Boxing legend says he was sexually assaulted by coach (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Former US Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Leonard says he was sexually assaulted by an ex-American Olympic team coach.

Leonard, who won a gold medal in the 1976 Montreal Games and went on to have a brilliant pro career, made the accusations in a new tell-all book "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring", US media reported.

The book is expected to come out in stores in June.

The 55-year-old Leonard said the abuse happened when he was a teenager and a young man.

Leonard said in one of the encounters, the coach talked to him about winning a gold medal.

"Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life," he said. "I didn't scream. I didn't look at him. I just opened the door and ran."

He said the sexual assaults made it difficult for him to cope emotionally when he reached adulthood. Leonard declined to name the coach.

Leonard is considered one of the top professional boxers of all-time and was the first fighter to earn more than $100 million in purse money. He captured world titles in five weight classes.

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Sugar Ray Leonard book says coach sexually abused him: report (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard has said that he was sexually abused as a teenager by a "prominent" Olympic coach, according to a report in the New York Times on Tuesday.

The newspaper said Leonard made the claim in his upcoming autobiography, "The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring."

Leonard, now 55, said he was assaulted by the unnamed coach on two occasions. The first was when he was competing at a tournament in Utica, N.Y, aged 15.

The second, several years later, happened in car parked in a deserted lot when the coach was discussing with him his prospects at the 1976 Olympics.

"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 wrote.

Leonard, who won the gold medal in the light welterwight division at the Montreal Olympics, said he had been haunted by the ordeal for years but decided to reveal it in his book in the hope that he would help his own healing process.

"I realized I would never be free unless I revealed the whole truth, no matter how much it hurt," he wrote.

In the book, Leonard also opened up about his use of cocaine, fathering a child at 17 and growing up in a household of alcohol abuse and domestic violence. The book is due to be published in June.

During his boxing career, Leonard won titles at five different weight divisions, and was universally regarded as one of the sport's greatest fighters.

(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by Peter Bohan; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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