Charles Ray “Sugar Ray” Leonard

#OTD May 17, 1956, Olympic gold medalist and professional boxer Charles Ray “Sugar Ray” Leonard was born in Wilmington, NC.
Leonard, the fifth of seven children of Cicero and Getha Leonard, . He was named after Ray Charles, his mother's favorite singer. The family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was three, and they settled permanently in Palmer Park, Maryland when he was ten. His father worked as a supermarket night manager and his mother was a nurse. He attended Parkdale High School, Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time he nearly drowned in a creek during a flood in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. His mother said: "He never did talk too much. 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.

Leonard as a teenager discovered his love of boxing. At the age of 20, he dominated opponents in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and took home the gold medal in the sport. Though he had originally planned to retire following the Olympics and go to college, his father’s mounting medical bills and the birth of his son persuaded Leonard to pursue boxing professionally.

In February 1977, Leonard fought the first of forty professional bouts, defeating Luis “The Bull” Vega and claiming a $40,000 prize. He went on to claim world titles in five different weight classes.

Despite his retirement in 1991, Leonard returned to the sport at age 40 to fight Hector “Macho” Camacho. The match was an embarrassing loss for Leonard and proved to be his last. Nevertheless, he finished his career with a record of 36 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw. Twenty-five of his wins were knock-outs.

Source:https://www.sports-reference.com/.../sugar-ray-leonard-1...

Source:https://www.biography.com/athlete/sugar-ray-leonard

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Ray_Leonard