{"id":604457,"date":"2026-04-14T23:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604457\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T23:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:40:11","slug":"sugar-ray-leonard-names-his-favourite-fighter-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604457\/","title":{"rendered":"Sugar Ray Leonard names his favourite fighter of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/sugar-ray-leonard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sugar Ray Leonard<\/a> has revealed who he views as his favourite ever fighter.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard comes to mind for many fans when they discuss their most-loved boxers, but the legendary figure had another popular choice in mind for his selection.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because he has named Muhammad Ali as his all-time favourite fighter \u2013 and it has nothing to do with his brilliance inside the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Ali\u2019s legacy is not only because of his fighting exploits, but also due to the American\u2019s engaging personality, which contributed to him becoming one of the most recognisable athletes of all time.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of his career itself, though, it is hardly surprising that Ali is considered by many as the greatest heavyweight of all time, even if others would argue the No.1 spot belongs to Joe Louis.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most notably, Ali overcame a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/features\/on-this-day-the-rumble-in-the-jungle-sees-muhammad-ali-regain-the-heavyweight-title-with-victory-over-george-foreman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">torrid eight-round battle with George Foreman<\/a>, a considerable pre-fight favourite, to reclaim his WBC world title in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, he had exacted his revenge over Joe Frazier with a 12-round unanimous decision victory, before completing their iconic trilogy with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/boxing\/news\/12184\/10009814\/the-thrilla-in-manila-round-by-round\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u2018Thrilla in Manila\u2019 triumph<\/a> in 1975.<\/p>\n<p>With wins over the likes of Earnie Shavers and Ken Norton, too, Ali is widely credited and revered for facing the most formidable contenders of his generation.<\/p>\n<p>For Leonard, though, it is mainly Ali\u2019s larger-than-life character that he gravitated towards, highlighting this as the reason for naming the heavyweight legend as his favourite fighter of all time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuhammad Ali. He was bigger than life. He caught my eye, no pun intended.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in his Q&amp;A with Mark Baldwin, which appeared in Boxing News\u2019 latest issue, Leonard also named his favourite fight of all time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Muhammad Ali fought the beast, George Foreman \u2013 and beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To read the full Q&amp;A with Leonard and more exclusive interviews, <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnews.imbmsubscriptions.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">get the latest edition of Boxing News Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sugar Ray Leonard has revealed who he views as his favourite ever fighter. Leonard comes to mind for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-604457","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-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604457","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=604457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}