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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Sugar Ray Leonard

Train

Sometimes

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too. "

" 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. "

Sugar Ray Leonard

Run

School

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

" 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. "

Sugar Ray Leonard

I Am

Mistakes

" I don't hold any regrets whatsoever about my life besides hurting people I loved. "

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

" 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. "

" Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable. "

" 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. "

" People try to live vicariously through fighters, but it's one-on-one; it's primal. There's no other feeling like it. The problem for me was accepting it - that nothing compares to being champ. "

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

Sugar Ray Leonard

Life

Just

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

" The thing about boxers is that there's respect there. You beat me, and I may not like it, but you know what, deep down inside, I respect you. And that's the code of honor. "

Sugar Ray Leonard

Honor

You

" It's hard to talk about yourself. "

" 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

Parents