019d have to say hearing Todd Bridges on Oprah was my watershed moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Kate Newell says: I saw you on Stephen Colbert and loved it. She was wondering why a movie hasn\u2019t been made about your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Being on Colbert was a real treat for me, too. I didn\u2019t quite know what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. In terms of a movie, we\u2019re talking about it. It\u2019s on the table but, as you know, Kam, that type of thing doesn\u2019t just happen overnight, unfortunately. But I do look forward to seeing the story of my life onscreen someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: You should talk to Tyler Perry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I would love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Or better yet, Janks, if you could get him to switch over to drama from directing documentaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Janks could do it justice, and I\u2019m not being facetious. You know why? Because he knows the story. He\u2019s been in the story. And it\u2019s real. It\u2019s raw. Maybe a little too raw for people at times. But this generation raised on reality-TV might be ready for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: I agree. Boxing fan Mike Ehrenberg asks: Was Wilfred Benitez the best pure boxer you ever faced?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Yes, without question. He was a mirror image of what I considered myself as a boxer. That was one of my toughest fights, by far. It\u2019s sad that he\u2019s not mentioned in the same breath as Hearns, Hagler and Duran. It always bothered me that he wasn\u2019t considered in our league, the reason being that he never beat any of us. But he should be right up there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Mike also asks: Was the Dicky Eklund knockdown, highlighted in the movie \u201cThe Fighter,\u201d legit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: It was legit that I was knocked down, or pushed down. [Chuckles] But I remember that fight like it was yesterday because that guy, Dick Eglund, was so unorthodox. And it was the first time in my life I really experienced racial hatred from the fans. We\u2019re talking about Boston back in \u201978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: I lived in Boston from \u201975 to \u201978. It\u2019s the most racist city I ever experienced before or since. You couldn\u2019t step foot in white neighborhoods\u2026 they wouldn\u2019t serve you in some restaurants\u2026 and you couldn\u2019t go to Fenway Park or the Boston Garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I can believe it. When I arrived at the airport, I had a priest or a pastor greet me with, \u201cHey boy, welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: I could go on and on about Boston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I could, too. That\u2019s what it was like back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: When I interviewed Governor Deval Patrick last year, I told him I never would\u2019ve believed that Massachusetts would ever elect a Black governor after my experiences in his state. Mike has one more question: Do you regret coming out of retirement past your prime to fight Terry Norris and Hector Camacho?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Do I regret it? Yeah, I do, but it took that to wake up to the fact that my time was over, my time was gone. Sometimes it just takes that kind of beating, if you will, to wake up. It does. I didn\u2019t want to take it. I took it in intervals. The first time was in \u201991. I retired and came back in \u201997. Woo! I mean, come on! I don\u2019t know, man. A six-year layoff? That was crazy! My career was relatively short, whether you look at either its length in years or the number of fights I had. But it was brutal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: That\u2019s because it was the Golden Age in terms of welterweights and middleweights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Exactly! You couldn\u2019t mess around in that era there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Harriet Pakula Teweles says: With mounting medical evidence that contact sports aren\u2019t providing ample equipment to mitigate against cerebral concussions, how would you feel about boxing associations mandating protective headgear for fighters, not just for sparring, but also during bouts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I\u2019m not in favor of that because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that\u2019s why there\u2019s a third man in the ring, the referee. And that\u2019s why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn\u2019t allow guys in the ring who don\u2019t belong there. Look at football, where you still have injuries no matter how much they improve the helmets and other equipment. Boxing\u2019s a poor man\u2019s sport. We can\u2019t afford to play golf or tennis. It is what it is. It\u2019s kept so many kids get off the street. It kept me off the street. What\u2019s my options?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Harriet also asks: Is it true that once, when you were climbing between the ropes and entering the ring, a reporter put a microphone up to your face and asked, \u2018Sugar Ray, are you going to win tonight?\u2019 And, you replied, \u2018I didn\u2019t come here to lose.\u2019 I hope it\u2019s true because I\u2019ve always loved you for that\u2014it\u2019s a great life lesson story. If it isn\u2019t, I\u2019m going to continue to attribute it to you anyway, because you\u2019re a great life lesson guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Thanks, Harriet. But yes, I did say that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Yale grad Tommy Russell says: I really respect your admission about battling drug abuse during the tough times of your professional life. What is the most important thing you have learned from that experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I learned that I had character defects, that I was allergic to alcohol and drugs, and that I had an obsession with all the bad stuff. But thank God that I woke and that I had good people around me to support me. There\u2019s not much more I can say about it. You have to want to be a better person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Larry Greenberg says: On Celebrity Ghost Stories, you appeared with one of my favorite young ancestresses, Leila Jean Davis, and you shared some very personal experiences. How did you like being on the show?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: I enjoyed it. I never thought in a million years that I would tell people that I saw a ghost. And I\u2019ve seen a lot of ghosts. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Yeah, how\u2019s your day? [Chuckles]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Yes, we all are afraid of something. We might not admit it, but we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Extremely!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: The Teri Emerson question: When was the last time you had a good laugh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: Just now. [Chuckles]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: What is your guiltiest pleasure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRL: It used to be a pint of ice cream in bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n