LOS ANGELES _ Usher Raymond makes it clear from his superstar entrance that he's just visiting Hollywood's sweat-drenched Wild Card Boxing club.
Pulling up in pal Chris Brown's borrowed flaming red Lamborghini, Usher, 37, reverses deliberately into a parking space. He steps out geared in full black Helmut Lang over pristine Air Jordans. This is no struggling boxer.
But when the Grammy-winning R&B star steps up to the speed bag in a private gym, he shows the sweet science skills which helped land his biggest movie role as Sugar Ray Leonard in "Hands of Stone" (in theaters Friday).
"It's all about the rhythm," says Usher, methodically pounding the leather bag. "You have to listen to it."
Director Jonathan Jakubowicz listened when casting the real-life drama that features Edgar Ramirez as boxer Roberto Duran and Robert De Niro as Duran's trainer Ray Arcel.
Frustrated in his search for the right actor to portray superstar fighter Leonard, Jakubowicz turned to Wild Card Boxing owner Freddie Roach (who trains Manny Pacquiao) for advice on a suitable boxer.
"Freddie told me that no boxer can fight like Sugar Ray Leonard, his style was too slick. It'd be easier teaching a good dancer how to box than a boxer to fight like Sugar Ray Leonard," says Jakubowicz. "So I thought of the best dancer in the world, Usher."
While unproven in a dramatic movie, Usher made sense immediately with the footwork, the high-wattage smile and showman style that Leonard personified. Usher even deals with the same personal knocks as Leonard.
"Usher's rapper rivals call him a pretty boy who is too soft, not street enough. That's what the boxing rivals used to say about Sugar Ray Leonard," says Jakubowicz.
Usher fought for the part and impressed an initially skeptical Leonard during their first workout.
"I did a couple of moves in the ring with my feet and he mimicked me right back," says Leonard, 60. "Being an incredible dancer helps. But from jumping rope to hitting the bag, he was more natural than most. And he followed through like a soldier."
Usher prides himself on his performer's discipline and shape, but acknowledges, "I had never done anything like this before" _ working out three times a day and training in an Atlanta gym even as production delays held up "Hands of Stone's" shooting. With a vegetable-heavy diet, he dropped 20 pounds to get into the lean 150-pound range with eight-pack abs.
On the set in Panama, Jakubowicz raised Usher's hairline to match Leonard's and covered his body tattoos daily. The rest of the transformation, right down to the nuanced moments of the famed 1980 Leonard vs. Duran bout in New Orleans, was Usher channeling a legend.
When Leonard saw the finished movie, he strategically held off on his review.
"Usher kept calling and calling, but I waited. I wanted him to sweat a little," says Leonard. "But I called four days later and said, 'You passed, baby.' That's all he wanted to hear."
