Sugar Ray Leonard returns to the ring -- as a promoter

As a boxer, Sugar Ray Leonard was as good as it gets. He started boxing at 14, and a mere six years later, put seven awards on his fight card. He dreamed the dream, and his determination turned that dream into Olympic Gold at the 1976 Games in Montreal.

Famous for his agility and finesse, Sugar Ray, filled the boxing void left when legend Muhammad Ali retired in 1981. With the American public in search of a new boxing superstar, Leonard stepped into the spotlight at precisely the right time.

He turned pro at age 20 to help with his ailing father's mounting medical bills, and over a 20-year career turned in a series of stellar performances, winning world titles in five divisions. He knew early on how to put people in the seats. These days, he wants to do the same as a promoter with his firm SRL Boxing.

Bankrate: When you turned pro, you incorporated yourself, something no fighter had even considered in the past. Why did you structure your career that way from the beginning?

Sugar Ray Leonard: I had the blessing of talking to Muhammad Ali before that, and he always said, "Ray, you make sure you own yourself, make sure that you're your own man and make sure you have good people around you." That stuck with me. So when I met Mike Trainer (his boxing manager), the first thing we talked about was that boxing is a business and that we were going to treat it like a business.

Bankrate: Now that you're a promoter, do you miss being inside the ring?

Leonard: From a business standpoint, what I do now is I live vicariously through other boxers because if I'm able to help them become world champions and be successful inside and outside the ring, that, too, is very gratifying

Bankrate: You've already made millions as a boxer. Why start SRL Boxing? Did you think the sport was missing something?

Leonard: I just want to take boxing to the next level. My goal is to put together compelling fights with equally matched opponents. I want to bring back the integrity that we had in the 70s and 80s.

Bankrate:Why is it that many of the faces and names on the SRL Boxing Web site are not that recognizable?

Leonard:Yes, that is the key. The majority of fighters today are not household names. You had fighters like Oscar de la Hoya, George Foreman and Mike Tyson who had transcended the sport because they had exposure to millions and millions of fans, through pay per view, through HBO. We have to reintroduce boxers to the public, to the fans, and take it to the next level, to be on network television, to expose them to true boxing fans.

Bankrate: What's so different from when you boxed?

Leonard: Back then, when I won the Olympics in 1976 it was televised by network television. Today's Olympics is mostly on cable. You have a select group that's watching. You don't have that free viewership to expose a boxer. We also boxed in Las Vegas and Madison Square Garden, and the networks produced stories about a boxer's life, so fans became caring fans, and caring fans are the best kind of fans to have. And that's the next level that I'm talking about. Getting the exposure and creating the new superstars.

Bankrate:Where do you find your boxers now?

Leonard:I have scouts on the east and west coasts, and I receive thousands of e-mails every month. Once we sign them with SRL Boxing, we're watching over them. We work with advisers or counselors to teach them how to save for a rainy day. Because boxers can make an enormous amount of money, but they don't know how to invest it. As young boxers, they think the money will last forever, but it doesn't.

Bankrate:You also travel the world giving motivational talks. You say POWER is the key. What do you mean by that?

Leonard: I speak to Fortune 500 companies, and I use boxing as a metaphor. The same rules that I used to become world champion are applicable to life, business, family. And I talk about P.O.W.E.R: prepare, overcome and win every round. And I talk about dreaming the dream, having determination, getting up from knockdowns, choosing the right corner, walking like a champion, exuding confidence -- all these things are factors that make you a world champion, and those same principles will make you a successful individual whether in a company, in a family or a relationship. All these things make you a winner.

Mabel Jong is a freelance writer based in Massachusetts.