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" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
My Life
Boxing
Life
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" Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable. "
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" 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. "
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" Success is attaining your dream while helping others to benefit from that dream materializing. "
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" 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. "
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" I run with music all the time. I cannot run without my iPod. I have everything. Teddy Pendergrass. Luther Van Dross. Michael Jackson. Outkast. If an Usher song comes on and it's fast, I go fast. "
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Song
Fast
Music
" 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. "
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Best
World
Memory
" I made an instant connection with boxing right away. Boxing became such a part of me. I ate boxing, I slept boxing, I lived boxing. Boxing was a way of expressing myself because I was not that outspoken. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Connection
Way
Myself
" I learned to run backwards from Muhammad Ali. He told me about running backwards because you try to imitate everything you do in the ring, so sometimes you back up. So you have to train your legs to go backwards. "
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Me
Train
Sometimes
" I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Me
Boxing
Lot
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
You
Me
Parents
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Italy
Wish
Up
" Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
First
Fight
Me
" I asked my kids, 'Do you know what Papa used to do.' They said, 'You were a boxer, you won the Olympics!' And that's what they know. "
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Used
You
Do You Know
" People can do more than they ever believe they can do. Physically, mentally, academically. You have to be pushed. It hurts. But it's worth it, and it's a great thing. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Worth
You
Believe
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Home
College
Money
" Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Within
Dreams
Our
" Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Weight
You
Less
" I remember all the important fights. Vividly. In detail. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
I Remember
Important
Remember
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Me
Teacher
Homework
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Networks
Talent
Made
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Say
Athlete
Difficult
" When you're a boxer, there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Boxer
Downtime
You
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Discipline
Me
Ice
" 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. "
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Experience
Better
You
" I'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter. "
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Options
Exclusive
Fight
" 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. "
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Go
Run
School
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
Me
Talk
Advice
" We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people. "
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Up
Life
Just
" 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. "
Sugar Ray Leonard
See
Fundamentals
Artist
" They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far. "
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Stubborn
Say
Wife