Sugar Ray Leonard is a former professional boxer who is now a motivational speaker and occasional actor. Many regard Leonard as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Leonard competed between 1977 and 1997, and during that period, he won the undisputed welterweight championship, the lineal championship in three weight divisions, and world titles in five weight divisions. His winnings from his time as a professional boxer have made him a wealthy man. In the 1980s, Sugar Ray Leonard became the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses. He has since continued to make money as a motivational speaker and by making television appearances. His wealth has allowed him to have a stunning Florentine villa custom-built for himself and his wife. However, the former boxer has now decided to list his property for $46.5 million.
An Overview of Sugar Ray Leonard’s Pacific Palisades Mansion
The property that Sugar Ray Leonard and his wife are selling is in the exclusive and celebrity-favored neighborhood of Riviera in Pacific Palisades. Riviera has some of the most expensive properties in the area, so it attracts only the wealthiest people. Some of the neighbors include Steven Spielberg, Bill Cosby, and Dan Castellaneta. Leonard and his wife bought two plots of land back in 1993 for an undisclosed figure. The combined area of the two parcels of land is approximately 1.8-acres, so there was plenty of space for them to get creative and have the home of their dreams built on the plot.
The couple hired L.A.-based architect Richard Landry to custom design a sprawling estate for them. The result was a magnificent Florentine villa with seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, four half bathrooms, and multiple public spaces. Internally, the house measures almost 17,000-square-feet. Around two years ago, Leonard decided to put the estate on the market with an ambitious asking price of $52 million. Unfortunately, there was a lack of interest, and he took the house back off the market. Now, he has decided to give it another go and has relisted the property for the lower yet still sizeable asking price of $46.5 million.
Inside the Florentine Villa
Inside the villa, the style is best described as a combination of traditional and opulent. Throughout the house, there are both rough-cut stone floor tiles and wooden flooring. Many rooms also feature wood-beamed ceilings and antique carved stone fireplaces imported from Europe, says Dirt.com. The main entranceway has stone floors, a double-height ceiling, and a sweeping staircase leading to the property’s upper level. Archways with stone surround at either end of the entranceway leading to the house’s two wings.
Both the formal living room and the formal dining room have a traditional feel. The vast living room has a huge tapestry hanging on one wall, while the opposite wall features a stone fireplace. There are three sets of French doors leading out to a terrace. In the dining room, there is antique furniture, a 10-seat dining suite, and a large mirror on the wall. Like the living room, the dining room has French doors leading to the garden. Another public space on the villa’s lower level is a cavernous family room with a double-height beamed ceiling. Despite the vast size of the room, the comfortable furniture and stone fireplace give the room a cozy feel. Other rooms on the lower story include further living spaces, a gourmet eat-in kitchen, an informal dining room, and a solarium.
According to the listing, there are seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and four half bathrooms. However, these are split between the main house and the pool house, the latter of which also doubles as a guest house. It is not made clear how many of these bedrooms and bathrooms are within the main property. The master suite is an enormous room with dual aspect windows and three sets of French doors across two walls leading out to a wrought-iron private balcony. There is a separate seating area in the master suite, and a carved stone fireplace is one of the room’s main features.
The Grounds of the Estate
Sugar Ray Leonard’s mansion is set in 1.8-acres of grounds. To the front, high hedges hide the property away from the street, and the driveway is accessed via wrought-iron gates set between stone pillars. The driveway leads to a paved motor court at the front of the house that has ample space to park multiple vehicles. The motor court is surrounded, there are small hedges, trees, and lawned areas, and paved steps lead to the front door of the house. The external appearance of the house looks much older than 30 years old. The Florentine villa would not look out of place in the Italian countryside. The stucco walls are covered with ivy, and some other external features include terracotta-tiled roofs, large windows, and balconies. There is a central section to the house, from which there are two wings jutting out at angles. From the front of the house, the central section has a protruding lower level with a balcony on the upper level and an angled roof.
From the property’s rear, the central section is a rotunda. Most of the grounds are behind the house and wrapped around the two sides. There are huge expanses of lawn divided by manicured hedges and various spaces for leisure and entertainment purposes. Behind the house is a paved terrace set up for outdoor dining and entertainment. Steps lead down from the terrace to a lower expanse of lawn. At the end of the lawn is an oval-shaped swimming pool, surrounded by mature trees and hedges. To one side of the pool is a two-story pool house. One section of the lower floor is open-fronted like a loggia. The pool house also acts as a guesthouse, as it has bedrooms and bathrooms that are included in the total number of bedrooms and bathrooms stated in the listings. Another feature of the grounds is a tennis court that sits alongside a putting green.
