No Más for Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray Leonard beats the count of sexual and drug abuse demons

(RxWiki News) The 1980 fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran held in the Louisiana Superdome found Duran a beaten man. In the closing seconds of the eighth round, Duran turned his back to Leonard and quit, saying to referee Octavio Meyran...

"No Más", meaning "no more" in Spanish.

Sugar Ray Leonard has decided in his newly published book "THE BIG FIGHT: My Life in and Out of the Ring" to reveal his sexual abuse and the drug addiction it caused. With this disclosure, now it is Sugar Ray Leonard turning his back to his fears and saying "No Más" to his past secrets.

"Sexual abuse can lead to drug addictions used to block painful memories."

Leonard said during a telephone interview with Yahoo Sports, whose Sports writer and editor Michael Arkush co-wrote the new book with Leonard, says that it wasn't out of a sense of duty, but out of a quest to have the burden of his secrets lifted from him that he shared his sexual abuse and drug abuse.

After Leonard finally told his first wife, Juanita, about the abuse, her response wasn't supportive enough to really discuss the matter.

Sugar Ray hasn’t consumed either drugs or alcohol for nearly five years. He said his substance addiction issues were his way of dealing with the pain and embarassment stemming from his sexual abuse.

“When you’re a boxer, there is a lot of downtime and long periods of inactivity,” Leonard said. “The drugs I took and the alcohol I consumed, they were my own way of putting a Band-Aid on things. They were a long-term Band-Aid. That’s what I felt like. I was an emotional wreck and I needed something to help me.”

He now reports being a different man, a better husband and a more caring father for having finally released the secret he carried for so many years.

Review Date: 
June 9, 2011