Sugar Ray Seales
boxer
"Sugar" Ray Seales, (born September 4, 1952) is an American former boxer. He was the only American boxer to win a gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he fought middleweight champion Marvin Hagler three times. He is also the former NABF and USBA middleweight champion.
Family and early life
Seales was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where his father, who boxed in the U.S. Army, was stationed. The Seales family moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1965. He is the half-brother of boxer Dale Grant and the brother of boxer Wilbur Seales.
Career
Olympic
Seales was a product of the Tacoma Boys Club amateur boxing program, and was coached by Joe Clough.
Amateur record: 338–12
1972 Olympic gold medalist (139 lbs.)
1971 National AAU light welterweight champion
1972 National Golden Gloves 139 pounds champion, defeating Donnie Nelson of Lowell, MA in the final
1972 Olympic results
Round of 32: defeated Ulrich Beyer (East Germany) on points
Round of 16: defeated Jim Montague (Ireland) on points
Quarterfinal: defeated Andres Molina (Cuba) 3–2
Semifinal: defeated Zvonimir Vujin (Yugoslavia) 5–0
Final: defeated Angel Angelov (Bulgaria) 3–2
Professional
Seales was a contender for the middleweight title during the late '70s and early '80s, winning the regional level USBA and NABF titles in the process. In his two most memorable fights, he lost a narrow decision to future middleweight champion Marvin Hagler in July 1974, then drew with Hagler in a rematch three months later.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sugar Ray Seales” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.