How sweet it is. Two of boxing’s most famous Sugars are set for some appearances of the coming weeks. Sugar Ray Leonard will be attending the induction ceremony for the new Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame on August 10th. Meanwhile, the night before, Sugar Shane Mosley will be attending a fight card at Fantasy Springs in Indio, California as a special guest for the evening.
Sugar Ray Leonard, a 1976 Olympic gold medalist who won world titles in five weight classes as one of the great fighters in the 1980s, has announced that he will attend the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame’s inaugural induction gala on Saturday, Aug. 10 at the Monte Carlo Resort in Las Vegas.
A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Leonard was chosen in the non-Nevada boxer category. He was 36-3-1 with 25 knockouts overall, but was 11-0-1 with eight knockouts in 12 fights in Nevada.
Among those were epic victories over Thomas Hearns, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Wilfred Benitez, all of whom are, like Leonard, members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Leonard stopped Hearns in the 14th round of a Sept. 16, 1981 welterweight title unification bout at Caesars Palace. After the 12th round, Leonard’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, recognized that Leonard was hopelessly behind.
“You’re blowing it, son,” Dundee said to Leonard. “You’re blowing it.”
Motivated by Dundee, Leonard stopped the previously unbeaten Hearns in the 14th round.
He famously moved up to middleweight in 1987 to challenge the great Hagler. Leonard outboxed Hagler and won a very close split decision to capture the 160-pound belt.
In 1988 at Caesars Palace, Leonard defeated Donnie Lalonde to win both the super middleweight and light heavyweight belts, his fourth and fifth weight class titles.
Sugar Shane Mosley, a future Hall of Fame boxer who has forged a legacy as one of the sport’s most accomplished fighters of this era, will greet fans at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. prior to the August 9 ShoBox: The New Generation tripleheader featuring one of the hottest heavyweights in the game, unbeaten knockout artist Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder.
A local favorite who first made his name on the Southern California fight scene (including a 1996 fight at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino), Pomona’s Mosley got his big break when he faced IBF Lightweight World Champion Philip Holiday on August 2, 1997. Sugar Shane won the bout by unanimous decision showing off his dazzling speed and power that he later used to clean out the lightweight division.
With lightweight conquered, Mosley moved up two divisions to the welterweight and eventually defeated WBC Welterweight World Champion Oscar De La Hoya. In subsequent years, Mosley would win a third divisional title at 154 pounds and continue to fight the best in the game, including Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito, Fernando Vargas and Miguel Cotto. In his most recent bout on May 18, Mosley defeated Mexican star Pablo Cesar Cano.
Mosley will be on hand to meet fans, sign autographs and take pictures from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. inside the Fantasy Springs Special Events Center. The meet and greet is open to the public with the purchase of a ticket to the fights.
