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Sugar Ray Leonard

The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring Hardcover – June 6, 2011

by Sugar Ray Leonard (Author), Michael Arkush (Collaborator)

384 ratings

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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.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Viking
Publication date

June 6, 2011
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0670022721
ISBN-13

978-0670022724
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The intelligence and self-reflection that helped Sugar Ray become one of the greatest fighters of his generation, have also stood him in good stead outside the arena.” — The Boston Globe

“Champions come and go, but to be legendary you got to have heart, more heart than the next man, more than anyone in the world. Ray's heart was bigger than all the rest. He would never stop fighting.” — Muhammad Ali

About the Author

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.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking; First Edition (June 6, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670022721
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670022724
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.53 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #776,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #181 in Boxer Biographies
- #412 in Boxing (Books)
- #30,125 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer Reviews:
384 ratings

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5 star		75%
4 star		19%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Ricardo Salas

Ray Leonard's Book Is an Inspiration

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

Learned A Lot About Ray Leonard that gives me context. I hated him when he fought, felt that he lifted from Ali & didn't like his seeming running from his opponents. But the man has heart & he had to overcome a lot of adversity. Reading his book gave me a great appreciation of his heart, honesty, intellect & determination to overcome the odds. He set out his strategy, used his mind effectively & used his skill-set to become a true winner and championship. I was too critical and ignorant of what ray was doing.

We are all human & we all make mistakes. Some let life destroy them & others deal with the challenges & accept responsibility. Ray did the latter.Now I go back & review his fights & appreciate him a hell of a lot more.

Thanks for the your story Ray. :)

3 people found this helpful

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Kiwes

A Knockout Good Read!

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2014

Verified Purchase

Sugar Ray Leonard, by far, outside of Ali, is one of the all-time greatest fighters to ever grace the boxing ring. And what I loved most about Ray's book is his complete honesty in telling his life story, which I could tell was very, very difficult for him to do. What's funny to me is that I just finished reading Todd Bridges' life story, and it was because of his interview with Oprah, that Ray decided to come clean with his past about drugs and alcohol.

It was so great to relive the moments of his greatest fights ever-- Duran, Hearns and Hagler. I watched all three of them and it was wonderful to relive those moments. Sugar Ray was so light on his feet and quick, a real smooth go-getter and didn't take any stuff in the ring. When that bell rang, all that was on his mind was pulverizing his opponent, which he did so eloquently.

I was shocked to learn how long he boxed because I must have stopped watching his fights after Hagler, and although he realized that his body had seen better days, he still holds the heart of a true fighter. He is and always will be "The Champ" in my book, and kudos to him for telling his story and freeing himself of the demons he had to live with.

This is an outstanding read and will keep you engaged from the beginning to the end! I have even more respect for Sugar Ray, the fighter, and Ray Leonard, the man!

SIDENOTE: My only problem with this Kindle version is that Sugar didn't put any pictures in the book. Perhaps in paper he did, but none appeared here. But that will not stop you from enjoying the book!

One person found this helpful

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Maxx the Cat

The story of Sugar Ray Leonard..the man...the boxer

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2011

Verified Purchase

"The Big Fight: My Life in and out of the Ring" is an autobiography written by Sugar Ray Leonard with Michael Arkush. The hardcover book is 320 pages in length while the Kindle e-edition is a 449 Kb download.

This book, details in a chronological fashion, many events throughout Sugar Ray Leonard's life...beginning with his childhood, the circumstances that lead him into boxing, his rise to fame and glory within the boxing world and maybe most importantly, how that life of success and achievement almost destroyed this remarkable athlete.

Initially I found a lot of childhood info, particularly in early chapters, that while may have important and interesting to some, was not what I'd bought this book for. I had expected that Leonard had come from a poor black neighborhood and grew up with few advantages in life...what I'd wanted was the details of his boxing career and the things that influenced this period in his life. However, as I got deeper into his story, I began to realize that these childhood anecdotes did in fact have a major influence in his boxing development and then later on when things began to drift out of control.

Also, the revelations in this book made me realize just how naive a person (me) can be about a perceived hero...Sugar Ray Leonard. During his boxing and commentary career he was one of the few sports figures that I always truly admired...he was, as he says in his own words personable and charismatic and this was how I thought of him, until I read this book. To witness your hero display and succumb to the human frailties that were exposed in this book...his unabashed philandering, the alcohol abuse and cocaine addiction, was to say the least, eye opening and disturbing. Leonard, to his credit, seemed to mature in his post boxing years, admitting to his many mistakes and appearing truly remorseful for those he hurt the most, his family.

That being said it was still thrilling to read his accounts of the classic battles with Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, and Marvin Hagler. So much going on in his mind as well as the ring. You could almost feel the tension that must have prevailed on those special nights.

I realized that this book was partially ghost written, (it would have to have been), but yet it came across as just that...ghost written. I had the image of Leonard verbalizing the ideas and someone else converting them into readable syntax. Really, I expected this...just taken aback by how obvious it was. Really a small complaint in an otherwise intriguing account of one man's life.

Conclusion:
An interesting book detailing the life and career of one of boxing greatest figures.
4 1/2 to 5 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Full Discovery from a Boxing Great

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2011

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Sugar Ray is an iconic figure from the 70s/80s era. He burst upon the scene winning the Olympic boxing championships in grand fashion against a strong Cuban opponent. The book describes his blue collar upbringing as well as his early pregnancy and longstanding, complicated life with his future wife. This book does a great job of showing the Ray behind Sugar Ray and is quite honest. Ray wanted to do the right thing and Sugar Ray was a Master of the Universe and could do whatever he wanted. In essence, this book is about that internal battle. What is so fascinating is that many of us watched Sugar Ray's career. He clearly was born with charisma and a fascinating boxing talent that mesmerized the country and drew many non boxing fans to the sport. But Ray has a lot to say about what his life was really like and probably for the first time, complete honesty about his serious drinking problem and his history with cocaine.

This is a "can't put down" book and I strongly recommend to boxing fans and those with interest in the 70s/80s pop culture. Where else do you have a book covering boxing, cocaine and Ronald Reagan all in the same chapter?

One person found this helpful

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chefG3

Outside the ropes

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2020

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Very good book, fast read, informative, personnel, surprising, hopeful. Sugar was a champion inside the ropes now has a chance to become one outside of them.

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Top reviews from other countries

John F. Keane

A Pugilistic Banquet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2012

Verified Purchase

Like most people, I always pictured Leonard as representing a new type of black American - articulate, confident and middle class. In fact, he wasn't middle class at all - that was very much a media creation. He came from a troubled and deprived background that left many scars on his psyche and impelled him towards alcoholism and cocaine abuse.

This book is very modest and well-written. There are many positive ideas here that can be applied to everyday life. After all, Leonard defeated all the great welterweight and middleweight fighters of his era and his objective, logical strategy gave him victory after victory. His greatest contests are described in photographic detail, from the first bell to the last. He laid great emphasis on mental-preparedness, not just physical fitness and this lends the book a psychological gravitas normally lacking in books by professional athletes. But that was something that always struck me about Leonard - how he applied his intelligence to the art of boxing.

He is brutally candid about his ill-treatment of his wife and children, not to mention his cocaine addiction. He seems to blame all this on childhood sexual abuse but I suspect racism and poverty were important factors, too. You can't expect people to be perfect when all they have known is prejudice and negativity.

This is one of the best books I have ever read by a boxer, if not the best.

5 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A superb read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

really impressed with the book, if your a sports/boxing fan, you will love this. Sugar Ray really gives a transparent look into his life. The book was used when I bought it but the condition was excellent so all in all very happy.

John

The Greatest (?) Middleweight in the Greatest Middleweight Era

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great book about a great fighter. Leonard shares bits of his childhood, some of which I am sure were hard to put to paper, and covers his rise to stardom. The book is broken down to focus on just a few of his really great fights, with many of the others mentioned only in terms of between one great fight and another. His take on the iconic Haggler fight are fascinating. A must read for boxing fans.

2 people found this helpful

CMW

Not great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

Not bad. Felt like it was a bit reserved and not as gritty a some other boxers stories... he's an intelligent guy.

glennd

Good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great read if your a fan of sugar ray. Gets deep and personal but also quite insightful on the boxing side. Interesting read.

One person found this helpful

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