{"id":72141,"date":"2022-05-12T12:49:01","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T17:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/?p=72141"},"modified":"2022-05-13T16:40:30","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T21:40:30","slug":"sugar-ray-leonard-the-interview-i-never-had-with-pepe-sulaiman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wbcboxing.com\/en\/sugar-ray-leonard-the-interview-i-never-had-with-pepe-sulaiman\/","title":{"rendered":"Sugar Ray Leonard – The interview I never had with Pepe Sulaiman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sugar Ray Leonard – The interview I never had with Pepe Sulaiman<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Ray Charles Leonard is almost as erudite as Paul Newman playing Butch Cassidy with Robert Redford playing The Sundance Kid, laconically suggesting: “You do the talking Butch. That`s what you`re good at!”<\/div>\n
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Anyone who`s followed the career of Sugar Ray Leonard knows, he`s a Ring Supreme.\u00a0 from the moment he smartingly outsmarted Cuban KO artist southpaw Andres Aldama to win gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics,\u00a0 when commentators Howard Cosell and George Foreman identified a superstar. A supernova forming in front of their very own eyes. It was enough to blow your mind… and even your wig off!<\/div>\n
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In this very different interview, Pepe Sulaiman disarmingly asks Ray what would`ve been if he`d never become a boxer.\u00a0 Ray replies: “I wouldn`t have been here and I possibly wouldn`t be alive?\u00a0 Boxing allowed my Father to live to ninety-five. But when I came back from the olympics, he was in a coma and needed medical attention. I spoke to my Mentor Janks Morton and he advised me to turn pro.\u00a0Boxing was a dream come true and boxing is my life.\u00a0 Boxing is a friend.”<\/div>\n
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Ray is a natural competitor. Prior to their first fight, when Roberto Duran tauntingly got under his skin and got into his head, long before punching it, he lost his composure, he lost his cool and he lost. He then set aside the saddest of moments due to that loss , slept on it and resolved to win back his cherished Green and Gold Belt. From within determines what occurs without and throughout.<\/div>\n
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Ray misses training to the peak of physical and mental zenith: “It`s music to my ears. It`s a great feeling. You see the transformation in mind, body and spirit. The anticipation of it. It`s a sign of life. These are the things I miss. I don`t fight anymore, but I`ll never stop hitting the bag and moving around. When I play tennis, I zoom in and I run like a twenty year old, although I feel it later!”<\/div>\n
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A great provider, Ray candidly admits that sometimes family wasn`t the undivided be all and end all attention and focus priority, because he had to train so hard, but knock on wood his kids have turned out really well: “When you win something, you`ve taken something away.\u00a0 Boxing is life, business, companionship and friends. I wouldn`t have it any other way. Boxing is life and fighting is life. I got into a zone.\u00a0 People tell you, you can`t do it because they can`t do it. Boxing is about being tough, but also being smart. You have to listen to your body.”<\/div>\n
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Slim, fit, eloquent and handsome at sixty-five, Ray muses: “Life is what you make of it. My way is to be nice and not to take things for granted.\u00a0 Respect others.\u00a0 My Father told me, don`t forget where you come from.\u00a0 My Father still plays into my head and into my heart, saying hello sometimes, giving me encouragement and confidence.\u00a0\u00a0The last two years have been scary. I have some friends who`ve taken big blows because of this Pandemic. But they didn`t give up!”<\/div>\n
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Ray adores his fans and always has time for them. He says: “It`s an incredible position to be in.”<\/div>\n
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This is just a thumb nail sketch. Hope it`s Whetted your appetite for more which can be found on:<\/div>\n
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