Quotes from Sugar Ray Leonard

I learned to run backwards from Muhammad Ali. He told me about running backwards because you try to imitate everything you do in the ring, so sometimes you back up. So you have to train your legs to go backwards.

When the trainer talks to the fighter, there's a connection. You don't always have to say much.

Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special.

Everything you want to know about a fighter is in his eyes. The look in his eyes tells the truth.

I made the decision to turn pro, and I remember what Ali said to me: 'Get Angelo Dundee. He's the right complexion with the right connection.' He knew boxing. Our relationship was so genuine, so sincere.

I used to walk to the Washington Monument from North L Street Northwest. And I was so hungry at times, I would stop and look into the trash cans, and if there was a half a sandwich, I would take that sandwich and eat it. It was just a matter of survival. I didn't think much of it, but it was just the way things were.

Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.

My toughest fight was myself. For me to disclose and let things out was not easy because we don't want to seem weak or like we are different, but I learned that it's okay.

I made an instant connection with boxing right away. Boxing became such a part of me. I ate boxing, I slept boxing, I lived boxing. Boxing was a way of expressing myself because I was not that outspoken.

I think an athlete should be honest. I know it's difficult, but if a guy knocked me on my can, I couldn't very well say, I slipped.

Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.

Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.

In Italy, I had an Afro, and a lot of the kids came up and felt my hair. It really was funny. I wish I had understood Italian.

I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.

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

At 14, I was the most disciplined guy around. I would get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and run five miles, and then go to school. Sometimes I would run behind the school bus, and the kids thought I was just crazy. I knew what I wanted.

When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.

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

I made mistakes, but I'm luckier than most. I've got a successful business, lots of fans who think a lot of me and a family who loves me.

Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.

Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring. On the downside, you meet a lot of really bad people in boxing, at all stages of your career.

I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.

You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too.

I always expect unexpected challenges. Boxing is not an easy sport.