In his new autobiography “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring”, due out next month boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard opened up about his cocaine habit, growing up in a home with alcohol abuse and domestic violence, surviving a car crash, & being sexually abused by his former trainer…
In one part of the book Leonard writes about being sexually abused by a “prominent Olympic boxing coach,” on multiple occasions, and even talked about a time when his coach had him take a bath in a tub of hot water and Epsom salts while he sat on the side of the bathroom watch.
“ Sugar Ray Lenord reveals publicly for the first time that he was sexually abused as a young fighter by an unnamed “prominent Olympic boxing coach.” He was 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.”Sugar Ray also stated that it was hard to tell this story but after watching an episode of Oprah he decided to tell his story:
“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.”
“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.”source
