 He represented his native country at two Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney, Australia where he had a *1st round bye and immediately lost to Diógenes Luña (Cuba) 14-25.His biggest achievement as an amateur was winning the world title at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand with a controversial final win over Alexander Maletin.Olympic Results 2004

Nicknamed "Small Leonard" he made his professional debut on November 16, 2004 in Germany against Francisco Gómez of Spain but showed little power and a bad chin so far.