In addition to being known for a tremendous boxing career, Sugar Ray Leonard is also known for a charismatic personality and endearing smile. In his new book, however, the boxer reveals that things haven't always been so happy.
The New York Times reports that Leonard reveals in his new autobiography, The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring, that he was sexually abused as a teenager.
According to an excerpt from the book, Leonard was sexually abused as 15-year-old by a "prominent Olympic boxing coach."
Leonard writes that he and another young boxer suspected something when the coach made the two take a bath together while away at a boxing event in 1971. Things only got worse from there.
"Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life," Leonard wrote, according to the Times. "I didn't scream. I didn't look at him. I just opened the door and ran."
Leonard also said he was going to omit those devastating details from the book, but says he was inspired by actor Todd Bridges who admitted that he was sexually molested as a child.
"I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt," Leonard continued.
The boxer reportedly declined comment for the newspaper's story, but the Times did speak to one of Leonard's former trainers, Dave Jacobs.
Jacobs admitted it was the first he had heard of the allegations, but added, "I feel sorry for him in that part of his life and for having to carry that around with him."
The autobiography will be released on June 6.
