Jack Leonard, 89; boxing trainer snubbed the mob

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Jack Leonard, a boxing trainer who was attacked after refusing to turn over a champion fighter's contract to the mob, died Saturday.

Mr. Leonard,89, died from heart failure, officials at Brandywine Health Care Center said.

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 Mr. Leonard to turn over his contract with Jordan, but he refused and was later attacked at home by unknown assailants. He testified before a federal grand jury about those who had approached him, and eight people were sent to prison.

Born in Conway, Ark., Mr. 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 Mr. Leonard helped start in Florida, said Tony Morgan, who took over the PAL team after Mr. Leonard had a heart attack in 1995.