Born: 17 May 1956

Birth Place: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA

Nationality: American

Nickname: Sugar

Division: Welterweight (147lbs) – Light Heavyweight (175lbs)

Height: 5’ 10” / 178 cm

Reach: 74″ / 188 cm

• 1976 Olympic Light Welterweight Gold Medalist

• Boxer of the Decade for the 1980’s

• World Champion in Five Different Weight Classes

• First Boxer to Earn More than $100 Million in Purses

• Fast Hands

• Great Movement

• Ability to Brawl or Box

Sugar Ray Leonard effectively utilizes his very fast hands and excellent foot movement to quickly attack and get out of trouble. These attributes were honed from his days as a very successful amateur boxer. His assets often allowed him to dictate the pace of the fight and if necessary, Leonard could brawl as well as box.

One of the greatest boxers ever, Sugar Ray Leonard had a number of legendary fights against all-time greats which includes wins over Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler.

It was Leonard’s speed and foot movement that gave even his toughest opponents a very difficult time finding him. He could attribute his best assets to his training methods.

• Ran 4-5 miles everyday in preparation for the Olympics where he won a gold medal.

• Ran backwards and sideways to try and imitate every movement that goes on inside the ring, most applicably, boxing on the backfoot.

• Wore combat boots for his runs to condition his legs.

Leonard retired from boxing from 3 years and took everyone by surprise when he announced he was making a comeback against the great Middleweight, Marvin Hagler. Inactivity and eye injuries led the general public and media believe that Leonard was no match for the heavy favourite, Hagler.

Unbeknown to Hagler, let alone the public, Leonard had actually engaged in several real boxing fights behind closed doors to shake off any ring rust. It was this preparation that allowed Leonard to jump straight back into the elite level of boxing after such a long layoff.

Born: 10 January 1949

Birth Place: Marshall, Texas, USA

Nationality: American

Nickname: Big George

Division: Heavyweight (200lbs+)

Height: 6’ 4” / 193 cm

Reach: 82″ / 208 cm

• 1968 Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medalist

• Two Time Heavyweight World Champion

• Oldest Heavyweight World Champion at age 45

• Successful Entrepreneur and Promoter of the George Foreman Grill

• Extreme Power in Both Hands

Hooks, uppercuts, jabs, crosses - No matter what punch George Foreman decided to throw, he would throw it with unbelievable power, which many of his opponents could not withstand.

Foreman’s power is even more impressive given the fact that he was slow and lacked proper punching technique. Nonetheless, his punches were like sledgehammers, his chin was solid and he was also mentally tough. Those three attributes made Foreman very hard to beat.

George Foreman is one of the greatest heavyweight boxers in the history of the sport. He had a successful amateur pedigree, winning a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics, which meant that he had good boxing fundamentals.

As Foreman moved into the professional ranks, his extreme power allowed him to abandon much of the boxing basics that he needed in the amateurs. Described by many as a ‘physical freak of nature’, Foreman’s training regimen was the foundations upon which he could reach his physical peak.

• After a long 10 year layoff from boxing, Foreman had a big girth so he would perform 400 sit ups per day to help develop the muscles in his stomach again.

• Had a punching bag hung from a metal platform on the back of a truck which enabled Foreman to run and hit the heavy bag at the same time.

• Foreman credited his punching power to come from his forearms rather than his legs or hips. This was a result of jabbing with the left hand for 30 minutes and then throwing a right cross for another 30 minutes.

• Chopping wood to build up physical strength. It’s very much the same type of motion as throwing a punch.

During the first phase of Foreman’s professional boxing career, he appeared to lack stamina to go the distance. He would later say this was because of nervous energy and when he made his comeback, he controlled his nervousness much more effectively and his stamina was no longer an issue.