WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - Jack Leonard, a boxing trainer who was attacked after refusing to turn a champion fighter's contract to the mob, has died. He was 89.
Leonard died from heart failure on Saturday, officials at the Brandywine Health Care Center confirmed Monday.
He first boxed as an amateur at age 14, and turned professional as a welterweight. He later became a trainer, coach and promoter.
Among his boxers was welterweight Don Jordan, who became a world champion in the early 1950s.
Organized crime figures tried to force Leonard to turn over his contract with Jordan, but he refused and was later attacked at home by unknown assailants. He later testified before a federal grand jury about those who had approached him, and eight people eventually were sent to prison.
Born Leonard Blakely in Conway, Ark., in 1917, Leonard spent much of his life in California. He had been living in Winter Haven, where he started a boxing program for the local police athletic league in 1984.
Unbeaten Haitian welterweight Andre Berto is among the boxers whose careers Leonard helped start in Florida, said Tony Morgan, who took over the PAL team after Leonard had a heart attack in 1995.
Leonard is survived by his wife, Jeanne.
Leonard died from heart failure on Saturday, officials at the Brandywine Health Care Center confirmed Monday.
He first boxed as an amateur at age 14, and turned professional as a welterweight. He later became a trainer, coach and promoter.
Among his boxers was welterweight Don Jordan, who became a world champion in the early 1950s.
Organized crime figures tried to force Leonard to turn over his contract with Jordan, but he refused and was later attacked at home by unknown assailants. He later testified before a federal grand jury about those who had approached him, and eight people eventually were sent to prison.
Born Leonard Blakely in Conway, Ark., in 1917, Leonard spent much of his life in California. He had been living in Winter Haven, where he started a boxing program for the local police athletic league in 1984.
Unbeaten Haitian welterweight Andre Berto is among the boxers whose careers Leonard helped start in Florida, said Tony Morgan, who took over the PAL team after Leonard had a heart attack in 1995.
Leonard is survived by his wife, Jeanne.
