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Summary
Summary
In this unflinching and inspiring autobiography, the boxing legend faces his single greatest competitor: himself.
Sugar Ray Leonard's brutally honest and uplifting memoir reveals in intimate detail for the first time the complex man behind the boxer. The Olympic hero, multichampionship winner, and beloved athlete waged his own personal battle with depression, rage, addiction, and greed.
Coming from a tumultuous, impoverished household and a dangerous neighborhood on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., in the 1970s, Sugar Ray Leonard rose swiftly and skillfully through the ranks of amateur boxing-and eventually went on to win a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics. With an extremely ill father and no endorsement deals, Leonard decided to go pro.
The Big Fight takes readers behind the scenes of a notoriously corrupt sport and chronicles the evolution of a champion, as Leonard prepares for the greatest fights of his life-against Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, and Wilfred Benitez. At the same time Leonard fearlessly reveals his own contradictions and compulsions, his infidelity, and alcohol and cocaine abuse.
With honesty, humor, and hard-won perspective, Leonard comes to terms with both triumph and struggle-and presents a gripping portrait of remarkable strength, courage, and resilience, both in and out of the ring.
Author Notes
Sugar Ray Leonard worked as a boxing analyst for ABC and HBO after retiring from the ring. He lives with his wife and two children in California.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this moving memoir, boxing legend Leonard tells his story of growing up as a ghetto kid whose athletic skills lifted him into a world of fame for which he was ill-prepared. Born in 1956, Ray Charles Leonard grew up near Washington, D.C., in an African-American suburb.. A shy boy, Ray was goaded by an older brother to enter the ring, where he discovered a talent for the sport. Ray's meteoric rise through the amateur ranks led to a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics. With a flashy style and a media-ready persona, "Sugar Ray" became a big draw as a pro and fought in some of the most lucrative boxing matches of his era. Leonard frames his memoir around the most important event of his career-his middleweight title fight with Marvin Hagler in 1987. Leonard hadn't fought since 1984 yet he managed to win a split decision. The true focus of the book, however, is Leonard's struggles with celebrity. He writes honestly of the many affairs he had while married, as well as his addiction to alcohol and cocaine. Few of our cultural icons look at themselves so clearly, and it's a tribute to Leonard's insightfulness that he makes his story such a gripping one. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Sugar Ray Leonard won an Olympic boxing gold medal in 1976. He quickly entered the pro ranks and held several championship belts throughout his career before retiring in 1997. His public image was carefully and successfully crafted. He was and is intelligent, articulate, and charming, a natural in front of the camera. For most of the eighties he was the face of boxing. But as he recounts in this painfully honest autobiography, he was at various times alcoholic, drug-addicted, obsessed by fame and money, and an abusive, unfaithful husband. He came from a Washington, D.C., two-parent home, but dad was a philanderer, and mom was a mean drinker. Not a happy home. Leonard fathered his first child as a teenager but never considered being faithful to his partner. In addition to the personal struggles, Leonard deftly re-creates the atmosphere and excitement surrounding some of his biggest fights. In the end, this is a good boxing memoir carried by a cathartic personal confession.--Lukowsky, We. Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Not a knockout, but a revealing confession from a champ who was often accused of being a packaged TV commodity.Leonard was the right fighter at the right timean Olympic gold medalist, articulate, handsome and personable, at a time when the retirement of Muhammad Ali left boxing hungry for another standard-bearer (and Howard Cosell eager for a new buddy to tout). Yet, little known to the American public, he was also an abuser of cocaine, alcohol and ultimately of his wife. Now clean and sober for four years and happily remarried, he takes full responsibility for his transgressions"Looking back, I can offer no defense for my conduct. I was wrong"without absolving the women who threw themselves at him (more beautiful and greedy the more famous he became), the family and friends who put their financial considerations above his health and even trainer Angelo Dundee, whom he inherited from Ali, and who the author plainly believes has claimed more credit than he deserves. Though the thematic arc is that of a redemption story, most of that redemptionremarriage, sobriety, a second family that he treats much better than the firstis crammed into a final chapter or two. The bulk of the autobiography alternates between his exploits in the ring (of which he is justifiably proud) and his weakness away from it, with all the sex, drugs and vacillation between retirement and recommitment. Particularly revelatory is the book's illumination of the psychology of this most physical sport. It also celebrates the bond between opponents that outsiders can never experience: "For months, the opponent was the enemy, the major obstacle standing in the path of greater earnings and greater fame. Yet, as most of us who fight for a living come to recognize, some sooner than others, the opponent is also a partner on the same journey."Perhaps a little too conveniently, the book makes a split between slick, privileged, cocky "Sugar Ray" and the more insecure and vulnerable "Ray Leonard." Guess who's still standing at the end?]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Innumerable athletes are masters at hitting 100 mph fastballs or throwing left hooks that would floor a rhino but fare badly when they shed their gear and are confronted with something much more difficult-life. So it was with boxing champ Leonard, winner of a 1976 Olympic gold medal and of world championships in five weight divisions. He was considered the successor to Muhammad Ali as the charismatic face of his sport. Much of The Big Fight is a standard sports autobiography, cataloging Leonard's early years and his big matches, but he breaks with tradition in his "out of the ring" disclosures. He introduces us to the man behind the lightning-fast hands and feet and radiant smile. Insecure and hurting from childhood psychic injuries, he was an alcoholic, cocaine abuser, and serial womanizer who failed as both husband and father. Now retired, substance free, and remarried, he relates what it was like to stand with one leg on the mountaintop and the other in the deepest valley. Verdict Ordinary in many ways, but a must, and possibly a cautionary tale, for boxing fans. [See Prepub Alert, 12/13/10.]-Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
My eyes never lie. There they are, open wide, in the mirror of the dressing room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Those eyes would reveal which of the two dueling personalities would enter the ring as I took on the most intimidating opponent of my career: Marvin Hagler . . . Would it be Sugar Ray Leonard, true American hero since capturing the gold medal in Montreal more than a decade earlier? Sugar Ray was resilient, fearless, unwilling to accept failure. The smile and innocence of a child would be gone, replaced in the ring by a man filled with rage he did not understand . . . Or would it be Ray Leonard, the part-time boxer at the age of thirty whose best was well behind him, his days and nights wasted on fights which never made the headlines, fights he lost over and over, to alcohol and cocaine abuse and depression? Excerpted from The Big Fight: My Life in and Out of the Ring by Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Arkush All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. ix |
| 1 Palmer Park | p. 1 |
| 2 ôMy Journey Has Endedö | p. 42 |
| 3 From Vega to Vegas | p. 71 |
| 4 All the Marbles | p. 92 |
| 5 Manos de Piedra | p. 118 |
| 6 No Más | p. 147 |
| 7 The Showdown | p. 168 |
| 8 Seeing a New Future | p. 190 |
| 9 ô'I Am Backö | p. 213 |
| 10 Simply Marvelous | p. 229 |
| 11 Finding Love Again | p. 261 |
| 12 Peace at Last | p. 278 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 296 |
| Index | p. 299 |
