Sugar Ray Leonard reveals abuse
The bombshell is reportedly contained in Leonard's "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring," which will be released next month by Viking Press.
Leonard reveals he was sexually abused in 1971 at a tournament in Utica, N.Y., when he was 15, by a "prominent Olympic boxing coach," according to an excerpt reported by The New York Times.
Leonard wrote he and another fighter were in a hot tub filled with Epsom salts when they suspected the unnamed coach was doing "something a bit inappropriate" on the other side of the bathroom. Leonard said the teens did not want to question their coach about the incident.
In a second incident a few years later, Leonard wrote that the same coach made a sexual advance toward him while the two were in a parked car near a recreation center.
"Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life. I didn't scream. I didn't look at him. I just opened the door and ran."
The book also details Leonard's struggle with drugs, alcohol, marital infidelity and domestic problems, and he goes on to detail his admission to having an alcohol problem later in life.
"Most people wouldn't even write a book like this, much less admit to something as personal as sexual abuse," said HBO Sports president Ross Greenberg. "But knowing Ray, I'd bet he's thinking that if one person reads this and says, "Oh, that happened to me, too, and I need to get help,' then he'll think it was worth it."
Leonard, who turned 55 Tuesday, is widely regarded as one of the best boxers of all time, winning titles in five weight classes. As an amateur Leonard won the gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as a light welterweight.
Source:nypost
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