BoxRec

looks like its going to be at the CASA (dockers trade union venue on Hope Street in the city centre) on Friday 20 November starts about 6pm. I know its a long way off but researching, writing, layout, design, registration & printing takes some time!

Boxers featured include British champions, Olympic medallists, Lonsdale belt owners, ABA champs, challengers, contenders and modest pros from the 1950s/60s through to 2000s:

Noel Quarless
Tony Cunningham
Stan Atherton
Sugar Gibiliru
Ronnie Hough
John Naylor jnr
Alan Levene
Paul Edwards
Richie Wenton
Billy Seasman
Steve Harkin
George Turpin

All the lads will be at the launch so if you want to get a signed copy - thats the place to be - its free. no tickets - thats the way I roll. Open to the public etc.

There'll hopefully also be a unique DVD of most of the lads in action that we will show at the event - and which only those who turn up at the launch will also receive with every book purchased. Most fighters have around 6-7000 words on their careers/lives - with a few (George Turpin, Ruichie Wenton etc) around 10,000 words. Will be in total around 100k words. Book will be around £15-£16 - with a few photos included etc - will also raffle off a glove (signed by all boxers attending) with monies raised to HJC as normal for any of my launches etc.

Will post updates nearer the time but for now thats pretty much it. If I dont get hit by a bus then - its on.Hope to see you there. Ta

Good luck with it!

I second that - good luck mate

Great stuff and good luck, look forward to it

I forgot Ian Chantler and David Burke!

Ian Chantler hated Gary Stretch, two St Helens boys with very different lifestyles.

bennie wrote:Ian Chantler hated Gary Stretch, two St Helens' boys with very different lifestyles.

Didn't Ian have a tattoo of Nigel Benn on his back (put on after Benn sparked him in 16 seconds); I imagine Stretch had a lot of people that were jealous of him/didn't like him - he had a way with the ladies.

I've got the first book and its a really good read, hope the new one sells well - they're a labour of love

palooka wrote:

bennie wrote:Ian Chantler hated Gary Stretch, two St Helens' boys with very different lifestyles.

Didn't Ian have a tattoo of Nigel Benn on his back (put on after Benn sparked him in 16 seconds); I imagine Stretch had a lot of people that were jealous of him/didn't like him - he had a way with the ladies.

ha not sure about that - I'll ask him but he never told me that - he met some good fellas did Ian - met Diego maradona in Italy after one fight - fought some good fighters there - one tough man - took a fight in motherwell at couple hours notice while he was working on the railways - in st helens! said benn was just too good and quick - caught him cold - and also met watson - said he was great boxer - very fast - in and out - some good insights to life of a tough pro at the time - i enjoyed chatting to him.

came close to meeting gary - he would have loved that fight he said - all a bit mad. ian beat central area champ but not fopr title - then at next show he was due to meet stretch but fight fell through lat on - but gary still apeared on it - winning the central area title from the fella ian had just beat. thats why we love the sport i suppose!

palooka wrote:I've got the first book and its a really good read, hope the new one sells well - they're a labour of love

thanks mate - yer they trake a while to do.

the first one was mainly edits of older interviews that syd dye had done for the liverpool echo - we had to corrent them and update them etc - but we put in around 20 shorter interviews - 1-2000 words tops - with a few others whilst i also did conteh and the likes of bassey and tiger based on research i'd done on black boxers in britain.

2nd book was less fighters featured - 60 odd as oppossed to 110 int he first! but they were longer and two - Jimmy Proce and Tony Moran - were by far the bnest - they were 6-7000 words each and people said they liked these more - so in this one we've purposefuly only done 14 or so fighters but theyre around 6000 words each - with a couple - richie, george turpin, burkey etc at around 10k.

will be worthwhile once its done but we both hold down full time jobs and yuo hjust cant make a living from writing about boxing thesedays! my wife always says - surely theres better ways to make £200 than by spending 4 yeas researching and writing then designing and publishing a boxing book! but i love it.

palooka wrote:

bennie wrote:Ian Chantler hated Gary Stretch, two St Helens' boys with very different lifestyles.

Didn't Ian have a tattoo of Nigel Benn on his back (put on after Benn sparked him in 16 seconds); I imagine Stretch had a lot of people that were jealous of him/didn't like him - he had a way with the ladies.

Chantler loved Nigel Benn because Nigel could have hit him on the way down but he resisted, which was good of Benn.

up date - deposit paid for the CASA last week - so its looking like its nearer 'ON' than 'tentative' - theres a bar etc and i imagine the launch won't take more than half an hour - 40 mins to get through. the rest of the time you can try and get your book signed by the lads. print run will prob be small - no more than 6-700.

thanks
G

All systems go for this now. All welcome. Should be a good night. Book is £15.99 with £1 on the night going to the HJC - and raffle for signed glove by all the former fighters.

Thanks

A truly memorable night last Friday with all the boxers turning up and reminiscing with fans about good times. Book is now on sale at merseyfighters3.co.uk

Please enjoy

Just wanted to say to everyone who attended @merseyfighters3 book launch last week thank you very much for your support. I thought it may get busy but it was even busier so if I didn't get much time to speak to you I'm sorry. I was also a bit busy trying to get my book signed by all the fighters featured as well - missed out on a couple so if you got all of them congratulations ha.

I've had a few messages this week from some of the lads saying they enjoyed their time in the spotlight again but they'll always be in mine - great fighters all of whom are a massive part of Merseyside's boxing legacy. A legacy that continued the same night with great wins by Jazza Dickens and Nick Quigley the same night.

I ended up out in town with Sugar Gibiliru and had a great time. We took near 100 signed copies (by me Chris and Alan Levene ) thinking we'd do well to shift 60 odd but they sold out before we knew it. Again apologies for anyone who wanted a book if they arrived after about 8.30-9. Selling that number is pretty phenomenal for a local history book let alone a niche one like boxing! Truly humbled it proved so popular.

If you've bought one and got the free dvd I also hope you enjoy watching it and reading the stories of some of our greatest boxers. Please feedback and let me know which ones you like, the parts that resonate with you or even if you remember watching them at the time!

It was an honour researching the stories and of course interviewing the lads themselves. I really enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long though ha. Will try and get MF4 out within 3 years now.

If your after a copy now then please get one from http://www.merseyfighters3.co.uk and me and Chris will send you a signed one from us. Thanks. Here's to the next one!

Also - £1 off every book bought on the night was donated to the Hillsbrough Justice Capmaign campaign but a few people also donated a bit extra so I gave them £120 on Sunday before the match. Thanks to everyone who did that.

Lee Hogan from VIP also came and filmed a few interviews - heres some links which may interest you - one with me where you get to see some of the fighters featured from the DVD we gave away at the launch - and one with me and Richie Wenton - feedback from those who have read the book say that his is the best of a great bunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEmOA1CiNBw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEf8_A ... sROOc8xXOY

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/bo ... y-10434025

http://www.merseyfighters3.co.uk