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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence
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.
One of the most talked-about and bestselling books of last year,
this is the no-holds-barred autobiography of a sporting legend
driven to the brink of self-destruction The bestseller that has
everyone talking. In this, his first, autobiography, 'Iron' Mike
Tyson pulls no punches and lays bare the story of his remarkable
life and career. Co-written with Larry Sloman, author of Antony
Keidis's best-selling memoir 'Scar Tissue', this is a visceral, and
unputdown-able story of a man born and raised to brutality, who
reached the heights of stardom before falling to crime, substance
abuse and infamy. Full of all the controversy and complexity that
you would expect from a man who delighted as much as he shocked,
this is a book that will surprise and reveals a fascinating
character beneath the exterior of violence. If you think you know
all about Mike Tyson, read this book and think again.
Two of the most prominent and celebrated athletes in the world,
Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard came together to
contest the $100million SuperFight on April 6, 1987 at Caesars
Palace in Las Vegas. From Frank Sinatra to U2, Joan Collins to
Whoopi Goldberg, the stars were drawn to ringside by the huge
box-office appeal of the blue-collar, dominant world middleweight
champion facing his nemesis, the charismatic and flamboyant Sugar
Ray, who was coming out of virtually five years of retirement.
Drawing on his deep reservoir of nerve, outstanding technique and a
strategy which Budd Schulberg - who provided Marlon Brando with the
immortal line, 'I coulda been a contender' - called a compound
optical illusion, Leonard won on points. It was boxing's greatest
comeback, but to this day the judges' decision remains bitterly
contested and not merely by the protagonists. But the story of The
SuperFight is much more than the story of the fight, for it details
two remarkable lives, the demons that drove both men and the
formidable challenges they overcame inside and outside the ring.
Hagler grew up in the Newark, New Jersey ghetto of Central Ward,
where a riot/rebellion rooted in racism claimed the lives of 26
people, injured 1,000 more and, to the young teenager, was "like
the end of the world". Fuelled by anger, he climbed to the top of
his domain and ruled for seven years as champion, one of the most
accomplished in boxing's annals. Leonard was an Olympic gold
medallist and all-American hero whose career was cut short by a
detached retina after he became the world welterweight king. He was
Muhammad Ali's gifted and anointed successor but he succumbed to
alcohol and drug abuse and for years was tormented by a secret -
the sexual abuse he endured as an amateur boxer by a trusted coach.
As provocative and polarising in its own way as Ali's defining
rivalry with Joe Frazier, this is the story of The SuperFight, of
Marvin Hagler and Ray Leonard and a fierce fire that still burns.
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