Sugar Ray Seales was the toast of the U.S. boxing world after winning the Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight division in the 1972 Summer Games.
Seales was seriously injured when he got a thumb to his eye during a 1980 fight with Jamie Thomas and suffered a detached retina. He eventually had to retire because of his loss of vision.
Zionsville resident Michael Husain directs “The Sugarman,” a 14-minute black-and-white film about Seales regaining his eyesight, thanks to Dr. John Abrams, a Westfield resident whose main Abrams EyeCare Center is in Carmel.
The film will be featured in the Indiana Spotlight 2 at 7 p.m. July 23 at Theatre 3 at Living Room Theatres in Indianapolis.
An ophthalmologist, Abrams performed the surgery on Seals.
“The greatest save I’ve ever had on a surgery is Sugar Ray Seals, hands down,” Abrams said in the film. “It was a very complex surgery. He was basically legally blind.”
Husain said Seals coached Golden Gloves teams in Indianapolis for several years.
“He was a pretty respected coach, but he was losing the ability to do that as well,” Husain said. “He had eight failed surgeries to get the eyesight back.”
Husain said Seales had developed a massive cataract.
“Abrams said a normal cataract surgery is seven to eight minutes and Sugar Ray to get his cataract off was 3 1/2 hours,” Husain said.
Husain said the surgery was four years ago and he learned about it when talking with Abrams.
Seales lived in Indianapolis for several years before moving back to his hometown of Tacoma, Wash., in 2023. The film of Seales instructing in a gym was shot before he left Indianapolis.
Husain said filming of Seales getting a follow-up eye exam was shot more recently
“He’s able to coach and live his life,” Husain said.
Seales always keeps his gold medal with him to inspire others.
“It was kind of John Abrams’ gold medal-performance as well,” Husain said. “For John, who is one of the best eye surgeons in the world, to say this was my greatest save, that’s pretty cool.”
For more, visit indyshorts.org.
