Sugar Ray Leonard: Belief, Influence, and Winning the Mental Fight

24:41Well, it keeps those hands moving. Right there, a good left.

25:00He is working Duran effectively. And Duran must result to pulling in.

25:14And he does.

25:21he was so mad

25:30let's hear it for sugar ray letter

25:36so

25:41I cried I was so grateful when this happened. And my dad, who we rooted for all the same people and teams, was rooting for Roberto Duran. Yeah. Yeah. And so last night, I'm telling Ray this, last night he's like, let's call your dad. So we get my dad on FaceTime last night and Ray pulls his hat down over his head. He's like, hey Bobby, He's like, my dad's like, yeah. He's like, hey, Bobby. He goes, I want to fight you. And he pulls it out of my back. And it was unbelievable. Like, thank you so much for that. Imagine being able to do that for your dad. Like how crazy it is. So, Ray, like, thank you.

26:31Thank you for that, Ray. I'm really welcome. And so when the reason, I'll give my perspective, that I'll ask his since he was there. But my perspective is the reason that Roberto Duran quit. They call it the no-moss fight. If you've heard of the no-moss fight, say yes. So they call it the no-moss fight, no more, because Ray, Roberto Duran, just had no answer. So everything he was trying to do, Sugar Ray Leonard, I just saw the movement. He just couldn't do what he wanted to do. And Roberto Duran had no answer for Sugar Ray Leonard. And Ray was in his head. He was taunting him. He was putting his chin out.

27:17He was like bow punchings, doing all these things. And Duran was getting angry and angry and more and more. To the point he made this guy, this stark raving lunatic, somebody you call very significance driven, very in the language. I'll use the language that people use about him. Machismo, like top level. He made him quit in front of the world. Walk away and just quit. That's what this man did.

27:50but with his the man that cursed his wife yeah let's hear let's get up for that thank you let's hear that for you no let's hear that for you what you did so and so and he made him quit though with his fists He made him quit with his body, his feet, his movement, and he made him quit with his mind and his influence. He was influencing him, influencing him, influencing him, by the way, with integrity. And the influence that Ray Leonard was bringing forward was you can't beat me, man. And I'm going to humiliate you, I'm going to embarrass you, and you're going to have more of it and more of it and more of it and more of it to the point that he quit.

28:36That's what he did. So at least that's my story. You were there. You did it. So please, Ray, what was that like for you? And what do you think actually, what do you want the audience to know about what happened? Well, words can't describe what took place that particular night. And because Duran, you know, I mean, I used to hate that guy. I really, really hate him. And because all of a sudden, and it just happened spontaneously. I mean, I was moving around. I still did that. People started laughing and I started doing this and doing this and hitting with that one. And he was just so, it was just his mentality made him quit.

29:20He was so mad and so angry because I was thinking he was laughing. I was shuffling and everything and doing this and everything. Stick my chin out and everything. It worked. I mean, I wouldn't always do that. I mean, I wouldn't do that against Tommy Hearns. But that's how it worked. Amazing. Strange. And now, speaking of Tommy Hearns, do we have anything from that, Tink? Oh, wow. Amazing. I'm glad you brought Tommy Hearns up. And by the way, Tommy Hearns, we fought again the second time. Tommy deserved to get the decision. I mean, it was called a draw. But Tommy deserved that. to win. He's here for integrity.

30:12I've yet to tell Tommy that. Yeah. And you can tell Tommy that. Don't tell me that and don't tell my dad that. Because I fought my dad to this day about that. Nobody tell my dad that Sugar Ray later said that. Repeat that again? I'm sorry? Repeat that? You say what now? I said that my dad, please don't tell my dad that you think that Tommy Hearns won. Because I've fought against my dad to say that you won for my entire life. So I don't want my dad to win the argument. So please don't tell my dad. We're on the same page. Yes, thank you. So don't tell Tommy Hearns and don't tell my dad. Okay. So let's see it, Tink.

31:04I'm sorry.

31:21Let's pause it, Tink. Pause. So that's Angelo Dundee, who was training for Sugar Ray Leonard, but not the only one. He often came in later in the process, but he was in the corner, and he ran the corner. He was Muhammad Ali's trainer. Like, just unbelievable, crazy. And in that moment, you just heard him say, you're blowing it, son. You're blowing it, son, because Sugar Ray Leonard was behind on points. This is the first time he fights Tommy Hearns. Now, this is the next super fight of his life and his career. Right? And Tommy Hearns is now people saying he's going to, that Sugar Ray Leonard can't beat Tommy Hearns.

31:57And Tommy Hearns, this massive, you know, puncher, and they called him the hit man. And now they're fighting. And Sugar Ray Leonard, who, remember, everybody's saying he's a boxer, he's a boxer. He's got to knock Tommy Hearns out. If he doesn't knock out Tommy Hearns, Tommy Hearns is going to win. So, Tink. Oh, what a hook by Hearns. That's him. Leonard keeps coming on. He's a full.

32:50He's letting time run out. Here's time for the foul. A big run for the foul.

33:00Yes.

33:04Now, do we, Tink, do we have the end or we do not? Mike, do we have the end? What, bud? Okay. So then let's just get that and we'll come back to it. Do we have Marvin Hagler? That silence means no. So, oh yeah. So, okay, Michael, just be getting the end of the Tommy Hearns fight when Sugar Ray Leonard knocks him out. Coming up, and then we'll go Marvin Hagler first. But real quick for everybody. So what I think that represents for you is there's privileged windows that open up in your influence. And what Sugar Ray Leonard did is he caused the moment of a window to open. and when that window opened, you're going to see it when we show the rest of the ending of the fight in the next round, that he finishes.

33:55And if you think what you just saw right there was bad for Tommy Hearns, wait till you see what happens in the ending of what he does to Tommy Hearns. Because the window opened and this man finished and you got to finish. You got to finish in the causing of yes. And this man finished. Let's hear for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And Michael, just real quick, Michael, how long do you think until we can show the clip of the ending of the next round? The knockout. Cool. Okay. So how do you – so when Angelo Dundee is saying, you're blowing it, kid, you know, you're blowing it, kid, what are you feeling?

34:37And what do you – like, what – are you even thinking in that moment? Are you just focused? What's it like to be in the 13th round, all these minutes, all these punches going back and forth? What's that like, please? That's an inner thing. When Angelo said the perfect words, perfect sense, you're blowing this on that. I mean, that was so simplified, but it was real. And I knew I had to really get up and go for more. It's an amazing thing, an amazing feeling. Especially in boxing. I mean, it just... It's one of those moments. Those moments in your life that you have to succeed, push forward. Who is the toughest fight that you ever had besides your wife?

35:31Actually, in the ring. I mean, it's not a joke, man. I'm not a joke. So that's why I don't try to laugh, but I don't laugh. You know, my wife is tough. But who is the toughest in the ring opponent? Like, which fight? I tell you, I mean, they all had their thing, their talent, their power. Like, I mean, like marvelous Marvin Hagler. He was ambidextrous. He was fast, powerful, strong, could punch. Tommy Heron is tall. Fast, power, Duran.

36:17I'm telling the truth. And then Sugar Ray Leonard came back and beat Duran another time. So he won the No Moss fight. Then he came back and beat him again later. But while we're working on getting the clip for the end of the Tommy Hearns fight, we'll do Tommy Hearns first and Marvin Hagler. there's something that you shared at dinner last night with me and I would never go to a place that anybody doesn't want to go to because I don't think it's relevant unless they do. And for Ray, it's very relevant because he had some other challenges during his life that he powered back from amazingly and beautifully.

36:56So is there anything that you'd like to share about some other challenges that you came back from? Well, I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober now for 18 years.

37:10You know, and you know, it's interesting that as much as I had achieved in the ring, and I'm more happy, I wasn't totally happy. I was happy that I was able to take care of my parents and my siblings, my friends, just people in general, and I helped. But all of a sudden, my life was not fulfilled. I was not totally happy. And I went to drinking. And again, I'm kind of shy to a degree. But when I drank, I felt good. I was like, yeah. And I can dance, too, when I was drunk. I did tons of cocaine. But you know what? because I heard my mother found out that I was doing drugs and alcohol. And I just, cold jerk, I just stopped doing cocaine.

38:11I just stopped all of a sudden. The alcohol was a different story because I was, you know, I'd go into a bar or whatever, just take a cup of drinks, always take tequila. Who likes tequila? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't drink too many? No? just two a day? No. And I tell you, and I support, I support. That's what got me out. Let's hear from that. Yes, yes, yes. And from the book, it sounded like, at least from the book, and we talked about it at dinner last night, that maybe there were some people around you you had some people around you that loved you very much and wanted to protect you and help you, but it also sounded like sometimes there were people around you that wanted to use you and take from you, and maybe that had something to do with some of this at least.

39:17Is that true, not true? How did you deal with the people around you? Life is not perfect, period. And you know what? Sometimes you find out the hard way or the right way, but there's never really just a right way. But you know what? It's within you. It's you. You can make your life better. And I tell you, like in the boxing ring, I went the distance. It's life I went a little distance to. And you know what? I feel good and thank God for sure. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. And then, Tank, do we have, or Michael, do we have the 7-Up commercial or do you not? 7-Up? Let's see that. Yeah. Let's see that for fun.

40:10The 7-Up? Really? Yeah. That was a long time ago. Yes. So this is Sugar Ray Leonard transcends boxing. Please. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Oh my.

40:33Oh.

40:41Good. Wow, we got this chair. No, that's just my dad.

40:51Thank you for that. That is amazing. That is amazing.

40:57And we had the blessing of having Sugar Ray Leonard Jr. on the Heart of Influence a couple years ago. And I shared that with Ray last night as well. And I mean, like, just make the sound of how that feels in your heart. Yeah. And that's what this man did. Transcendent boxing. And he also was a great analyst, as I explained, for boxing. And he was fun and funny and brilliant and witty. Clear, precise. and you know what I think also was is a very true thing just you know so you guys know that most athletes um things don't end well for them financially um they're not appropriately taken care of and protected but you know anything you want to say on it Ray or not but a lot of the names we've mentioned that Ray fought they they did not end up in a good place financially they did not end up in a place where they were living in a secure, positive environment.

41:58And Ray won that game, too. He won that battle. He won that fight. He lives a beautiful life. And he has abundance and security and positive things. And so it's also here for that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And anything you want to say about that, Ray? How did you, you know, a lot of guys, you know, ended up in really, really bad places. and you ended up in a really, really beautiful place. Anything that you attribute that to? Was there anybody who helped protect you or anything you want to share? Yeah. It just didn't happen. A friend of mine, Jenks Morton, after the Olympics, said, are you turning pro?

42:43And I said, no, because I didn't want to turn pro. I was kind of through. I wanted to go to the University of Maryland because I had a scholarship and further my education and get a good job and help out to some degree from my parents. And when Jenks Morton said, Ray, you can make some good money, I did that. And I let him take care of everything, financially and everything. and he introduced me to a guy named Mike Traynor. Mike Traynor is my attorney, and God bless him, because he's no longer with us, but he took care of me big time. He made me an independent boxer, for the most part. And I just had good people around me.

43:35I had just good people around me. Yeah. And all I had to do was get in my ring and take care of business. That's awesome. It happened so wonderful. And you said no to Don King, I think. Is that right? Oh, Don King. Yeah. I mean, you know, Don, he said, Ray, you know, you need to come with me. And Don King is always known. He said, you don't need to know white people. No, he did say that. I'm like, I don't think about that. And I got to go with him. But, you know, again, I feel so blessed, man. I really do. Again, I get somewhat over-emotional because I think from where I've come from, from how long I've been away and what I've dealt with and all the other things that came with this, I'm a blessed man.

44:33You've been married. Yeah, let's hear it. I'm a blessed man. And Ray's got a beautiful wife. He's been married for 32 years now, a beautiful marriage. He loses the fights, but he wins the game of life and marriage. So, that's that. Yeah, yeah. But who, I mean, you guys are not old enough to know the singers, the platters, my wife. Yeah? Yeah? You're not old enough to know the platters.

45:07Okay, okay, okay, okay. Wait, Sugar Ray, her husband's parent is, are you going to fight Sugar Ray soon? Like, what's happening here?

45:21What's that? He was in Orlans. Yeah, so he's going to be fighting the people in the front. So do we have, Michael, do we have Yek, the Hearns ending? Let's hit it. Tommy. Tommy still calls me. Yeah.

45:50He's got to grab him. Get some more rest.

45:58Are there's a real trouble? He's got to punch. He's got to give him some respect. All of them, which he's not doing. No, he's too weak. He has nothing left. He's going to be...

46:13Woo!

46:20I don't believe that. It was too many. I didn't have to meet him. Locally, every next to the name of the family man. Yeah. Well, actually, Actually, he cooperated. That's a bad joke. And is it true that Tommy Hurtin still calls you and wants to fight you still? Yeah. Tommy calls me every few months. Great. That's you and I going for it. I said, Tommy, have you looked in the mirror?

46:56Oh, yeah. And he's not joking. Oh, he's not joking. Oh, trust me. So then, and this will be our last piece of the boxing part as we begin to round the bend with Mr. Sugar Ray Leonard. So then, there's this guy, Marvin Hagler. And he is in a heavier weight class than Sugar Ray Leonard, for those that don't know that. And everybody's like, this guy's unbeatable. So whatever Roberto Duran was, everybody's like, no, no, no, no, including my dad. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. Sugar Ray Leonard is going to get eaten alive by Marvin Hagler. This is going to be the greatest beatdown in history. So what was that like leading up to this fight where everybody and Sugar Ray Leonard had not fought?

47:50Five years. Five years. Like this big gap in his career is going on, right? there's like one thing little fight in between he crushed somebody but service like no no no no no way so what what was that like for you leading up to and of course we're gonna show what happened well I mean I mean again I've been out of the ring for five years no what no fights had a partial detached retina I mean my my family cried every day I mean when I would see them so I stopped seeing him but I trained for like a year and went out there and people believe they well they pray I also say they believe in me but no they pray for me yeah even people close to him so he he was in the boxing team at HBO with a guy named Larry Merchant, and even Larry Merchant was betting, was predicting that Sugar Ray Leonard was going to beat, that Marvin Hagel was going to beat Sugar Ray Leonard.

49:02The odds were three and a half to one against him, and Larry Merchant, I think as you wrote in the book, came in the ring before the fight and said, prove me wrong. And, you know, it was just this impossible. I pay$39. I have all my friends from high school over. They're all so sick and tired of me talking about how much I love Sugar Ray Leonard. To be annoying, they're rooting for Marvin Hagler. In my house, I bought the fight. They didn't give me any money. $39 is all the money I had in my drawer in my room, and I got to give it to my parents, and now we're set. We got popcorn, we got pizza, and I'm like, F you mother effers, Sugar Ray Leonard's going to win.

49:47This is what's happening in 139 Vivian Avenue, Emerson, New Jersey, my parents' house, and we're getting ready to throw down what is going to be their thinking, a beatdown on Sugar Ray Leonard, but I know differently, Ray. But are you trying to reimburse you? Yes. Yes. Can I have the$39, please? I think you have it. Yes. Yeah. So.

50:18Darren, I want my$39. Yeah. Yeah. So are we ready? Are we ready, team? Here we go. Pose himself with Andre and show who's boss.

50:37And if we don't have the decision at the end, let's get the decision to.

50:48The hand early on, they vanished. Hagler has led him into this fight. Or to put it in a more positive way, Ray Leonard has put himself into this fight. And now he's starting even to taunt Hagler. I'm smiling at him and just simply saying come on. No question about it. When you slide under the guy, stop! Nail him! Don't grab him on the shoulder. Don't grab him on the shoulder. He found the chin flores and then get out. Come on, look at him.

51:29Find the winner. by a good decision and new That was Let's stand up for that Let's stand up for that Thank you Thank you

51:47Thank you Thank you And F.U. Chris Nikolic Tom Flodico Chris Tomicki Roy, all of y 'all because that was Sugar Ray Leonard doing what people said was impossible but was not impossible. Let's hear it one more time for that. Thank you. And anything else, right? Anything else that you want these people to know before we say thank you? Anything else that you want them to know as we part? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, God. I love you. God bless the champ. Bless here, champ. The champ. The champ. The champ. The champ. the champ the champ the champ yeah that's here for sure