“The story of Ike Ibeabuchi is one of the strangest in modern boxing history and Luke G. Williams has told it with great clarity, sensitivity, and skill. President of Pandemonium is crammed with raw and revealing details as Williams draws us into the unsettling world of a man as vulnerable as he was destructive. It is a gripping read.”—Donald McRae, The Guardian Ike “The President” Ibeabuchi had the boxing world at his feet in 1997 after vanquishing David Tua in a battle for the ages in Sacramento. The Nigerian heavyweight’s subsequent descent into a vortex of mental illness and crime and punishment was as shocking as it was tragic. Was Ibeabuchi a vulnerable man exploited by a ruthless sport and a dysfunctional criminal justice system, or was he guilty-as-charged for his deeds and rightly punished? Somewhere amid a colorful cast of characters including Republican politicians, crooked promoters, and demons hiding in air-conditioning units, lies the uncomfortable truth. In President of Pandemonium, Luke G. Williams vividly recreates Ibeabuchi’s life in and out of the ring. Combining exclusive interviews with those who guided his career and observed him closely, as well as firsthand testimony from “The President” himself, this is a story of brilliance destroyed by dark forces, both real and imagined.

Seven young women, all murdered in the most disgusting manner imaginable. Unimaginable, in fact: a first of its kind, and never before explicitly revealed. All the victims were prostitutes. All were dumped naked after having been stored by their killer as sex toys. Some of them were mothers. Each was someone's daughter. And for more than fifty years the author has lived with the haunting secret that he was once suspected by Scotland Yard of being a serial killer more depraved and dangerous than Jack the Ripper. In the killing-spree that lasted more than a year, the author had a mole deep inside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, similar to "Deep Throat" of Watergate scandal, who was drip-feeding him the step-by-step ploys to snare the monster who brought terror to the streets of West London. Hundreds of police women, posing as prostitutes, flooded the red-light districts, hoping to be selected by the killer - more hopeful, though, that the back-up would swoop to the rescue in time. At one point, Scotland Yard feared that a prostitute, missing for more than a fortnight, had become the eighth victim and appealed to the public for help. It took the author just eleven hours to track her down and hand her alive and well to the Murder Squad. When the killings stopped, the most senior member of the Murder Squad claimed that the serial killer had committed suicide and an innocent man was named in a deceitful cover-up. The author fingers the real serial killer, a celebrity and national treasure who died in circumstances arguably even more bizarre than the manner in which he murdered his victims.

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize In this groundbreaking new book, Thomas Page McBee, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the vexed relationship between masculinity and violence. Through his experience of boxing - learning to get hit, and to hit back; wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the betrayals and strength of his own body - McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and the limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration of gender in our society, Amateur is ultimately a story of hope, as McBee traces a way forward: a new masculinity, inside the ring and out of it. A graceful and uncompromising exploration of living, fighting and healing, in Amateur we gain insight into the stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the eyes of a new man.

"Carlos Monzon's life was one that could have been defined with an almost unblemished boxing record, but was ultimately overtaken by a completely defaced personality. The only legacy he leaves is that the narrative, told brilliantly in the book, is unfortunately so absorbing."-Jack Porter, The Sportsman From the pages of Fistful of Murder... The death of Alicia Muniz wasn't a complete surprise to anyone who knew Carlos Monzon. The surprise was that no one else had died in his company. He had a volcanic temper. He drank heavily and used cocaine. He drove recklessly, had a fascination with guns, and had been arrested many times for physical assaults. In February of 1988, with his personal life in shreds, Monzon had finally reached the nadir of an existence defined by hostility, with nothing to obstruct his most savage instincts. *** Carlos Monzon was one of Argentina's most celebrated figures. A renowned boxing champion and movie actor who enjoyed affairs with beautiful women, he also harbored a secret life of drug use, alcohol, and domestic violence. When his estranged wife was found dead-strangled and tossed from a balcony-Monzon confessed that they'd fought the night before, but he couldn't remember what had happened. The resulting murder trial cast a long shadow over Monzon's legacy and launched a decades-long battle between his critics and defenders. In A Fistful of Murder, Don Stradley explores Monzon's turbulent life, from his beginnings in poverty to his dramatic rise to stardom, all the way to the case that shook a country-and still haunts Argentina today. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: The Void CHAPTER 2: Rome, 11/7/1970 CHAPTER 3: "They Killed Themselves with Laughter" CHAPTER 4: Luna Park 1965-69 CHAPTER 5: Champion CHAPTER 6: Garbage and Miracles CHAPTER 7: Bad Bennie CHAPTER 8: Bullets CHAPTER 9: Taking on the World CHAPTER 10: A Glass Full of Piss CHAPTER 11: The Boxer and the Beauty CHAPTER 12: "He Can Be Evil" CHAPTER 13: One Fight/One Film CHAPTER 14: Superstar CHAPTER 15: El Macho's Last Ride CHAPTER 16: Desperate Sundown CHAPTER 17: Alicia CHAPTER 18: The Lady on the Bricks CHAPTER 19: Murder in Mar del Plata CHAPTER 20: Killer and Still Champion CHAPTER 21: The Outlaw Saint A Fistful of Murder: The Fights and Crimes of Carlos Monzon is the fifth in the Hamilcar Noir series. Hamilcar Noir is "Hard-Hitting True Crime" that blends boxing and true crime, featuring riveting stories captured in high-quality prose, with cover art inspired by classic pulp novels.

In 1923, not long after oil had started gushing from northern Montana fields, real-estate sales in nearby Shelby were declining, dimming the little town's prospects of becoming the "Tulsa of the West." Then the mayor's son dreamed up a marketing ploy: offer to host heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey's next fight. What began as a publicity stunt soon spiraled into a civic drama unlike any Montana had ever seen-or ever would again. Shelby's Folly tells this story in full for the first time. Against the background of boom-and-bust Montana history, the folly of Shelby's would-be promoters unfolds in colorful detail. It took months to persuade Dempsey's conniving manager, Jack "Doc" Kearns, to sign a $300,000 contract. With less than two months before the July 4th fight, the town still had no stadium and no accommodations for tens of thousands of expected fans. Jason Kelly describes the promoters' desperate measures and their disastrous results, from the first inkling of the idea to the bitter end of the fifteen-round boxing match. Shelby residents identified with the underdog challenger, Tommy Gibbons, who went toe-to-toe with the champion in an atmosphere crackling with tension. Nerves were so frayed that a holiday firecracker exploding in the arena sent shockwaves of fear through the crowd. A soap opera of financial intrigue and chicanery, Shelby's Folly chronicles how Big Sky ambition and the scheming mind of Doc Kearns collided to produce one of the most preposterous series of events in boxing history. Watch the Shelby's Folly book trailer on YouTube.

Fighting for a Gender[ed] Identity is an ethnographic exploration into the increasingly popular world of white collar boxing. Travis Satterlund, a sociologist, spent over a year and a half researching a boxing gym and its participants, toiling alongside gym members, learning the boxing trade, sweating and enjoying the doses of macho from banging heads with fellow pugilists. He learned how to throw a variety of punch combinations; how to defend and parry punches; how to take a punch; he learned of the hard work, commitment, and dedication necessary to become even an average boxer; and, most importantly, he learned about the culture of KO Gym and its members. While expecting to find a gym filled with young, working-class, non-white menlike he saw on television and in movieshe was surprised when he initially arrived at KO Gym. Though there were indeed diverse, young men at the gym who trained seriously for competitions, the place was also filled with white menboth young and middle-agedwho were also training. Moreover, there were a couple of women training, and the two trainers were white, one of whom was a woman. This countered his expectations and piqued his interest. Satterlund wanted to learn about these mostly white boxers that he would later learn were almost entirely middle to upper middle-class. What brought them to the gym? What did they get out of it? Sociologically, what was happening? This book reveals that gym members used the cultural meanings associated with boxing as resources to construct boxing as an activity from which they could derive gendered identity rewards. As such, Satterlund shows how authenticity of the gym was socially constructed to meet these identity rewards and also to resolve these dilemmas. Moreover, while most of the men at the gym had secure middle-class jobs, these jobs were not the primary basis for their feelings of self-worth, especially in relation to their identity as men. In essence, then, the boxing gym offered a means for the men to compensate for their inability to signify power, control, and toughness in their professional lives. Women also sought identity rewards from boxing and had reasons to want to signify masculine qualities. For them, too, boxing was a way to signify agency and strength. Yet, they also faced dilemmas in seeking to distance themselves from other feminine women without being viewed as too masculine. At the same time, however, social class complicated matters considerably, creating other issues for both the men and the women. Satterlund thus uses the context of KO Gym and its membership to analyze the many nuances of these gender identity-related issues, focusing not only on how social class both disrupts and facilitates how a gendered space is created, but how gender inequalities are created, maintained and reproduced in white collar boxing.

*FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE BIGGEST FIGHTS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS* 'Essential reading for anyone with even a fleeting interest in boxing' Boxing Monthly 'Nobody knows British fighters and their stories better than Steve Bunce' Daily Telegraph Boxing is Steve Bunce's game. He has filed thousands and thousands of fight reports from ringside. He has written millions and millions of words for national newspapers previewing boxing, profiling boxers and proselytising on the business. He has been the voice of British boxing on the airwaves, both radio and television, with an army of loyal fans. And now it's time to put those many years of experience into penning his history of the sport of kings on these isles. It's Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing. Starting in 1970, the beginning of modern boxing in Britain, Bunce takes us from Joe Bugner beating Henry Cooper to an explosion then in the sport's exposure to the wider British public, with 22 million watching Barry McGuigan win his world title on the BBC. All boxing royalty is here - Frank Bruno taking on Mike Tyson in Las Vegas; Benn, Watson, Eubank and Naseem; Ricky Hatton, Lennox Lewis and Calzaghe; Froch and Haye - through to a modern day situation where with fighters as diverse as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, we have more world champions than ever before. And besides the fighters, there are the fixers, the managers, the trainers, the duckers and divers... Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing will have every high and impossible low, tragic deaths and fairy tales. It is a record of British boxing, British boxing people and fifty years of glory, heartache and drama. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ***** A fantastic history and a top collectors prize already... this book knocked me out in the first pages. ***** Must read book for boxing fans. ***** Been reading boxing books all my life, don't think I've enjoyed one more than this. ***** An absolute must for any British boxing fan.

An ethnographic exploration into the increasingly popular world of white collar boxing. Travis Satterlund, a sociologist, spent over a year and a half researching a boxing gym and its participants, toiling alongside gym members, learning the boxing trade, sweating and enjoying the doses of macho from banging heads with fellow pugilists. He learned how to throw a variety of punch combinations; how to defend and parry punches; how to take a punch; he learned of the hard work, commitment, and dedication necessary to become even an average boxer; and, most importantly, he learned about the culture of KO Gym and its members. While expecting to find a gym filled with young, working-class, non-white menlike he saw on television and in movieshe was surprised when he initially arrived at KO Gym. Though there were indeed diverse, young men at the gym who trained seriously for competitions, the place was also filled with white menboth young and middle-agedwho were also training. Moreover, there were a couple of women training, and the two trainers were white, one of whom was a woman. This countered his expectations and piqued his interest. Satterlund wanted to learn about these mostly white boxers that he would later learn were almost entirely middle to upper middle-class. What brought them to the gym? What did they get out of it? Sociologically, what was happening? This book reveals that gym members used the cultural meanings associated with boxing as resources to construct boxing as an activity from which they could derive gendered identity rewards. As such, Satterlund shows how authenticity of the gym was socially constructed to meet these identity rewards and also to resolve these dilemmas. Moreover, while most of the men at the gym had secure middle-class jobs, these jobs were not the primary basis for their feelings of self-worth, especially in relation to their identity as men. In essence, then, the boxing gym offered a means for the men to compensate for their inability to signify power, control, and toughness in their professional lives. Women also sought identity rewards from boxing and had reasons to want to signify masculine qualities. For them, too, boxing was a way to signify agency and strength. Yet, they also faced dilemmas in seeking to distance themselves from other feminine women without being viewed as too masculine. At the same time, however, social class complicated matters considerably, creating other issues for both the men and the women. Satterlund thus uses the context of KO Gym and its membership to analyse the many nuances of these gender identity-related issues, focusing not only on how social class both disrupts and facilitates how a gendered space is created, but how gender inequalities are created, maintained and reproduced in white collar boxing.

Ricky Hatton's brilliance as a boxer, his down-to-earth demeanour and his live-wire sense of humour have made him a national treasure. Five of Ricky's biggest and most explosive fights took place in the boxing Mecca of Las Vegas. Tens of thousands of British fans followed him there to watch these monumental bouts, and to soak up the unique atmosphere in Sin City. In Ricky's Hatton's Vegas Tales, he recalls the most memorable moments: from fight negotiations, through trash-talking transatlantic promotional tours, gruelling training camps, bizarre encounters with opponents, fans, A-list celebrities and boxing legends; all the way to fight-week mayhem and the epic post-fight benders that followed. With contributions from family, friends and the journalists who know him best, tributes from Mexican boxing legends Oscar De La Hoya and Marco Antonio Barrera, plus the hilarious recollections of rock 'n' roll superstar Noel Gallagher, this is an anecdote-driven romp through all the highs and lows of Ricky's Vegas fights, and the madness that preceded and followed each bout. What goes down in Vegas, stays in Vegas... until now!

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.

It is often forgotten that 11 African Americans, including a musician, were among the First Fleet of colonial settlers to Australia. In the 150-plus following years, African Americans visiting the region included jubilee singers, minstrels, ragtimers, vaudevillians, jazz musicians, sports stars, dancers, singers and general entertainers, some of whom became long stayers or residents. This book provides the only comprehensive history of more than 350 African American entertainers in Australia and New Zealand between European settlement in Australia in 1788 and the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941. It explains how and why they came, how they were treated and how that changed with the infamous White Australia policy. Famous names include boxer Jack Johnson, film star Nina Mae McKinney, vocalist Ivie Anderson of Duke Ellington's band, swing dancer Frankie Manning and jazz singer Eva Taylor. Beyond the bare performance histories, the book reveals stories of personal experiences and dilemmas: How did Jack Johnson almost marry an Australian? Why did Nina Mae McKinney's show close mysteriously? Which African American entertainer became mayor of a New Zealand town? Did a mystery romance keep Jolly John Larkins in the region for eight years? Such background stories give a multidimensional view of the entertainers' time in a place very far from home.

Everybody in the unlicensed fight game knows that only one man has the honour of being titled 'Guv'nor' - and that man is Lew 'Wild Thing' Yates. Yates began boxing at the age of six, and as an adult he was ruthless in pursuit of his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion. But when his licence was revoked following an assault on a referee, he turned to unlicensed boxing. By day, Yates pounded punchbags and the streets in an effort to reach the peak of physical fitness as he prepared for his epic battle with Roy 'Pretty Boy' Shaw. At night, he pounded gangsters and drug dealers foolish enough to take him on in the nightclubs where he worked. Wild Thing documents how Yates rose to the top of his bloody profession. When it comes to his fighting ability, he doesn't need to boast, brag or exaggerate. With Lew Yates, what you see is what you hope you're never going to get. This is his remarkable story.

25th February 1995 The Dark Destroyer vs the G-Man
Nigel Benn and Gerald McClennan.

Two men with a reputation to defend - a reputation for brutal, unforgiving combat both in the ring and outside it. Ostensibly, they were fighting for a world title and a lot of money, the stuff of professional boxing. But this fight was different. It was a rare collision of wills, and few present had seen anything like it. After ten of the most gruelling and vicious rounds that the sport of boxing has ever witnessed McClellan finally was defeated. He knelt in his corner on one knee in submission. The injuries he received that night left him blind, half-deaf and paralysed.

This is the story of what brought these two men together on the night of 25th February 1995 and how that night changed them forever. It's a story too about those associated with the promotion of public fist-fighting, who bend morality to suit their needs. It's a story that attempts to unravel the glamour of violence.

Mia St. John, a determined and focused five-time world champion boxer, valiantly fought a string of adversaries outside the ring while desperately trying to keep her family together. And just when you think she can’t take another punch to the gut, she’s handed her final blow. Mia St. John has always been on top of her game. A five-time world champion boxer known as The Knockout because of her ability to level any opponent charging toward her, Mia spent two decades in the spotlight transforming her body into the ultimate fighting machine. But what most people don’t know is that outside the ring, she was battling a lifetime of demons while struggling to keep her family together. Born to a Mexican mother and white father, she spent her young life feeling like an outsider while growing up in Idaho. She fled to California as soon as she was eighteen and left behind the abuse that came with an alcoholic father. Determined to show everyone she was a champion, Mia moved to Los Angeles to follow her dreams—and ended up meeting the love of her life, television star Kristoff St. John. Together, they created a beautiful family with their children, Julian and Paris, while doing their best to battle their own bouts with addiction. Mia’s memoir takes readers through her odyssey of grief and despair, but always the fighter, Mia gets up once again and shows the world how to face another day with dignity and determination to live the best life possible.

Fighting sports and church may seem an unusual combination yet modern ministries have embraced them as means for evangelism and social outreach. While news media often sensationalize fighting sports ministries, churches see them as a way to appeal to male congregants, presenting a peace-loving yet tough model of discipleship--an image reflected in popular culture. From martial arts programs at suburban churches to urban boxing ministries geared towards at-risk youth, this aook examines the substantial history of church sponsored combat sports, and presents arguments by Christian ethicists about whether and how they are compatible with church teachings and settings. Interviews with boxing and martial arts ministry leaders describe their programs and the relationship between fight sports and faith.

Here is Jake LaMotta discussing his career as a hoodlum; Floyd Patterson on growing up in the ghetto; Gunboat Smith on the Jack Johnson era; Jack Dempsey on the Willard fight and the Tunney "long count"; Rocky Graziano on showbiz; and dozens of others--including Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pastrano, Jose Torres, Carmen Basilio, Joe Louis, Willie Pep, and Archie Moore--on boxers, racketeers, drugs, payoffs, managers. Including two never-before-published interviews with Roberto Duran and Alexis Arguello, this newly expanded and updated edition of "In This Corner. . . !" is undoubtedly the best one-volume history of boxing ever written.

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD He was the first black heavyweight champion in history (1908-15) and the most celebrated - and most reviled - African American of his age. In Unforgivable Blackness, prize-winning biographer Geoffrey C. Ward brings to vivid life the real Jack Johnson, a figure far more complex than the newspaper headlines could ever convey. Johnson battled his way from obscurity to the top of the heavyweight ranks and in 1908 won the greatest prize in American sports - one that had always been the preserve of white boxers. At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if colour did not exist. Because of this, the federal government set out to destroy him and he was forced to endure a year of prison and seven years of exile. As Ward shows, Johnson was seen as a perpetual threat to white and African Americans alike - profligate, arrogant, amoral, a dark menace and a danger to the natural order of things. Unforgivable Blackness is the first full-scale biography of Johnson in more than twenty years. Accompanied by more than fifty photographs and drawing on a wealth of new material - including Johnson's never-before-published prison memoir - it restores Jack Johnson to his rightful place in the pantheon of sporting and social warriors.

Although dramatic head kicks and garrote-tight submissions may get most of the airplay in highlight reels, the stats show that punching combinations and knockouts reap more MMA victories than any other fighting technique. This boxing primer not only covers the basics, including stance, footwork, punches, and combinations, it takes these boxing skills and views them through an MMA prism that addresses the realities of the mixed martial arts game. While there are some must-know fistic skills for MMA, there are also more than a few boxing tactics that will get you smashed in MMA. "Boxing for MMA" builds on the good and tosses the bad, discussing the differences in strategy and tactics when it comes to facing likely MMA scenarios. Matchups covered include Boxing vs. Wrestling, Boxing vs. Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing vs. Muay Thai, Boxing vs. the Slugger, Dirty Boxing Inside the Clinch, and Boxing off of the Fence. All the techniques are illustrated in hundreds of action-sequence images, making this guide the go-to resource for blending boxing skills into your fighting arsenal.