Sugar Ray Leonard essays

Sugar Ray Leonard essays This is my last fight, my decision is final. The journey is ended, my dream fulfilled. This is what Sugar Ray Leonard said after he won the gold medal for boxing in 1976. The journey was not over, nor was the dream was unfulfilled. Leonard had just begun one of the greatest careers the sports world had ever seen. Leonard early life, training, professional career, style, and ability to come back despite many obstacles shaped him into one of the greatest and most successful boxers of all time, not only in wins and loses but also in dollars and cents. This great and successful boxer had to begin somewhere. Even though Ray Charles Leonard was named after the great jazz musician, Ray Charles, he did not follow his parents dream for him to be a singer. Ray Charles Leonard was born on May 17, 1956, in Wilmington, North Carolina (Leonard). Leonard grew up in Wilmington and in Palmer Maryland, a racially-mixed lower-middle class suburb of Baltimore. He was the fifth child of Goethe and Cicero Leonards seven children. He graduated from high school and had no further education. His mothers original dream for him was early exhibited. He sang in the church choir with two of his sisters. Leonard was a good singer and the local church parishioners commented that he sounded similar to Sam Cooke (Schwartz). His brother Roger turned him to the boxing world early in his teens. Ray told his mother about his boxing I put the singing in the swinging (Schwartz). His statement was a good demonstration of the artistry in his boxing. Having avoided a life as a singer Leonard was ready to jump into the world of boxing. His first trainers were Dave Jacobs and Janks Morton, who took care of Leonard and taught him how to box. Leonard was considered a natural by his early trainers (Schwartz). Leonard was able to do almost anything in the ring (Sugar Ray). Leonard fo...