Boxing Biographies

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., won the world heavyweight championship at the age of 22, the same year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He would go on to become the first and only three-time (in succession) world heavyweight champion. Nicknamed "The Greatest", Ali was as well known for his unique boxing style, consisting of the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope, as he was for the catchphrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".

A larger-than-life working-class hero, Romford born and bred—always ready with the perfect soundbite—Barry Hearn was famously described as 'roguish but never a rogue'. Hearn is credited with turning snooker into one of the biggest sports in Britain. He essentially turned a sport in which competitors wear bowties into a massive globally televised event. Away from the table, his promotions empire casts its net over a dozen sports—from professional boxing to darts, fishing to 10-pin bowling—and his career spans four decades.

From weighing 28 stone and fighting a deep depression, to his amazing return to heavyweight champion of the world, Tyson opens up and share his inspiring advice and tips on diet, exercise regime and his incredible journey back to a healthier body and mind. Frank, accessible and inspiring, The Furious Method is a feel-good and motivating tonic, full of inspirational advice for listeners on how we can all improve our physical and mental health. And how we can all create a champion mind-set.

World Champion boxer, national treasure, pantomime star, sidekick to Harry Carpenter, mental health campaigner. Frank Bruno is many different things to many different people. Now, in his own words, as he turns 60, Frank delivers the full, explosive story of his remarkable life so far. At times harrowing, at times hilarious, but always 100 percent honest, Frank Bruno: 60 Years a Fighter is the sporting memoir of the year which pulls no punches. In it, Frank opens up on his journey to becoming a World Champion and the fight which has come after retirement with mental ill health.

Pittsburgh’s Paul Spadafora defeated Israel Cardona to capture the International Boxing Federation lightweight belt and the heart of a city that had not boasted a world champion prizefighter in over a half-century. Outside the ring, Paul’s dependency on drugs and alcohol marred his legacy and bore tragic consequences. Paul’s narrative was one of brilliance, crippled by madness, a dichotomy of in-ring savant and out-of-ring calamity. Fighting Till the End is a candid examination of a flawed champion determined to conquer his demons and come out on top in the final round of his life.

Tyson pulls no punches in his most candid, comprehensive and entertaining book yet, which chronicles for the first time in full his inspirational story - the rise, the fall, and the rise again, which saw him come back from the brink of suicide to reclaim his heavyweight crown.

There was only one man who fought both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali. There was only one man who recorded 141 professional Knock-Outs. There was only one man who trained both a young Ali and heavyweight champion George Forman. There was only one Archie Moore. With a seven-decade boxing career, including 27 years as a prize fighter, Moore's vast career and exploits are finally chronicled in The Ageless Warrior.

A Manchester lad from Irish Traveller stock, born three months premature and weighing just a pound at birth, Tyson (named after his father’s boxing hero) grew up to become one of the most unlikely heavyweight champions in history. This ‘dream come true’ soon turned to nightmare, however, as alcohol and cocaine abuse took hold and Tyson was stripped of his titles. What followed was the darkest moment of his life - detailed in this book for the first time - in which he came within seconds of ending everything.

The story of Jeff Horn is like a fairy tale. Written with award-winning author, journalist and boxing aficionado Grantlee Kieza, The Hornet is the tale of a boy who, slapped around by bullies, saw through tears in his eyes a vision of himself as a hero, a champ, someone other people might one day look up to. Horn took up boxing after being tormented as a teenager. Fast-forward a dozen years and the former bullied schoolboy - now humble schoolteacher - became world boxing champion on 2nd July 2017 at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

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.

Written in 1976, this is the story of Larry Gains, the Coloured Heavyweight Champion of the World. It tells of his life in the rings of the world...riding the night trains of Canada...working the cattle boats...gambling in the casinos of the Riviera...Paris in the '20s, Cologne and the Charleston, Leicester and the long Indian Summer. It reveals the secrets of the champions...the twilight world of the Boston Tar Baby...the amorous ways of Harry Greb...how Battling Siki saw the light...the feuding with Jeff Dickson...and the chasing of Jack Sharkey.

Arturo "Thunder" Gatti hung up his gloves in 2007, closing the book on a boxing career that bordered on the mythical. At long last, he seemed ready to leave the business of blood behind for a long, happy life outside the ring. His retirement was celebrated—boxing's modern gladiator had earned his freedom. Two years later, he was gone—found dead in a hotel in Brazil under mysterious circumstances. He was only thirty-seven years old. Did he commit suicide? Or was he killed by his new wife?

You're about to discover the incredibly inspirational story of boxing superstar Miguel Cotto. If you're reading this, then you must be a fan of Miguel Cotto, like so many others. As a fan, you must wonder how this man is so talented and want to know more about him. Miguel Cotto is considered as one of the greatest boxers of our time, and it's been an honor to be able to watch him fight throughout his career. This audiobook will reveal to you much about Miguel's story and the many accomplishments throughout his career.

Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas...what could possibly go wrong? 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.

Fresh out of medical school, Linda D. Dahl was nervous to begin her surgical residency in the Bronx. Compounding the long hours and overwhelming workload, Dahl felt like a perpetual fish out of water. One night, at her husband’s urging, Dahl watched a boxing match between Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya. Watching Mosley survive against the odds gave Dahl hope that she, too, could find her footing. Later, when she was in practice on the Upper East Side, Dahl received a phone call from the New York State Athletic Commission. They were looking for a fight doctor. Dahl accepted.

Bill Littlefield (NPR's Only a Game) presents the second installment in the Library of America series devoted to classic American sportswriters, a definitive collector's edition of the pathbreaking writer who invented the long-form sports story.

Boxing legend Christy Martin was a trailblazer in the ring and continues to be an inspiration to female fighters across the globe. She is without a doubt the most important woman in the history of female combat sports. But behind the scenes Martin was in a losing battle, unable to express her true sexual identity and struggling to survive sexual and domestic abuse at the hands of her husband. In Fighting for Survival: My Journey Through Boxing Fame, Abuse, Murder, and Resurrection, Christy Martin recounts her harrowing yet inspiring story.

Sonny Bill Williams (SBW) is a once-in-a-hundred-year athlete with immense sporting talent in rugby league, rugby union and boxing. Sonny Bill has built an incredible career and sporting reputation across the globe. His athleticism has taken him from inner-city Auckland, where he grew up, to the highest sporting moments in Twickenham, Eden Park and Sydney's Olympic Stadium. But there is so much more to Sonny Bill Williams' life and journey than his on-field and in-the-ring triumphs.

Fifty years after he coined the iconic phrase "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", Drew "Bundini" Brown remains one of boxing's most mysterious and misunderstood figures. His impact on the sport and the culture at large is undeniable. Cornerman and confidant to two of the greatest fighters ever - Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali - Brown lived an extraordinary American life.

Central to RuPaul's success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world's largest television franchises, RuPaul's ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul. Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known.