Sparring with Sugar Ray Leonard

Tony Jeffries on his virtual spar with Sugar Ray Leonard

It’s not everyday day, you get to lace them up and have the chance to spar with one of the greatest boxers of all time. Well I did! As we all know, 2020 was a crazy year, it was so crazy I sparred with Sugar Ray Leonard. Don’t believe me? Watch the video below. Now a little disclaimer, we didn’t actually punch each other in the face, we did a virtual sparring session, and it was amazing. 

But still, how does a lad from Sunderland end up doing this with one of the greatest of all time in boxing? 

Well, Ray, who lives in Los Angeles, just a couple of miles from me has visited the gyms I co-own own, Box N Burn a few times in the past, he took a boxing fitness class I was teaching and is an absolutely great guy.

He is big into his fitness even at the age of 64, so when lockdown was happening last year he asked if I’d be interested in taking him through a training session on zoom, I said HELL YES! 

And that was it. It was one of the highlights of the year for me. I’ve always looked up to Ray and since I met him I realized he wasn’t only an amazing boxer but an absolute diamond of a human being. 

Click the below and check out this sparring session. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21EVL3FfA38?feature=oembed