New Book for Boxing Legend Sugar Ray Leonard

Los Angeles, CA: Sugar Ray Leonard continued his tour for his newly released autobiography, “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring” (co-written with Michael Arkush) with a stop at the Leimert Park Village Book Fair in Los Angeles.

In the book; which gives an intimate and detailed look at his career and often turbulent personal life, Leonard talks in detail about his addiction to drugs and alcohol, and the sexual abuse endured at the hands of an amateur coach.

Leonard’s illustrious career includes three National Golden Gloves titles, two Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and the 1975 Pan-American Games crown. After winning a gold medal in boxing at the 1976 Olympic games, he turned professional to help his family defer mounting medical bills incurred because of his father’s illness.

The boxing legend who won his first professional fight at age 20, has defeated some of the finest boxers of the modern era, including Wilfred Benetiz, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. He also won world titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight divisions and was the first boxer to win world titles in five different weight classes, a record that stands to this day.

Other celebrities at the event included Isaiah Washington – an award-winning actor best known for his role of Dr. Preston Burke on the hit TV show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Washington was in attendance to promote his new memoir, “A Man From Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life” (Center Street/Hachette Book Group), which details an inner struggle for identity finally fulfilled through DNA testing and outlines his ongoing campaign to improve his new found homeland – Sierra Leone.

Samantha Ofole-Prince is a journalist and movie critic who covers industry-specific news that includes television and film. She serves as the Entertainment Editor for Trendy Africa.

Pictures courtesy of Royalty Image

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