"Sugar" Ray Robinson was one of the best boxers in any weight division. His first world title was at welterweight in 1946. Moving up a division, he beat Jake la Motta in 1951 to capture the middleweight title. He even had a crack at the light heavyweight title, but failed after a 14th-round knockout. Robinson was born i Detroit in 1920 and turned professional in 1940. He went on to have 201 fights and won 174 of them, 109 with knockouts.
"Sugar" Ray Leonard was born in Wilmington, Carolina in 1956. He began boxing at 14 and in 1976 won the Olympic light welterweight title. He turned professional in 1977. Two years later he won the first of many world titles when he beat Wilfred Benitez to become welterweight champion. Leonard went on to become the first man to win world titles at five different weights, all within ten years. He held welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and super middleweight titles.
Oscar de la Hoya from Los Angeles first became famous at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics - he won the USA's only boxing gold that year. La Hoya turned professional after the Olympics. He went on to become only the third man to capture world titles at five different weights, from junior lightweight to junior middleweight. His greatest win was beating his idol Julio Cesar Chavez in four rounds at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, in 1996.
Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942. He burst on to the boxing scene at the 1960 Rome Olympics where he took the light heavyweight gold medal. In 1964, aged 22, he won his first world heavyweight title by beating Sonny Liston. He beat George Foreman ten years later to become only the second man to regain his title. In 1978, at the age of 36, he beat Leon Spinks to become the first man to win the title a third time. He lost his last world title fight to Larry Holmes in 1980.
Nice article