The Legend Continues: Sugar Ray Leonard’s Hand Speed at 69

Former five-division world champion Sugar Ray Leonard showed off his still blazing fast hand speed this week in a mitt workout. In a video clip, the 69-year-old ‘Sugar Ray worked in what appears to be on the balcony of his beautiful mega-million mansion in the wealthy Pacific Palisades, California.

The Ageless Hand Speed of Leonard

The 1976 Olympic gold medalist Leonard (36-3-1, 25 KOs) doesn’t look like he’s lost much of his speed since retiring in 1982 due to an eye injury. Indeed, even for a fighter in their 20s, it would be impressive to have the speed that Sugar Ray exhibited in the video clip this week. It’s rare to see a fighter of Leonard’s age still possess hand speed and look athletic the way he does.

Leonard is viewed as the gold standard for what welterweights should aspire to be. None yet has matched the combination of speed, power, and boxing ability that Sugar Ray possessed. Although some have come along since he retired, fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Terence Crawford, and Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis have lacked the overall talent that Leonard had.

Sugar Ray’s Best Career Wins

– Tommy Hearns
– Marvin Hagler
– Roberto Duran
– Wilfred Benítez
– Danny Lalonde

A Glimpse of Boxing Royalty

If Sugar Ray had fought during this era, it’s unreal how much money he would have made, and his achievements. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done fighting the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, Crawford, Boots Ennis, and Dmitry Bivol.

When Leonard was fighting, boxing was still shown on major network television stations like ABC, CBS, and NBC. Nearing the end of Sugar Ray’s career, his major fights were shown on the premier cable platforms, HBO and Showtime. Leonard’s rematch against Tommy Hearns in 1989 was shown on HBO PPV.