Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.
After the fight, my face was distorted and I looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame.
Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.
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.
Becoming a marketable commodity meant only that I couldn't be stereotyped the way boxers always have been.
Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.
Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.
Boxers know when they hurt you and they try to take advantage of it.
Boxers were always considered illiterate. I wanted to break through that barrier, and I came along at a time when that was possible.
Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.
Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.
Boxing should focus on pitting champion vs. champion.
Boxing was not something I truly enjoyed. Like a lot of things in life, when you put the gloves on, it's better to give than to receive.
Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.
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.
By the end of the fight, I had less than a quarter of normal vision out of my left eye. I forgot how tired I was.
Champions don't lose close fights, but that doesn't seem to apply to me.
Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger.
Duran could knock out lightweights, but it was a different story when he moved up to the welterweight class.
Duran walks around thinking he owns the world and that when he puts his foot down, everything should come to a halt.
Everybody in the family can still hardly believe what's happened, because I was the least likely of four brothers to ever become a boxer.
Everyone should party and celebrate, but there's a limit.
Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.
Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.
Geraldo hit me so hard that I actually saw three of him. I thought, Oh, wow, this can't be it.
Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.
I could handle myself in the ring, but no one in my family believed it. They just didn't believe I was any good.
I couldn't fight at 160 pounds if I had lead weights in my shoes.
I didn't want to be a whiner or a poor loser.
I do what I want to do. I use my own judgment. I'm an experienced fighter, and when my mind is made up, that's all that counts.
I don't care who it is; you can't beat me and then just have me walk away. I gotta go back for you.
I figure it's like something that has to be, before Marvin and me can be content with ourselves. There is a burning desire in me now.
I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
I got paranoid. I felt like I was kneeling down at the guillotine and someone was going to pull on a rope and chop my head off.
I half expected to get knocked cold. The only way to avoid that was to maintain my composure.
I have said on numerous occasions, This is it, this is the final one. Particularly my last fight, when I was soundly beaten by Terry Norris.
I just didn't do what I meant to do against Duran. I let it become a macho thing.
I knew my speed would be a major factor.
I received the Fighter of the Year Award.
I started thinking, Who needs it anymore?
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.
I think Duran quit because he didn't want me to knock him out. He was frustrated and being humiliated.
I think I've become one of the best finishers in boxing; if I hurt a guy, I normally take him out.
I took my wife on a vacation to Hawaii, and I didn't want to talk to anybody. I was financially established and I was proud of myself.
I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.
I'd experienced being hurt, I'd experienced speed and going against guys capable of fighting different ways.
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'm a competitor and a very proud man. If a guy beats me once, he'll have to do it again to make me believe him.
I'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter.
I'm an athlete, I'm a fighter. This is what I do. This is what I still enjoy.
I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.
I'm very happy, I've got a beautiful granddaughter. Life goes on.
I've never believed in tying myself up in a long-range contract, and I've been very outspoken on that subject.
I've taken on the same training regimen I've had in the past. Nothing has really changed. I'm using weights now.
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.
If Roberto Duran had been the champion in our first fight and we'd switched places, he would have maintained his title; I didn't.
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.
It's different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.
It's hard to talk about yourself.
My hands had given me nothing but trouble when I was an amateur. They swelled up after every fight.
No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran.
On the downside, you meet a lot of really bad people in boxing, at all stages of your career.
Once I leave the ring, I leave all that behind me. I was always cool.
One of the main issues here is the fact that being 40, people say, You should be taking Prozac and playing golf.
Others tend to say they deserve credit for making various fights as big as they were.
Some members of the press were saying I couldn't take a punch, others were saying I couldn't really deliver a punch.
The judges saw it for Duran. They were authorized to judge the fight. If they felt I lost, OK. It's just not supposed to happen.
They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.
To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and focusing on training.
Tommy Hearns was able to land some shots, but because I didn't fall into his hands, it really did blow his mind.
We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.
When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.
When I'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight.
When the negative news about the paternity suit came out, it killed a lot of things for me. It hurt me with several companies.
When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.
When you got your nice little warm-up suit, you truly felt you were representing America, and there was real glory in winning.
Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
Yes, the street came out in Ray Leonard, and Ray Leonard very much wanted to nail Duran. Unfortunately, he nailed me.
You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.
Sugar Ray had 40 professional fights with a record of 36-3-1 with 25 knockouts.
On November 30, 1979, Sugar Ray beat Wilfred Benitez to win his first professional title, the WBC Welterweight Championship.
Sugar Ray was the National AAU Light Welterweight Champion in 1974 and 1975.
Sugar Ray was undefeated in his first 25 professional fights.
Sugar Ray was named Fighter of the Year by Ring Magazine in 1981.
Sugar Ray was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1997.
Leonard was given the nickname "Sugar" by one of his amateur coaches.
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