{"id":434662,"date":"2026-01-26T17:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434662\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:16:12","slug":"sugar-ray-leonard-reflects-on-the-rise-of-boxing-phenomenon-claressa-shields-in-her-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434662\/","title":{"rendered":"Sugar Ray Leonard reflects on the rise of boxing phenomenon Claressa Shields: \u2018In her corner\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claressa Shields<\/a> has one legendary fellow boxing champion firmly in her corner: Sugar Ray Leonard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 69-year-old boxing icon recently shared his thoughts on the state of the sport and some of today\u2019s top talent, including the 30-year-old star.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what, there is so much talent out there right now, period,\u201d Leonard told Scoop B Radio<\/a> during a recent red carpet appearance when asked about women\u2019s boxing and Shields specifically.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan the business be helped? Yes,\u201d he added, acknowledging that the women\u2019s side of the sport needs stronger backing. \u201cEverything needs support at some point, whether it\u2019s a business or a passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to Shields in particular, however, his stance is simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love boxing, so I\u2019m in her corner \u2014 how about that?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leonard noted he hasn\u2019t yet had the chance to see Shields fight in person, but that\u2019s about to change.<\/p>\n

\"ClaressaClaressa Shields reacts at the end of the tenth round against Danielle Perkins during their undisputed heavyweight title bout on February 02, 2025 at Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen her live yet, but I certainly will now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been brought to my attention again and I really like what I see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard also touched on men\u2019s boxing and the rise of YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who has stepped into the ring with legends like Mike Tyson, as well as the idea of a potential \u201cdream matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can answer that one,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you know what? Again, I\u2019m an optimist. I believe in the sport, and I support the hustle. Bring \u2019em on!\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard last fought in 1997 after a career that made him one of boxing\u2019s famed \u201cFour Kings\u201d of the 1970s, \u201980s and \u201990s. A five-division world champion and Olympic gold medalist, he finished with 25 knockouts across 40 fights.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Shields, who made her debut in 2016, is the current undisputed champion in five divisions, including middleweight, light middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and\u00a0recently became the highest-paid woman in the ring. Next, she\u2019s gearing up for a rematch on Sunday, Feb. 22, against Franch\u00f3n Crews-Dezurn at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claressa Shields has one legendary fellow boxing champion firmly in her corner: Sugar Ray Leonard. The 69-year-old boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,11569,75,82,23853],"class_list":{"0":"post-434662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-claressa-shields","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sugar-ray-leonard"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}