Sugar Ray Leonard's Biography

Sugar Ray Leonard was born in Wilmington, South Carolina on 17 May 1956.

Sugar Ray Leonard learned to box at 14.

After winning a light-welterweight gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, he turned professional the following year.

In 1979 Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Wildredo Benitez to take the WBC welterweight championship. The following year he lost and then regained the title, boxing Roberto Duran.

In 1981 he defeated Thomas Hearns and gained the WBA welterweight crown.

He retired in 1982 but two years later returned to the ring, having just one fight, before another break of three years.

Back in the ring again, in 1987 Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Marvin Hagler to win the WBC middleweight crown. He went on to defeat Donny Lalonde to win the WBC light heavyweight and super middleweight crowns, becoming the first boxer to win world titles in five different weight classes.

Sugar Ray Leonard has been a television broadcaster including being the host and mentor for the first three seasons of the series Contender, and he is a sought-after speaker.

He is the international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk for a Cure.

In 2011 he was paired with Anna Trebunskaya in Dancing with the Stars season 12.

They were the third couple eliminated.

Also in 2011, Sugar Ray Leonard's autobiography The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring was published.