On this day: Born May 17, 1956: Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer

Leonard, who turns 64 on Sunday, won six world titles in five weight divisions but his career was as much about who he fought and how he fought them as what he won. As the 1970s ended, the iconic heavyweight era of Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Joe Frazier was over and Leonard was moving to centre stage along with three other men, whose careers would all be defined by their rivalry. Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns fought each other nine times between 1980 and 1989 in the welterweight or middleweight divisions.