A Ringside Affair: Boxing's Last Golden Age

Description

'Rich, authentic and with an understanding of a sport that only intimacy at the closest quarters can bring... essential reading for anyone interested in boxing's last golden age.' Mail on Sunday For three decades at the end of the twentieth century - throughout boxing's most engrossing era - James Lawton was ringside, covering every significant bout, spending time with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hitman Hearns, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and many other great fighters. Lawton found himself captivated by the sport as he followed it around the world. From a big fight's initial announcement, through the fighters' punishing training regimes, the overblown press conferences and dramatic weigh-ins, up to the bout itself and its savage fall-out - Lawton observed and absorbed it all, grateful for the remarkable access he was afforded. He witnessed Ali screaming in pain for his dressing-room lights to be turned out after a fight; he was there to meet Tyson at the prison gates on his release in 1992; he listened as former champions wept while struggling to find their new place in the world. As part of a small, tight-knit group of sportswriters with the privilege of covering each fight in such intimate detail, Lawton formed lifelong friendships and found himself forever altered by being caught up in the whirlwind of a sport at its most spellbinding. A Ringside Affair brings that brilliant epoch back to life - and puts it in the perspective it deserves. It salutes the epic quality of boxing's last years of glory, retraces arguably the richest inheritance bequeathed to any sport, and speculates on the possibility that we will never see such fighting again. It is part celebration, part lament, but perhaps most of all it is a personal record of some of most enthralling and challenging days produced by the world's oldest sport.

James Lawton first started covering top-flight sport as a 19-year-old for the Daily Telegraph in 1963 and, after a seven-year stint in North America, went on to become chief sportswriter of the Daily Express and the Independent. He received numerous accolades including being voted sportswriter of the year three times, as well as sports columnist and sports feature writer of the year. He wrote 14 books, including an award-winning collaboration with Sir Bobby Charlton on his two volumes of autobiography. His Forever Boys: The Days of Citizens and Heroes, was the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2015.

I loved reading this book. It brought back everything to me, Tyson, Holyfield and all that I experienced in an age of boxing I was proud to be part of ... I lived it again * Lennox Lewis * Rich, authentic and with an understanding of a sport that only intimacy at the closest quarters can bring ... essential reading for anyone interested in boxing's last golden age. * Mail on Sunday * This is a book high up in the pantheon of sporting literature and is thoroughly recommended. * Sunday Express * As a fine a collection of boxing tales as you're likely to read. Lawton's known them all and here he reveals their importance with craft and caring respect. Fight fans, put it on your Christmas list. * Sunday Sport * A Ringside Affair is a good read. * Thomas Hauser * Zesty tales of the fights that electrified venues from Las Vegas to Tokyo. * METRO * Lawton's tale is a reminder of how great the sport of boxing is when the best fight the best. Here's hoping it is on the Christmas list for every champion and every promoter operating in the sport today. * By The Minute * Part celebration, part lament, but perhaps most of all it is a personal record of some of the most enthralling and challenging days produced by the world's oldest sport. * The Gentleman Magazine * Mr Lawton's book chronicles the sport's vanguard from Mr Ali's demise to Mr Lennox Lewis' fight with Mr Mike Tyson in 2002. Lawton's ringside account is a timely reminder of what makes the sport so appealing. * Mr Porter * Boxing has an uncanny knack of producing the best in sports writing. Lawton brings his own distinctive touch, revelling in some of the best moments * The Blackpool Gazette * His stories are vivid, and leave the reader with a profound sense of how brutal the fight game can be... The fights that Lawton covers are gripping * Irish Examiner * Each fight is recounted in poetic detail, but this isn't one of those and-then-he-countered-with-a-big-right-hand boxing books. Lawton provides athletic and personal context regarding the boxers' lives, before and after their fights. * Bookline *