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Sports

Boxing Champ Sugar Ray Dances for Diabetes

Sugar Ray Leonard, who trains in a Hermosa Beach dance studio with HB resident/pro dancer, Anna Trebunskaya, tells Patch why he brought his fancy footwork to "Dancing with the Stars."

Former boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard was backstage at ABC's Dancing with the Stars, preparing to perform, when he shared his motivations for being on the popular show with Patch: diabetes.

Leonard, who has been training for the reality competition with Hermosa Beach resident Anna Trebunskaya, hopes that the 12th season of the show will provide a platform for him to share a cause close to his heart, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Leonard's commitment to juvenile diabetes research stems from his own personal experience, he said.

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"My father's diabetes and care was the turning point for me to go pro,” Leonard said.

A longtime advocate for diabetes awareness, in 2009 Leonard testified at congressional hearings and met with Nevada Sen. Harry Reid as a part of the annual “Children’s Congress” for the foundation.

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"I also have the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation that my wife, Bernadette, and I founded and we also support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and its annual Walk for a Cure," he said, "plus community outreach to help with making accessible housing, healthcare services, and educational services and job training available for those in need."

When testifying in 2009, Leonard revealed his personal struggle with the disease that affects 25.8 million children and adults in America, 8.3 percent of the population, according
 to the American Diabetes Association.

Leonard cited the financial strain that the overwhelming cost of diabetes and its numerous associated complications put on his family, as well as the burden it places on the national health care system.

The statistics are staggering, with diabetes costs in 2007 exceeding $24 billion in Leonard's home state of California.

"I also want to keep showing my support for the JDRF and hope my footwork here helps that awareness too," Leonard told Patch. "This show and all the people on it are wonderful.”

Leonard dazzled judges with his partner Trebunskaya in their second week's performance, which was deemed "improved over his first week's dance, doing the upbeat Jive.

“Sugar Ray has a great personality and we have the most fun during rehearsals,” Trebunskaya told Patch in March. 

Leonard and Trebunskaya are still in the game, set to compete against 10 couples tonight at 8 p.m. on abc TV stations nationwide.

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