Sugar Ray Leonard tricked into re-tweeting convicted murderer Raoul Moat's picture

Legendary American boxer Sugar Ray Leonard has been tricked by internet tricksters into sharing a picture of convicted killer Raoul Moat.

The American icon was reportedly approached on Twitter after he sent out a picture from the 2010 premiere of the 'The Fighter', starring Mark Wahlberg.

A Twitter user, called @Brick_chucker23, tweeted if Leonard could please 'RT' for his brother Moat who passed three years ago that week, as he was a huge fan, The Mirror reported.

The photo showed violent Moat holding a puppy.

However, the former champ wasn't aware of the killer's true identity and innocently retweeted it to his 1,67,000 followers.

A number of users responded with laughter, while others warned Leonard that Moat had killed a man during a rampage in 2010. The unfortunate tweet has now been retweeted more than 270 times with the boxer yet to realise he's been fooled.

The tweet could still be viewed on Leonard's Twitter page on Sunday.

Leonard is the latest American to be tricked into retweeting an image of a notorious British criminal.

Country and Western star Billy Ray Cyrus retweeted a picture of Jimmy Savile while Donald Trump retweeted a picture of Fred and Rose West, the report added.