FLY MONSTERS GUIDE

FLY MONSTERS GUIDE

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard Describes Being Molested By Trainer Read more: Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard Describes Being Molested By Trainer


Champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard is most known for his sweet disposition quick jabs, but it’s in his forthcoming autobiography, ‘The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring,’ will the public learn of the haunting secrets that have been tucked away for decades. In his book, which is due to hit shelves next month, the boxer delves into his past of growing up in a home with domestic violence and alcohol use, his cocaine abuse, almost drowning as a child, surviving a car accident in which his mother was driving and becoming a father as a teenager.That already sounds likes a life full of drama, and that’s only up until the age of 17. The real jaw-dropper, though, is when Leonard writes about being sexually abused by a “prominent Olympic boxing coach,” on multiple occasions. Via The NY Times:
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.”
Sugar Ray Leonard also reveals that he struggled with including the haunting details in his book but was encouraged to share after watching Todd Bridges on Oprah:
“That was painful enough 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.”
The New York Times reached out to a few of his former coaches and trainers and they responded:
Dave Jacobs, Ray’s First Trainer
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard that, and I’ve known Ray since he was just a kid. 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
“Ray never mentioned anything but I never mingled with anything to do with a fighter except fighting. 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.”
It’s crazy how often this takes place. As reported yesterday, CNN anchor Don Lemon also details being sexually abused in his new book, Transparent’ that will be released in June.

No comments:

Post a Comment