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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sugar Ray Leonard: Olympic Boxing Coach Sexually Abused Me

Sugar Ray Leonard was sexually abused as a teenager by a “prominent Olympic boxing coach,” the ex-fighter turned sports broadcaster and “Dancing with the Stars” alum reveals in a new autobiography due out next month.

Leonard, 55, writes in “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring” that he was 15 when the first “inappropriate” incident occurred in 1971, The New York Times reported.

The unnamed coach had taken him and another young fighter to a boxing event in Utica, N.Y. and watched as both teenagers later bathed together in a tub, according to the Times.

Leonard recounts how the same coach abused him several years later in a parked car while they were discussing the upcoming 1976 Olympics. Leonard would later win a gold medal at the games.

“Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life,” Leonard writes, according to the Times. “I didn’t scream. I didn’t look at him. I just opened the door and ran.”

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many times is this that an ex-athlete or entertainer who isn't constantly in the limelight anymore all of a sudden recalls they were molested? Anything to get attention I guess.

Anonymous said...

At 15, no way a man can abuse you without violent force. Sugar, come out the closet already!

Anonymous said...

10:10 You are right and I expect part two soon.