Havana, Cuba. 1954. Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent's. But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them. Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano. Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.

Outback Australia 1954 Two rival tent boxing troupes clash over a territorial dispute in the Outback town of Birdsville. In the sweltering heat, tensions simmer, tempers flare, and as things reach boiling point, a boxing tent is burned to the ground. Fighting men know only one way to solve their disputes, and that's in the ring. The solution, a show-down, smack-down, winner take all bout between the two rival outfits. In the blue corner, representing 'Walter Wheeler's Boxing Sideshow' is Tommy King, a young aboriginal boxer with a big heart and iron fists. In the red corner, representing 'Arnold Sanderson's Boxing Show', is 'Jumpin' Jack Douglas, a monstrous wrecking machine from the city - a man who'll do anything to win. The fight - brutal. In the world of Tent Boxing, in the harsh Australian Outback, weight divisions and rules don't count for much. It's a fight to decide, who is indeed, King of the Outback