SR Leonard admits to being Sexually Abuse by Olympic Boxing coach

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The opening segment of a forthcoming autobiography by Sugar Ray Leonard runs counter to the cunning style the former boxer used in winning championships in five weight divisions more than a quarter century ago. It is more like hearing the bell, rushing to the center of the ring, and getting hit between the eyes with a roundhouse right.

Most fans of Leonard remember him for his sweet smile and lightning-fast hands, as a transcendent and breakout celebrity in a brutal profession. But by Page 36 of “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring,” to be published next month by Viking, Leonard has mentioned his cocaine use, growing up in a home with alcohol abuse and domestic violence, luckily surviving a car wreck with his mother at the wheel, almost drowning in a creek as a child who was unable to swim, and fathering a son at 17.

Two pages later, Leonard delivers the book’s bombshell, while indirectly addressing a growing concern in the sports industry at large. He reveals publicly for the first time that he was sexually abused as a young fighter by an unnamed “prominent Olympic boxing coach.”

Leonard writes that when the coach accompanied him as a 15-year-old and another young fighter to a boxing event in Utica, N.Y., in 1971, he had the teenagers take a bath in a tub of hot water and Epsom salts while he sat on the other side of the bathroom. They suspected “something a bit inappropriate” was occurring but did not want to question a strong male authority figure.

Several years later, Leonard describes sitting in a car in a deserted parking lot across from a recreation center, listening intently as the same coach, said to be in his late 40s, explained how much a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics would mean to his future.

He was flattered, filled with hope, as any young athlete would be. But he writes: “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.”

He adds that when he first decided to discuss the incident in the book, which is co-authored with Michael Arkush, he offered a version in which the abuser stopped before there was actual contact.

“That was painful enough,” Leonard writes. “But last year, after watching the actor Todd Bridges bare his soul on Oprah’s show about how he was sexually abused as a kid, I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt.”

Through his publisher, Leonard, who turned 55 on Tuesday, declined to comment for this article, saying that he will begin doing publicity for the book in June. But several people who were close to him when he was routinely banking multimillion dollar purses for title bouts with Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler were taken aback when told of what he has revealed in the book.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard that, and I’ve known Ray since he was just a kid,” Dave Jacobs, who was Leonard’s first trainer as an amateur and later served as assistant trainer for many of his professional fights, said in a telephone interview. “He never talked about that to me and no one in the group ever mentioned it, so I assume he never talked about it to them either.

“But if that incident did happen, I feel sorry for him in that part of his life and for having to carry that around with him.”

Angelo Dundee, who achieved fame as Muhammad Ali’s trainer and later became the head man in Leonard’s corner, said he knew very little about his fighter’s personal lives and preferred it that way.

“Ray never mentioned anything but I never mingled with anything to do with a fighter except fighting,” Dundee said from his Florida home. “You never wanted personal stuff getting in the way when you sent a kid into the ring. And as far as I could see, Ray was as mentally tough as they came.”

As president of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg was involved in the television negotiations for many of Leonard’s fights and employed him as an analyst during Leonard’s retirements, which turned into sabbaticals. Greenburg said he was only aware of Leonard’s drug and alcohol use — which was made public in 1991 when Leonard responded to a report in The Los Angeles Times culled from records of his divorce from his first wife, Juanita.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/sp...leonard&st=cse

Terrible stuff, any ideas about who it was?

I'll definitely buy Leonard's book, seems like a step above the usual boxing autobiography. Also good that he's waited till well past the end of his career. I can't stand reading autobiographies by guys who've not even been a pro 5 years or someone who still has fights remaining and can make themselves look a right dickhead with the opinions put forward in it *cough Joe Calzage*

That aside, it seems like he's not doing it as a PR stunt and will address his personal problems in depth.

I've been looking forward to an autobiography from Sugar Ray Leonard.

It's sad to hear what he went through, but it sounds as if there's going to be some explosive stuff in it.

Ya know, if it was me, I probably would have, knocked the mother-fucker upside the head, and then just kept my mouth shut about it. But good for Ray, I respect him for saying something about it, maybe that will keep the shit from happening to some other young kid.

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Originally Posted by JazMerkin

Terrible stuff, any ideas about who it was?

I'll definitely buy Leonard's book, seems like a step above the usual boxing autobiography. Also good that he's waited till well past the end of his career. I can't stand reading autobiographies by guys who've not even been a pro 5 years or someone who still has fights remaining and can make themselves look a right dickhead with the opinions put forward in it *cough Joe Calzage*

That aside, it seems like he's not doing it as a PR stunt and will address his personal problems in depth.

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I might have to buy his book as well. I recall reading his net worth was around $100 Million a year or two back so I don't imagine his motivation for the book being money. I'm guessing it's a pretty good read. However, the Sexual abuse bit does sound more like bait.

Says it all about this place a bit of 'Kiddie Fiddling' is mentioned and you all wanna buy the book ;D

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Says it all about this place a bit of 'Kiddie Fiddling' is mentioned and you all wanna buy the book ;D

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....bilbo?

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Says it all about this place a bit of 'Kiddie Fiddling' is mentioned and you all wanna buy the book ;D

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There's a bit of brain damage for ya.... For boxing, don't you have to be 16 to qualify for the Olympics.

Incidentally, Leonard was also sexually abused by Roberto Duran. ;D

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Originally Posted by fan johnny

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Originally Posted by BIG H

Says it all about this place a bit of 'Kiddie Fiddling' is mentioned and you all wanna buy the book ;D

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There's a bit of brain damage for ya.... For boxing, don't you have to be 16 to qualify for the Olympics.

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The Olympics is every 4 years, my guess is you can train for it when you're 16, but need to be 18 to qualify, but then WTF do I know.

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Originally Posted by Hulk

Incidentally, Leonard was also sexually abused by Roberto Duran. ;D

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This is hilarious, and verbally abused as well..

Well Leonard ended getting last Laugh in the end with Duran making him quiet like a bitch. One of the times i like someone clowning around with opponent was when Leonard did it.

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Originally Posted by Mr140

Well Leonard ended getting last Laugh in the end with Duran making him quiet like a bitch. One of the times i like someone clowning around with opponent was when Leonard did it.

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Duran quit out of frustration that Leonard refused to engage or fight him. He certainly didn't quit out of pain or fear.

Roberto Duran and "bitch" do not belong in the same sentence.

Am I the only person who was never molested as a child?

Duran quiet because he could not win if Leonard boxed and instead quiet hes not a bitch but it was bitch move to do in my mind. I mean top 10 greatest of all time just giving in because a guy is out boxing him.

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Originally Posted by marbleheadmaui

Am I the only person who was never molested as a child?

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You must be blocking it out.

Leonard says he was 17 about the bath thing but then a few years later, this thing happened, surely hes streetwise enough. I mean, he let the pervert "unzip his pants and put his mouth over it"!!! He let it go that long before he ran!

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Originally Posted by ross

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Originally Posted by marbleheadmaui

Am I the only person who was never molested as a child?

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You must be blocking it out.

Leonard says he was 17 about the bath thing but then a few years later, this thing happened, surely hes streetwise enough. I mean, he let the pervert "unzip his pants and put his mouth over it"!!! He let it go that long before he ran!

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He probably let it go a little further...:splurt:

It is brave of SRL to come out with this and i hope they find the man and take him to court.

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Originally Posted by ross

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Originally Posted by marbleheadmaui

Am I the only person who was never molested as a child?

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You must be blocking it out.

Leonard says he was 17 about the bath thing but then a few years later, this thing happened, surely hes streetwise enough. I mean, he let the pervert "unzip his pants and put his mouth over it"!!! He let it go that long before he ran!

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you're kinda forgetting that many people are in momentary shock when something like that happens so don't always react immediately.

Exactly. Anyway Ray is a fighter, his first reaction was probably to roll with the penis.

You guys are COLD AS ICE!! Funny, but COLD!;D

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Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Exactly. Anyway Ray is a fighter, his first reaction was probably to roll with the penis.

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:bow:

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Originally Posted by Master

It is brave of SRL to come out with this and i hope they find the man and take him to court.

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The statue of limitations has surely passed and that guy is probably dead if he was 40 back when SRL who is now 55 was 17.

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Originally Posted by JonesJrMayweather

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Originally Posted by Master

It is brave of SRL to come out with this and i hope they find the man and take him to court.

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The statue of limitations has surely passed and that guy is probably dead if he was 40 back when SRL who is now 55 was 17.

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Maybe that is why he has gone public on this, the guy must be dead. I have heard of stories of children who have come forward and the peado's getting sentenced many years later.

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Originally Posted by Jimanuel Boogustus

Exactly. Anyway Ray is a fighter, his first reaction was probably to roll with the penis.

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Solid ;D

I think the second story is a little odd frankly.

Hopefully whenever Youngblood spills the sordid details of the CFH incident he refers to the area that haunted me for the rest of my life.

Respect to SRL on this matter...

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Originally Posted by OumaFan

Hopefully whenever Youngblood spills the sordid details of the CFH incident he refers to the area that haunted me for the rest of my life.

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He offered to have my face tattoed on his ass. true story. :-X






;D

Sometimes I forget how funny I am ;D

Always knew he was a shirt lifter..how can you be 17!!! And let that happen.?
Sugar and the golden boy and many pink skeletons in their closet.