Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Héctor Camacho, billed as Defying the Odds, was a professional boxing match contested on March 1, 1997, for the IBC middleweight championship.

In 1996, Sugar Ray Leonard began talks to end his fourth retirement and return to boxing to face former 3-division world champion Héctor Camacho.

[3] The 40-year old Leonard had not fought since losing to WBC super welterweight champion Terry Norris by a lopsided unanimous decision in February 1991, whilst the 34-year old Camacho had not won a major world title fight since 1990 and was also considered past his prime, though he had captured the lightly regarded IBC middleweight title after defeating Roberto Durán in June 1996.

After defeating Duran, Camacho challenged Leonard, who was working as a broadcaster for the fight, and negotiations between the two fighters began two days later.

[7] Both the bout's sponsor Sun International and television provider TVKO (HBO's pay-per-view division) both pulled out as a result of the controversy.