Ray Charles Leonard is today better known as Sugar Ray Leonard – retired professional boxer, occasional actor and American motivational speaker who has an estimated net worth of $120 million. Leonard was the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses. He is considered as one of the best boxers of all time who won titles in five different weight divisions, and in particular because of his notable matches with many other quality professional boxers, such as Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Wilfred Benitez.
Sugar Ray Leonard Net Worth $120 Million
Ray Charles Leonard was born on May 17, 1956, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He was named after the American singer and composer Ray Charles. Leonard started his amateur boxing career at the age of 14. He showed himself as a great fighter, and from that time Leonard’s popularity and net worth started to grow. Ray decided to start a professional boxing career, and he was soon given the nickname “Sugar Ray” after Sugar Ray Robinson who is often considered as the greatest boxer of all time. His professional debut was in 1977 at the Civic Center in Baltimore, Maryland. On November 30, 1979 he had already won WBC Welterweight Championship when he fought Wilfred Benitez. That was also the beginning of building Sugar Ray Leonard’s net worth. On March 28, 1981, Sugar Ray Leonard one more time proved his strength and defended his world title against Larry Bonds.
Leonad retired in 1997 after a bitter loss to Hector “Macho” Camacho. During the years of his activity as a boxer, he was named “Fighter of the Year” and “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated, “Figther of the Year” by The Ring and The Boxing Writers Association of America. He finished his career with a record of 36-3-1 with 25 knockouts.
Since then he has continued his career as a commentator for ABC, HBO, ESPN and NBC. This kind of activity has increased Sugar Ray Leonard’s net worth even more. He also started to make deals with many well-known companies, such as Ford, Coca-Cola, EA Sports and Nabisco, and also to appear in movies as an occasional actor, and even participated in reality shows.
Nowadays many people know how rich is Sugar Ray Leonard’s and know all about his net worth, but not everyone knows about the “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation” which he supports. Sugar Ray Leonard’s foundation expanded in 2009 and today supports healthcare services, job training and accessible housing. Thanks to his work, in 2007 he was awarded the LA Sports & Entertainment Commission for his community involvement.
Despite Sugar Ray Leonard having finished his boxing career, he is still a well-known person in the sports industry, and one of the richer personalities with an estimated net worth over $100 million. With his wife Robi who the famous boxer married at the $8.7 million estate in Pacific Palisades, California in 2003, he has two children, Daniel Ray and Camille. He is also the godfather of Khloe Kardashian – she stars in “Keeping Up With The Kardashians“.
