Sugar Ray Leonard says that as a young boxer he was sexually abused by an Olympic boxing coach, according to the New York Times.
In his soon-to-be-published book "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring," Leonard describes the incident, which he says occurred in a deserted parking lot in the mid-70s. Leonard writes that a "prominent Olympic boxing coach" in his 40s sexually assaulted him as the two sat in a car discussing the upcoming 1976 Olympics, the paper reports.
"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," Leonard writes.
The former champ, who doesn't name the coach, says that he initially considered glossing over the incident but later decided it was important to reveal, the Times reports.
"I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt," he writes.
