Hello, it's just a quick question that I've had somewhere in my head for the last 10 years but never asked. Sugar Ray Robinson - GOAT Sugar Ray Leonard - ATG Sugar Shane Mosley - Great career and great boxer, but I've always find the "sugar" tag surprising... Sugar Nikolai Valuev - A whole different story... I know it's nothing really important, but I tought there could be a good story about it that I wasn't aware of and that some quick googling couldn't answer.
Sugar Ray Leonard passed on the name to Mosley after the Oscar fight. Being nice looking helps too. None of the Sugars are ugly or intimidating looking. They all have this clean cut good boy look about them. If you look at Mosley from certain angles, you can see that he resembles the TRUE Sugar man. That right hand to the body that Mosley throws looks kind of similar to Robinson's right hand to the body. Shane Mosley isn't a Sugar at all when it comes to conducting business.
Only a while ago everyone was "YES MOSLEY DESERVES THE NICKNAME" then he loses to Mayweather at 39 years of age and this is being questioned again. Follow his career closely, watch his ability in the ring and that should answer your question. If it still doesn't answer your question then you are an idiot.
Calm down man, I love Shane as much as anyone. No need to get on you high horses. Leon gave me the kind of answer I was looking for when he said that Ray Leonard called him this way. Shane always had some of the quickest hands in the business and always had tremendous power, but I've simply always tought that the "sugar" tag fitted more to a guy like Leonard who had some sweetness in the way he moved and also in his combinations. I don't think that makes me an idiot, internet tough guy.
Brownie the above is incorrect. Shane was given the nickname "Sugar" by old school small time trainers in the now "defunct" LA Boxing Gym. He was like 11 yrs old when this took place, and actually they referred to him as the "Little Professional" because he was so advanced at a very early age. His Sugar moniker also was NOT given in HOMAGE to Ray Leonard but in HOMAGE to Ray Robinson because people felt like they had similar styles which they do. And it is also true that Shane met Ray Robinson and told his nickname was Sugar too, and you probably have heard the rest of this tale I am sure on some HBO special bull****. But for the record it was ABSOLUTELY NOT GIVEN TO HIM BY RAY LEONARD!
I actually would say Mosley is closer to Robinson in terms of style, the way he moves in the ring, the way he throws shots (that looping overhand right for instance), etc...than Leonard is to Robinson.