BoxRec

My second book, Fighting Men of London: Voice from Inside the Ropes, is available here: http://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/f ... men-london

There's an excellent review courtesy of Will Hale of BoxRec News here: http://news.boxrec.com/2014/book-review ... men-london

Hear a BBC London radio interview about the book here:

http://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/sites/ ... don949.mp3

Watch video footage of the fighters featured in the book here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/londonboxers

Read a FREE sample from the book here:

http://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/sites/ ... mple_0.pdf


Fighting Men of London explores the lives of seven former professional boxers who fought in the capital between the 1930s and 1960s. Set around a series of interviews, it resurrects a golden age of the sport when boxing was as popular as football and Britain's leading fighters were working-class heroes.

Dramatic, poignant, inspiring and at times funny, the book covers such subjects as booth fighting, exploitation in boxing, East End poverty, World War Two London, Jewish culture, fame and success, crime, prison life and encounters with such figures as the Kray twins, the Great Train Robbers and Britain's most infamous inmate, Charles Bronson.

Fighting Men of London takes us on a journey through a lost era of smoky fight halls, ramshackle boxing arenas and courageous fighting men. It features the previously untold stories of 1950s boxing star Sammy McCarthy, Bethnal Green knockout specialist Ted Berry (an associate of the Kray twins) and Sid Nathan, who as one of Britain's last surviving 1930s boxers once shared a fight bill with the great Jack Kid Berg. This isn't a single story, but seven stories of seven very different men. The common bond they shared was boxing.

The cover of the book kind of reminds me of this song and video from some years back.
Morrissey- Boxers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UANBdod8Nuk

Cant wait to read this book. Right up my street!

Sid Nathan (Aldgate) 1939-40






Ted Berry (Bethnal Green) 1948-49






Jock Taylor (Sidcup) 1943-51






Jack Streek (Sidcup) 1950-53






Albert Carroll (Bethnal Green) 1952-62






Teddy Lewis (Dagenham) 1947-51






Sammy McCarthy (Stepney) 1951-57

Wow...this is great! I remember sid nathan as a top flight referee...is he still alive then??

evrenb wrote:Wow...this is great! I remember sid nathan as a top flight referee...is he still alive then??

Yes, Sid's still around and in his 90s now. Here he is talking about meeting the great Jimmy Wilde:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjYYn0he9Po

saw sid at a LEBA meeting a month or two ago - he's ok. Sammy is very well and always laughing and joking. these pics and posters are fantastic. I will certainly get this book - I'm hoping there will be a copy available at next LEBA, but if not i'll order one.
our history is very important - take note whoever edits "boxing news"

misterpunch wrote:saw sid at a LEBA meeting a month or two ago - he's ok. Sammy is very well and always laughing and joking. these pics and posters are fantastic. I will certainly get this book - I'm hoping there will be a copy available at next LEBA, but if not i'll order one.
our history is very important - take note whoever edits "boxing news"

Are you a member of LEBA then..how do you go about joining??

misterpunch wrote:saw sid at a LEBA meeting a month or two ago - he's ok. Sammy is very well and always laughing and joking. these pics and posters are fantastic. I will certainly get this book - I'm hoping there will be a copy available at next LEBA, but if not i'll order one.
our history is very important

- take note whoever edits "boxing news"

I have not only stressed this over the years I have even given them the 'formula' for making it not just interesting, but also complimentary to today, therefore making it lucrative as it would be looked forward too and enjoyed by all their costumers.

it also helps to 'save' boxing, revive it and eliminate ALL the hyperbole bullshit!

Will try to pick a copy up.

Also: Kid Bassey & Roy Ankrah on the same bill in non-title fights?

Swoon.

misterpunch wrote:saw sid at a LEBA meeting a month or two ago - he's ok. Sammy is very well and always laughing and joking. these pics and posters are fantastic. I will certainly get this book - I'm hoping there will be a copy available at next LEBA, but if not i'll order one.
our history is very important - take note whoever edits "boxing news"

That was the July LEBA meeting. I was there with four of the chaps from the book, who were signing copies.

Don't think I'll be at another LEBA meeting for a while, but you can get the book at a discounted price on Amazon at the moment:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Men-Lo ... 1909626651

Thanks for your interest.

Datsue wrote:Will try to pick a copy up.

Also: Kid Bassey & Roy Ankrah on the same bill in non-title fights?

Swoon.

You got value for money in those days!

By the way, there are more photos on the book's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/londonboxers

Are you a member of LEBA then..how do you go about joining??[/quote]

get in contact with them. phone is best. i'll put the number on this thread in a day or so. membership is £15 a year - good value for a very worthwhile set up

- take note whoever edits "boxing news"[/quote]



I have not only stressed this over the years I have even given them the 'formula' for making it not just interesting, but also complimentary to today, therefore making it lucrative as it would be looked forward too and enjoyed by all their costumers.

it also helps to 'save' boxing, revive it and eliminate ALL the hyperbole bullshit![/quote]

nice one jim - ive got a few ideas too - did they take up any of yours?

I just got the book from Amazon.

Very good read!

Søren Woller
Denmark

Correction:

VERY, VERY good read

When do you start your next book? You got me hooked after this one.

Søren Woller
Denmark

Woller wrote:Correction:

VERY, VERY good read

When do you start your next book? You got me hooked after this one.

Søren Woller
Denmark

Many thanks, Søren. Glad you enjoyed it. No plans to write another one at present, but you might be interested in my first book: http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/nipperboxingbook.html

Sample chapter here:

http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/nipperbooksample.pdf

Top job Alex.......love some of those fight posters as well, not least because hidden in the small undercard details are some true gems. You could go out for a top night of good championship boxing and then get Dick and Randy Turpin boxing each other in an exhibition bout! Talk about bang for your buck....or in this case shilling.

Hope the book goes well, the positive reviews should get it moving nicely.

Bodyshot3 wrote:Top job Alex.......love some of those fight posters as well, not least because hidden in the small undercard details are some true gems. You could go out for a top night of good championship boxing and then get Dick and Randy Turpin boxing each other in an exhibition bout! Talk about bang for your buck....or in this case shilling.

Hope the book goes well, the positive reviews should get it moving nicely.

Many thanks for your kind words.

Yep, lots of value-for-money bills in those days.

Another one you'd have wanted to be ringside for:



Sammy McCarthy and Roy Ankrah (Gold Coast) weigh in at Jack Solomons's Great Windmill Street gym ahead of their bout at Harringay Arena, 7 December 1954.

Sammy remembers their fight in Fighting Men of London:

this is a great book, really is.

im getting emotional