Top 143 Quotes & Sayings by Sugar Ray Leonard - Page 3

I enjoyed [Celebrity Ghost Stories]. I never thought in a million years that I would tell people that I saw a ghost. And I've seen a lot of ghosts.

To be honest, I don't know. I started one [book] back in 1982 or '83 when I first retired. But I was only 25 or 26 and not ready to write my memoirs.

I lay around and wonder why you were always there for me.

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

I've always been quiet and kind of shy. I'm sociable, but I would probably migrate to a corner.

My intention was to fight Durán ASAP because I knew Durán's habits. I knew he would indulge himself, he'd gain 40–50 lbs and then sweat it off to make 147.

Were all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.

I retired and came back in '97. Woo! I mean, come on! I don't 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.

Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five

A fighter never knows when it's the last bell. He doesn't want to face that.

The Ricky Hatton that beat Kostya Tszyu in 2005 can beat Floyd Mayweather, he was so focused and in such amazing physical shape that he would have given anybody at that level a tough time.

No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran

It was a whole different world, and Montreal was an absolutely beautiful setting unlike anywhere I'd ever been before. So, Montreal in '76 was an encompassing experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I had a drug problem. I'd go to parties, take a leak, and there was cocaine right there. I was 25 when it started, rich, famous, and retired.

This kid [Janks Morton, Jr.] was so special, although he's 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's what I share with Junior.

Tommy Hearns seemed like an indestructible machine, so to beat him, I think that was my defining moment, the pinnacle.

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's not much more I can say about it. You have to want to be a better person.

Look at football, where you still have injuries no matter how much they improve the helmets and other equipment.

I'm not in favor of that [mandating protective headgear ] because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that's why there's a third man in the ring, the referee. And that's why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn't allow guys in the ring who don't belong there.

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'll think, If this is his first punch, how are the others gonna feel? That's the only fear I have for myself

Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest.

I'm so opposite of my profession. No one - particularly my mother and father - ever thought I was going to be a boxer because I always felt that football and baseball were too dangerous. I was just such a quiet kid.