Inside Madison Square Garden, the City Ring was the altar of pugilism from 1925 until 2007. Hosting countless championship fights, historic main events and memorable undercards, it was center stage of boxing history. The ring now rests at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York-its 132 assembled pieces memorializing a key facet of 20th century American life. While many books have been written about great fistic contests that took place at Madison Square Garden, this is the first to focus on its Holy Grail.

This work brings a fresh perspective to the history of modern prizefighting, a sport which has evolved over several centuries to become one of mankind's most lasting and valued sporting attractions. With his primary focus outside the ropes, the author shows how organizers, publicity agents, and political allies overcame both legal and moral roadblocks to make fisticuffing a lively commercial enterprise. The book begins with the clandestine bare-knuckle fights in eighteenth-century London, and ends with the vibrant, large-scale productions of modern Las Vegas "fight nights." Along the way, he explains many of the myths about antiquarian prizefighters, describes the origins of slave fight folklore, and examines the forces that transformed Las Vegas into the world's leading venue for important fights.

Hall of Fame middleweight prizefighter John Edward Kelly, better known as Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, was one of the most popular athletes in the United States during the late 19th century. To many observers, Dempsey is one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in ring history. Inside the ropes, he was fearless, poised, quick, agile, and had terrific punching power with both hands. His story is rich-full of amazing highs and terrible lows. He was a poor immigrant Irish boy who scaled great heights to become one of this nation's first sports celebrities. He became a household name, wealthy and popular. But much too soon, it all came crashing down. His violent profession, alcoholism, mental illness, and tuberculosis left little to recognize of the valiant hero of so many battles.

It's 1983 and best friends Vicky and Lucy swear that they will always be there for each other, that they'll never let anyone come between them. But fast forward 4 years and life on the Canterbury Estate has gotten very messy. Lucy has fallen for local policeman's son, Jimmy. And Vicky is madly in love with Paddy, the charming but ruthless local bad boy. The boys are bitter enemies and determined to keep the two girls apart. But then Vicky is accused of murder, and even her drug-dealer boyfriend wants her mouth shut, permanently. Maybe Lucy is the only one who can save her... Love, murder, revenge. Who can you really trust when there's blood on your hands?

Glen Sharp's boxing career was a rise-and-fall story without so much rise in it. A sparring partner for heavyweight Hall of Famer Yaqui Lopez, he "retired" with a record of one victory and two defeats. A decade later, having come to understand how and why he failed as a younger fighter, he attempted a comeback. Told with heart and wit, his memoir is a treatise on boxing as both profession and purpose. Sharp uses economic theory to describe the sweet science as a case study in resource management while recounting his own struggle to win fistic glory and his father's admiration.

Abraham Washington Attell (1883-1970) was among the cleverest, most scientific professional boxers ever to enter the ring. The native San Franciscan fought 172 times in his career-scoring 127 wins, 51 by knockout-and successfully defended his World Featherweight Champion title 18 times between 1906 and 1912, defeating challengers who included Johnny Kilbane and Battling Nelson. Attell's success inspired his brothers Caesar and Monte to take up the sport-Abe and Monte both held simultaneous world titles for a time. This first ever biography covers Attell's life and career. Growing up poor and Jewish in an predominantly Irish neighborhood, he faced his share of adversity and anti-Semitism in and out of the ring. He was charged for alleged involvement in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. The charges were dropped but Attell was branded by association for the remainder of his life.

This guide to the finer points of boxing provides the wisdom needed to make the transition from enthusiastic beginner to proficient pugilist. The ABCs of ring generalship, offensive and defensive ring movements, feints, and draws and fakes are examined and explained along with clinching techniques, head-hunting, body work, and counter-punching chains. Strategies for boxing against tall and short opponents as well as for a variety of fighting styles such as charger, speed-demon, stick-and-move, and slugger and brawler are discussed in detail. Specific drills focus on sophisticated ring stratagems such as throwing complex combinations, cutting off the ring, fighting off the ropes, generating power, and cornering an opponent are included.

This is the first full-length biography of Jess Willard who won the heavyweight boxing title in 1915 by defeating Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. As such this book brings new light on Willard who became the most famous man in America as a result of his victory Jess Willlard was considered unbeatable in his day. He lost his title in 1919 to Jack Dempsey in one of the most violent defeats in boxing history. Willard attempted a come-back but was defeated again by Luis Firpo in 1923 and retired from the ring at that time. He died in 1968, largely forgotten by the boxing public. This work was made possible by the support of the Willard family, particularly James Willard Mace, Jess Willard's grandson, who provided family documents and photos, some of which are included in this book.

Oscar Battling Matthew Nelson was without question the toughest and most durable professional boxer ever to enter a ring. Obscure, although he was selected by the Hall of Fame as part of their third induction class, unheard of yet often appropriately called the most hardwearing boxer in ring history, overlooked, yet many boxing historians rank him among the 100 greatest boxers ever. From the moment he set foot in the ring, he presented himself as a man's man, a Danish immigrant of integrity who never smoked, drank or took a dive, and in both his pugilistic exploits and his often very public behavior established a heroic image of himself as an athlete-a world lightweight champion-and sportsman, reporter, entertainer, real estate mogul, businessman and lady's man. As the first champion in his division to ever mount a comeback, he broke new ground, even if it wasn't always pretty, or ultimately successful. In the years since his death in 1954, there has been little disagreement over the significance of his life: A bona fide ring champion, whose endurance was second to none, and whose trilogy with Joe Gans was one of the greatest in sports history.

The Legend is the remarkable autobiography of Steve Ward, the world's oldest ever professional boxer. It details the astonishing obstacles Steve has overcome to become a three-times Guinness World Record holder after taking up the sport he loves again at the age of 54. Steve's unstinting ambition is driven by a promise made by his late father Bernard, who introduced him to boxing and told allcomers his son would be a world champion. His story is an inspiration to anyone who has hit hard times and proof of the old adage that all things are possible. A very serious foot injury sustained in a freak accident at work eventually led to Steve planning to kill himself before he bounced back to confound the medical profession and achieve his dream of winning a world title in his very last fight, at 64 years of age.

Ingmar Johansson's right hand-dubbed "The Hammer of Thor"-was the most fearsome in boxing, and Johansson's three fights with Floyd Patterson rank among the sport's classic rivalries. Yet most fans know little about the Swedish playboy who won the world heavyweight championship with a shocking third round knockout of Patterson and held it for six days short of a year (1959-1960). During his brief reign, the raffish "Ingo" hit fashionable nightspots on two continents, romanced Elizabeth Taylor and refused to kowtow to the mobsters who controlled boxing. This first-ever biography of Johansson chronicles his fistic triumphs as a Goteborg teen prodigy, his humiliating disqualification for "cowardice" at the 1952 Olympics, his story-book romance with Birgit Lundgren and his post-career life and tragic early dementia.

Irish travellers live in a closed community. What we think we know about them is based on hearsay, rumour and stereotype. But not any more. Knuckle is the true story of James Quinn McDonagh - clan head and champion bare-knuckle fighter. It's a journey from his grandfather's horse-drawn caravan at the side of the road to the country lanes of Ireland where he stood, fists bloodied and bandaged, fighting a clan war that he never asked for. Two men, two neutral referees, a country lane. No gloves, no biting, no rests. The last man standing wins, takes home the money, and more importantly, the bragging rights. Caught in a brutal cycle of violence that has left men dead, houses burned and lives destroyed, James tells a story that opens up a hidden world - revealing why history repeats itself, and why he can never go home...

A gripping, all-access biography of Joe Frazier, whose rivalry with Muhammad Ali riveted boxing fans and whose legacy as a figure in American sports and society endures History will remember the rivalry of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali as one for the ages, a trilogy of extraordinary fights that transcended the world of sports and crossed into a sociocultural drama that divided the country. Joe Frazier was a much more complex figure than just his rivalry with Ali would suggest. In this riveting and nuanced portrayal, acclaimed sports writer Mark Kram, Jr. unlinks Frazier from Ali and for the first time gives a full-bodied accounting of Frazier's life, a journey that began as the youngest of thirteen children packed in small farm house, encountering the bigotry and oppression of the Jim Crow South, and continued with his voyage north at age fifteen to develop as a fighter in Philadelphia. Tracing Frazier's life through his momentous bouts with the likes of Ali and George Foreman and the developing perception of him as the anti-Ali in the eyes of blue-collar America, Kram follows the boxer through his retirement in 1981, exploring his relationship with his son, the would-be heavyweight Marvis, and his fragmented home life as well as the uneasy place that Ali continued to occupy in his thoughts. A propulsive and richly textured narrative that is also a powerful story about race and class in America, Smokin' Joe is unparalleled in its scope, depth, and access and promises to be the definitive biography of a towering American figure whose life was galvanized by conflict and whose mark has proven lasting.

Covering Mike Tyson's complete amateur and professional boxing career, this book follows the Brooklyn native from his early years as a 12 year old criminal in Brownsville to his 1988 heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. The book focuses on the Catskill Boxing Club - where boxing guru Cus D'Amato trained the 210-pound teenager in the finer points of the art and developed his impregnable defense - and on his home life with D'Amato and his surrogate mother Camille Ewald, and the other boys who shared the house with him. Tyson's boxing education began in the unauthorized "smokers" held in the Bronx every week, matching his skills against older, more experienced fighters. He won the 1981 Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Colorado Springs at the age of 14, and repeated the amazing feat the following year. By 1985, finding no other challenging amateur competition, he was forced to join the professional ranks where, in November 1986, he became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history. Less than two years later, he unified the crown, establishing himself as one of the most dominant heavyweight fighters in the annals of the game.

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** Gypsy Queen to the Gypsy King, Tyson Fury's wife Paris reveals the magical highs and epic lows of life with the Heavyweight Boxing World Champion, as she shares their life story and what keeps them strong through the good times - and the bad. Paris Fury is Tyson's rock, the wife he thanks for all his success. Both from Traveller families, she married him at 19 and is hands-on mother to their six children, as well as at his side through every fight. Always glamorous, strong, grounded, and her own woman. When Tyson's struggles with depression, OCD and alcohol have threatened to overwhelm them, she has held them together, and helped to see Tyson through to the greatest boxing victories. With all her warmth, humour and honesty, she tells her story - from her Traveller childhood, falling in love, making a home and a family, to coming through Tyson's darkest moments. She vividly describes the anguish of their worst times, and what it's like to be at the ringside. And she shows what it takes to balance the fame, the fans and all the sporting pressures alongside everyday family life.

Hats, Handwraps and Headaches is the inspiring, surprising and sometimes shocking story of Irish boxing coach Paddy Fitzpatrick, a failed pro boxer who was almost a Foreign Legionary before finding fame as a trainer of world-class fighters. After struggling as a young adult and attempting suicide, Paddy's life was transformed by a chance meeting with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. Paddy moved to LA to learn his trade at Roach's Wild Card gym, working with the likes of world champions James Toney and Laila Ali, and spending time with Laila's legendary father Muhammad Ali. Back in England, Paddy used the things he had learnt to take George Groves to three world title fights, including the return super-fight with Carl Froch, which drew 80,000 fans to Wembley Stadium. Filled with astonishing anecdotes - like the time Paddy took shots from a Heavyweight contender and a near-miss with a grizzly bear - Hats, Handwraps and Headaches is funny and poignant in equal measure, with riveting tales from both sides of the Atlantic.

This is a cradle-to-grave biography of Mickey Walker, former welterweight (1922-1926) and middleweight champion (1926-1931) of the world, one of the greatest fighters in ring history. He fought at a time when boxing was a major sport with only eight championships, and he held two of them over a nine-year period. He fought at a time when each weight division was jammed with good fighters, and he fought them all from welterweight up to heavyweight, frequently being outweighed 20 to 30 pounds, himself only five-seven and never weighing more than 170 pounds. Walker was not only a great fighter, he was a great personality who loved life and lived it to the full. He went through seven marriages with four different women, he cavorted with movie stars and mobsters from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone. When his boxing career ended in 1935, Walker ran saloons in various locations, was often his own best customer, finally quit drinking and became an artist of some standing, several of his paintings hanging in some of America's top galleries. Walker died in 1981, aged 79.

THE STORY BEHIND THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED THE FACE OF BOXING FOREVER, OBE NICOLA ADAMS At London 2012, Nicola Adams made history when she became the first woman ever to win an Olympic Gold medal for boxing. In Rio 2016, with the nation cheering her on, she did it all over again. Years of relentless training, fundraising and determination have seen Nicola battle through injury, prejudice and defeat to become one of Britain best-loved athletes and an inspiration to all those who are chasing after a seemingly impossible dream. From a leisure centre in Leeds to the Olympic Stadium in Rio, Nicola with her famous smile has become an LGBTQ+ icon and the poster girl for women in sport. This is her story of grit, talent and the real person behind the smile. Nicola is soon to be a contestant on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in the show's first same-sex pairing. ____________________ WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NICOLA: 'One book every woman or girl should read' Reader Review 'Fascinating to see how Nicola and her family had to fight to get women's boxing recognised' Reader Review 'Nicola tells this story from the heart, very honest, very open' Reader Review 'The positivity, strength, determination of Nicola is uplifting. I really appreciated how she fought for women's rights to do boxing' Reader Review

Matthew Saad Muhammad was arguably the most exciting fighter of all time. He was WBC light-heavyweight champion from 1979 to 1981, but it wasn't what he did that captured the hearts of fight fans, it was how he did it. Fight after fight was war after war. He would get beaten up, cut, dropped and virtually knocked out only to astonishingly rally and score come-from-behind victories. But through it all there was a shocking backstory. Abandoned by his birth parents aged just four, Matthew was raised in a Catholic orphanage and then adopted by a Portuguese family. He fell into a life of gangs and prison before boxing provided an escape, becoming a vehicle for him to find his real identity: who was he, and who were his parents? His rise to stardom was followed by a long, sad decline as he travelled the world trying to reclaim his former glories. He spent his final years in a Philadelphia homeless shelter, plagued by health issues. This is the definitive account of Matthew's incredible but heart-rending story.

Without Ray Arcel (1899-1994), the world of boxing during the 20th century would have been markedly different. Indeed, the credibility professional boxing as a sport would have been greatly lessened. Arcel's prominence is all the more interesting because he made his mark not as a fighter, promoter, or manager, but as a trainer. From Benny Leonard to Roberto Duran and Larry Holmes, Arcel stood in the corner for champions of every weight division that existed in his lifetime, a record that remains unprecedented. This biography chronicles Arcel's life inside the ring, and out--where he remained a highly secretive man and maintained ambiguous relationships with some of the chief mob figures of his day. Through a wealth of information from Arcel's unpublished memoir, this work offers an extraordinary portrait of one of boxing's most influential and enigmatic figures.

Whether opening saloons, raising cattle, or promoting sporting events, George Lewis ""Tex"" Rickard (1870-1929) possessed a drive to be the best. After an early career as a cowboy and Texas sheriff, Rickard pioneered the largest ranch in South America, built a series of profitable saloons in the Klondike and Nevada gold rushes, and turned boxing into a million-dollar sport. As ""the Father of Madison Square Garden,"" he promoted over 200 fights, including some of the most notable of the 20th century: the ""Longest Fight,"" the ""Great White Hope,"" fight, and the famous ""Long Count"" fight. Along the way, he rubbed shoulders with some of history's most renowned figures, including Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, John Ringling, Jack Dempsey, and Gene Tunney. This detailed biography chronicles Rickard's colorful life and his critical role in the evolution of boxing from a minor sport into a modern spectacle.

Born into extreme poverty in 1914, Jersey Joe Walcott began boxing at the age of 16 to help feed his hungry family. After ten years' boxing, without proper training and with little to show for his efforts beyond some frightful beatings, Walcott quit the ring. A chance meeting with a local fight promoter who recognized the potential in his iron chin and hard punch turned Walcott's fortunes around, launching one of the greatest comebacks in boxing history. This biography details Walcott's youth, his dismal early career, and his legendary climb to become the heavyweight champion of the world at age 37, at the time making him the oldest man to ever win the coveted title. Along the way, he battled some of the most feared contenders of his day, including Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, and Rocky Marciano. With numerous period photographs and a foreword from Walcott's grandson, this work provides an intimate look at one of the grittiest, most determined boxers of the 20th century.

Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell were must-see TV long before that phrase became ubiquitous. Individually interesting, together they were mesmerizing. They were profoundly different -- young and old, black and white, a Muslim and a Jew, Ali barely literate and Cosell an editor of his university's law review. Yet they had in common forces that made them unforgettable: Both were, above all, performers who covered up their deep personal insecurities by demanding -- loudly and often -- public acclaim. Theirs was an extraordinary alliance that produced drama, comedy, controversy, and a mutual respect that helped shape both men's lives.
Dave Kindred -- uniquely equipped to tell the Ali-Cosell story after a decades-long intimate working relationship with both men -- re-creates their unlikely connection in ways never before attempted. From their first meeting in 1962 through Ali's controversial conversion to Islam and refusal to be inducted into the U.S. Army (the right for him to do both was publicly defended by Cosell), Kindred explores both the heroics that created the men's upward trajectories and the demons that brought them to sadness in their later lives. Kindred draws on his experiences with Ali and Cosell, fresh reporting, and interviews with scores of key personalities -- including the families of both. In the process, Kindred breaks new ground in our understanding of these two unique men. The book presents Ali not as a mythological character but as a man in whole, and it shows Cosell not in caricature but in faithful scale. With vivid scenes, poignant dialogue, and new interpretations of historical events, this is a biography that is novelistically engrossing -- a richly evocative portrait of the friendship that shaped two giants and changed sports and television forever.

Between defeat by Trevor Berbick in December 1981 and lighting the Olympic flame in Atlanta in July 1996, Muhammad Ali spent the 15 most turbulent years of his life traversing the globe, seeking a higher purpose. Depending on the day, the retired champion could be a diplomat trying to liberate hostages in the Middle East, a salesman flogging cookies and cologne across America, or an amateur magician performing sleights of hand everywhere from prison yards to school halls to Valentino fashion shows. Sometimes hilarious, often terribly poignant, this kaleidoscopic account of the most bizarre episodes in his epic life chronicles Ali preaching Islam, causing havoc and touching lives from Beijing to Birmingham, Detroit to Damascus, Khartoum to the Khyber Pass. One minute hanging with Donald Trump, the next with Nelson Mandela, even as his own body and mind battled the onset of Parkinson's Syndrome, here are so many previously untold stories about 'The Greatest' treating statesmen and strangers, popes and paupers just the same.