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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence > Boxing
'Unbeaten is one of the best sports books I’ve read in years.' –
Jonathan Eig, author of Ali: A Life.
Rocky Marciano accomplished a feat that eluded legendary champions like
Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson: he never lost a
professional fight. When he retired in 1956, his record was a perfect
49-0.
Unbeaten is the revelatory biography of one of the greatest
heavyweights of all time. Marciano rose from abject poverty and a life
of petty crime to become heavyweight champion and one of the most
famous faces of his era. He dominated boxing in the decade following
the Second World War with a devastating punch, which he nicknamed the
‘Suzie Q’.
But perfection came at a price.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Mike Stanton tells the story of Marciano’s
pursuit of greatness through the era of guys and dolls, hustlers and
gamblers, glamorous celebrities and notorious mobsters. But boxing had
its dark side, particularly at a time when Mafia mob bosses like Blinky
Palermo and Frankie Carbo wielded immense power behind the scenes.
Marciano retired while still in his prime, weighed down by the mob’s
influence in the sport he loved. For the last decade of his life, he
wandered America, disillusioned, untrusting, hiding his money, cheating
on his wife, consorting with the mobsters he had loathed for corrupting
his sport, until his death in a plane crash in 1969, the night before
his 46th birthday.
Unbeaten by Mike Stanton is the story of a remarkable champion, a sport
that was rotten to its core, and a country that may have expected too
much from its heroes.
Ramla Ali's life inside and outside the ring represents her
ruthless refusal to quit and passion to fight for what she believes
in. In her first book, Ramla details ten key fights - a combination
of life's constant challenges and real bouts she's endured both in
and outside of the ring - that have shaped her remarkable rise to
date. From her arrival in England as a refugee to being drawn to
the energy and spirit of her first boxercise class; from the
adrenaline of her first amateur fights to how she often powered on
alone, searching for a community of women like her, and her biggest
win of all: letting love into her life. Each relatable lesson is
packed full of honesty and urgency, powering the reader on to
become their own champion.
In his day, Jack JohnsonOCoborn in Texas, the son of former
slavesOCowas the most famous black man on the planet. As the first
African American World Heavyweight Champion (1908OCo1915), he
publicly challenged white supremacy at home and abroad, enjoying
the same audacious lifestyle of conspicuous consumption, masculine
bravado, and interracial love wherever he traveled. "Jack Johnson,
Rebel Sojourner" provides the first in-depth exploration of
JohnsonOCOs battles against the color line in places as far-flung
as Sydney, London, Cape Town, Paris, Havana, and Mexico City. In
relating this dramatic story, Theresa Runstedtler constructs a
global history of race, gender, and empire in the early twentieth
century.
Mooresy: The Fighter's Fighter is the life story of one of
Britain's most-loved boxers. Not always an angelic teen and a
product of the 'Salford Overspill', Jamie Moore was sucked into the
slipstream of the thrill which came with car theft. At 15, his luck
ran out after a helicopter police chase. Boxing turned out to be
his saviour. Progressing through the amateur ranks, he turned pro
in 1999 aged 20 and went on to become British, Irish, Commonwealth
and European light middleweight champion. Known by many as
'Britain's most exciting fighter' Moore engaged in some epic
battles, and was one half of boxing's Fight of the Year three times
within a five-year period. Four shoulder operations and three brain
scans prompted him to quit in 2010. He was snapped up by Sky Sports
and started training his own stable of champions. Life was good.
That life was almost permanently taken away from him in August
2014, after being shot at five times in Marbella. Despite having a
bullet lodged in his right hip and constant pain to his left leg as
a result of another bullet passing straight through his thigh,
Moore does not dwell on his brush with death.His serene acceptance
of life is inspirational as he remains a husband, proud father,
former champion, trainer - and occasional actor.
Today Bill Richmond is largely unknown to the wider public, but he
was one of the most significant sportsmen in history and one of the
most prominent celebrities of Georgian times. Born into slavery in
Staten Island, Richmond won his freedom as a young boy and carved a
new life for himself in England as a cabinet maker and then a
renowned prizefighter and trainer. His amazing life encompassed
encounters and relationships with some of the most prominent men of
the age, including Earl Percy, William Hazlitt, Lord Byron, the
Prince Regent and Lord Camelford. His fame was such that he
fulfilled an official role at the coronation celebrations of King
George IV in 1821. The story of Bill Richmond is an incredible tale
of personal advancement, as well as the story of a life informed
and influenced by a series of turbulent historical events,
including the American War of Independence, the fight for black
emancipation and Britain's long-running conflict with Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Nothing to lose...When nineteen-year-old Tommy Carter throws away a
promising career as a professional boxer to work for local villain
Davey Abbott, everyone thinks he's made a huge mistake - collecting
debts and working in strip clubs is no life for a young lad just
starting out in life. Everything to gain. A brutal fighter, Tommy
quickly earns a reputation for himself - feared and respected by
everyone - and becomes Davey's trusted right-hand man. But when
Davey is murdered Tommy is shocked to learn that Davey has left his
business empire to him - Tommy's the boss now. No one believes
Tommy will succeed. But there is only one rule Tommy lives
by...always back the underdog. Because Tommy is on the way up. This
book was previously published as Barking Boy. Another gripping
gangland read by Kerry Kaya. Perfect for fans of Kimberley
Chambers, Martina Cole, Heather Atkinson and Caz Finlay.
Close Encounters with the Gloves Off is a rollercoaster ride
through boxing history in the words of the boxers themselves, as
they recall their highs and lows, their greatest triumphs, the
background stories and many shock revelations. Acclaimed boxing
writer, author and historian Thomas Myler has interviewed every one
of the pugilistic greats featured, during a career spent covering
boxing; from the big names of the 'Roaring 20s' right through to
boxing's modern era. Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Georges
Carpentier, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Joe
Frazier, George Foreman and modern greats such as Mike Tyson, Sugar
Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield and Ken Buchanan all feature. Myler
has spent a lifetime around boxing and boxers and was once
described by George Kimball, prize-winning author of the acclaimed
Four Kings, as 'One of the world's best boxing writers'. Close
Encounters with the Gloves Off pulls together that life's work to
take the reader on a wonderful boxing journey which spans almost an
entire century.
From the daughter of Muhammad Ali comes an intimate portrait of the heavyweight boxing champion and a final love letter from a daughter to her father.
Through audio journals, love letters and cherished memories, Ali's daughter Hana tells the story of a very typical and yet fully-unique family, the rise and fall of her parent’s marriage and the struggles they faced as a family surrounding Ali’s loss to Larry Holmes in 1981.
With the decline of Ali’s voice, his recordings are important to history as they are to his personal legacy. At Home with Muhammad Ali offers a candid look at a man who was trying to find his purpose in the world as he realized he was coming to the end of his lucrative sporting career, all the while trying to balance fatherhood and his worldly and political obligations. Additionally, Hana tells of the everyday adventures that the family experienced around the house—with visitors like Michael Jackson and Clint Eastwood dropping by. And for the first time, Hana’s mother Veronica will share her memories of the 12-year relationship with Muhammad.
At Home with Muhammad Ali is a candid and revealing portrait of a legend, a man admired and respected as the greatest sporting icon of our age.
“Rahaman has, at last, written the definitive biography on his
late brother, which tells the real Ali story.” —Mike Tyson More
words have been written about Muhammad Ali than almost anyone else.
He was, without doubt, the world’s most-loved sportsman. At the
height of his celebrity he was the most famous person in the world.
And yet, until now, the one voice missing belonged to the man who
knew him best—his only sibling, and best friend, Rahaman Ali. No
one was closer to Ali than Rahaman. Born Cassius and Rudolph Arnett
Clay, the two brothers grew up together, lived together, trained
together, travelled together, and fought together in the street and
in the ring. A near-constant fixture in his sibling’s company,
Rahaman saw Ali at both his best and his worst: the relentless
prankster and the jealous older brother, the outspoken advocate,
the husband and father. In My Brother, Muhammad Ali, Rahaman offers
an insider's perspective on the well-known stories as well as
never-before-told tales, painting a rich and intimate portrait of a
proud, relentlessly polarizing, yet often vulnerable man. In this
extraordinary, poignant memoir, Rahaman tells a much bigger and
more personal story than in any other book on Muhammad Ali—that
of two brothers, almost inseparable from birth to death. It is the
final and most important perspective on an iconic figure.
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Rodney Stone
(Paperback)
Arthur Conan Doyle
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