Boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard reveals in his new book “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring” he lets on that he was sexually abused by an Olympic boxing coach. The New York Times got the deets:
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.”
WOAH!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
i’m sitting here wondering why sexual abuse has been plaguing our community especially with us men as of late. God help us, get rid of these demons!
“Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life.”
Hmm… how does someone get this far…. his mouth is on your dick. Someone liked it.
At 15 you idiot? Smh some people will say anything to get some attention…..loser!
I’m sorry at 17…
That’s so sad ….
This is sad. The reason many men won’t come out about being sexually abused is b/c they don’t want people to think they’re gay. It’s nothing for the person abused to be ashamed of. It’s the abuser who should be ashamed!
I’m glad people are coming forward and telling their story – it will give others strength to let go of demons that have haunted them for a lifetime. Don’t allow what another person does to you be your truth – accept your own truth. God bless!