Sugar Ray Leonard - World Class BoxerSugar Ray Leonard (born May 17, 1956 in
Wilmington, North Carolina) is a retired professional
boxer. He was named
Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer,
Ray Charles. Leonard was the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, and he is widely considered to be one of the best boxers of all time, winning world titles in five weight divisions and defeating future fellow
International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees
Wilfred Benítez,
Thomas Hearns,
Roberto Durán and
Marvin Hagler . Leonard was named "Boxer of the Decade" for the 1980s, due to his accomplishments. Leonard was the fifth of six children born to Cicero and Getha Leonard. When he was three, the family moved from Wilmington, Delaware to Washington, D.C. When he was ten, they settled permanently in the suburbs in Palmer Park, Maryland, of one-story homes built in the late 1950s. His father worked as a night manager of a supermarket, and his mother was a nurse. Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time he almost drowned in a creek during a flood in Seat Pleasant, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. "He never did talk too much," his mother said. "We never could tell what he was thinking. But I never had any problems with him. I never had to go to school once because of him
