Champion's Last Fight , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Nick Parkinson

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132 pages

English

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Drink, drugs, depression, sex scandals, financial meltdowns and serious health issues are just some of the fights British boxers have faced once they've quit the ring. A Champion's Last Fight examines just why and exactly how some of Britain's greatest boxers have self-destructed in retirement. It tells the stories of former world champions who have struggled in life away from the spotlights and the glare that comes with boxing success; delving into the post-boxing lives and tribulations of Benny Lynch, Randolph Turpin, Freddie Mills, Ken Buchanan, John Conteh, Alan Minter, Charlie Magri, Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Naseem Hamed, Scott Harrison, Herbie Hide, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton. With interviews and new revelations, A Champion's Last Fight is an emotional journey through boxing history that examines the struggles many former champions experience after hanging up the gloves - and asks what, if anything, can be done to help the nation's boxing greats adjust to life away from the ring?

Sujets

History of sport

Boxing

Xian de Boxing

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	01 mai 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785311659
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2016
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Nick Parkinson, 2016
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-164-2
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-165-9
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Preface Boxers are not like ordinary people
Round 1 The biggest thirst in boxing
Round 2 Suicide or murder?
Round 3 How could a man like that give up in life?
Round 4 Battling the bottle
Round 5 Dealing with low blows
Round 6 Where did all the money go?
Round 7 Going broke
Round 8 Fighting depression and the risk of CTE
Round 9 Boxers behind bars
Round 10 Champions of crime
Round 11 Mind the gap: the void left by retirement
Round 12 The bitter science
Photographs
For Caroline, George, Oliver and Teddy
About the author
NICK PARKINSON has been a journalist since 1998 and is the boxing reporter for the Daily Star Sunday and ESPN.co.uk . He has also reported on boxing and football for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Star, The Sunday Times, Daily Mail, The Sun and other newspapers across the world as well as international wire service Agence France Presse (AFP). He has filed from ringside on the biggest fights in Britain and Europe for most of his journalism career and is also the author of Boxing On This Day (Pitch Publishing, 2015). Originally from London, he now lives in Cornwall with his wife Caroline and sons George, Oliver and Teddy.
Acknowledgements
THIS book would not have been possible without those who agreed to talk to me, sometimes about emotional matters. For their courage and candour I am very grateful. I thank the following who I spoke to and whose words are included in this book: Bobby Lynch (son of Benny Lynch), Carmen Turpin (daughter of Randy Turpin), Don McCorkindale (stepson of Freddie Mills), John Conteh, Alan Minter, Ken Buchanan, Charlie Magri, Chris Eubank, Chris Eubank Jr, Dr Willie Stewart, Dr Robert Cantu, Dr Charlie Bernick, Naseem Hamed, Brendan Ingle, Scott Harrison, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Carl Froch, Billy Schwer, Barry Jones, Barry McGuigan, Robert Smith and Dr Phil Hopley. Others who have helped me in this book include Pete Tomlinson, Anthony Leaver, Paul Speak, Richard Maynard, Amir Rashid, Mike Costello, Sky Sports, Box Nation, Danny Flexen and the rest of the team at Boxing News for allowing me to look through their archive, Colin Hart and the British Boxing Writers Club and staff at the old British Newspapers Library at Colindale for their help in my research.
Thanks also to my fellow journalists and those in the media business, past and present, for their reports, statistics, books and footage, which have helped me in researching this book. There are too many names to mention here, but their work enabled me to write this book as much as anything else. I ve used excerpts from some publications and broadcasters and I m grateful for their permission for use. Every attempt was made to get permission of excerpts used in this book and I hope I have given a reference to everything I have quoted from.
Photographs used in the book mostly belong to the Getty archive, as too do the images of Randolph Turpin, Frank Bruno and Ricky Hatton on the front cover. The image of Benny Lynch on the front cover belongs to the archive of DC Thomson. Thanks to David Powell, of DC Thomson, for his help in tracking down the image of Lynch on the front cover. The image of Turpin with Sugar Ray Robinson belongs to the Press Association archive.
Pitch Publishing has made this book become a reality and once again I m grateful to them for their advice, organisation and faith in me. They are a great supporter of books on sport and I was happy to work with them again. Thanks in particular to Paul and Jane Camillin. Duncan Olner did a great job with the creation of the cover. My dad, Alan, once again was a great help with proofing and also helped instil an interest in boxing during my childhood. My dad and mum, Janet, ensured I got a good education and without that I would not have been able to complete this project.
I ve been able to report on boxing for most of my journalism career for a variety of newspapers and I am grateful for the opportunity to still be able to do that for the Daily Star Sunday and ESPN.co.uk . I hope I have gained an understanding and empathy for the sport and boxers after nearly 20 years of reporting it. I felt compelled to write this book after some of those boxers I had reported on then hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in retirement.
Thanks to anyone who helps with the publicity of the book, I m not the best at doing it myself, so it is appreciated.
Lastly, but most importantly, thanks to my wife Caroline for her encouragement and our three boys - George, Oliver and Teddy - for keeping us happy.
March, 2016
Preface
Boxers are not like ordinary people
WHEN the punches stop, away from the spotlight and crowds, Britain s best boxers face another fight. For over 100 years, the lives of world champions have waxed and waned. Of the 53 British boxers who won world title belts from 1945 and had retired by 2012, 25 are known to have experienced problems with money, drink, drugs, depression or crime after their boxing careers 1 . Paradoxically, life after excelling in the hardest of sports has been more painful than spilling blood in the ring for some of Britain s most decorated and popular ring heroes. This book will look at why so many former champions struggle in retirement by telling the post-boxing life stories in particular of Benny Lynch, Randolph Turpin, Freddie Mills, Ken Buchanan, John Conteh, Alan Minter, Charlie Magri, Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Naseem Hamed, Scott Harrison 2 , Herbie Hide, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton.
Of the disproportionate amount of Britain s most famous ex-pugilists to experience problems after boxing, some have overcome or learned to live with their troubles, while others have not. But why are some former champions so vulnerable once they hang up the gloves? When it was all falling apart for Benny Lynch, when he had lost his title on the scales after failing to shed the pounds accumulated by his acute alcoholism, the little Scot asked for forgiveness and offered an explanation.
Don t blame me too much, he said.
Plenty of hard things have been said about me. I know I have been the bad boy of boxing. I know I have come in overweight for my last three fights. But can t you understand that boxers are not like ordinary people? 3
Lynch felt boxing was to blame for his problems, but is a successful boxing career, as opposed to any other occupation, always responsible for problems such as alcoholism or depression?
When world champion boxers are under the lights, they seem far from ordinary but invincible to adoring fight fans as they mow down opponents, the figure of physical perfection. Their macho exterior, however, does not protect them from depression, which they can suffer just like any one else. Frank Bruno s mental illness led to him being sectioned three times by 2013 and the former world heavyweight champion s story highlights how prizefighters are not immune to mental illness. Was boxing responsible for tipping Bruno over the edge, or is his bipolar condition something that would have developed anyway? And does a famous boxer inevitably have to contend with factors, such as repetitive brain injury, that might result in depression, alcoholism or crime that are exclusive to the fight game?
To understand this and other reasons behind a champion s struggle after boxing and descent into depression or down a path of self-destruction, it is relevant to first look at their careers and early lives. Perhaps boxing is not the sole reason why these champions struggled later in life, with problems beginning before they retire.
Tumbles from wealth and glory to misery and ignominy are not exclusive to elite boxers and can happen in all walks of life, but such falls from grace occur more in sport than elsewhere, and particularly to champion boxers. The rate of suicides in other sports such as cricket may be higher than in boxing 4 , but there have been more publicised cases of former world champion boxers experiencing difficulties or indignity in retirement than top stars of other sports. Through interviews and research, this book will attempt to explain why so many top boxers encounter problems after they are finished, whether boxing is to blame and, finally, ask if anything can be done to avoid these breakdowns after boxing.
This is the story of Britain s world champion boxers who discovered that the hardest fight of all awaited them after their prizefighting days were over.
The biggest thirst in boxing
London, 3 October 1938 - Benny Lynch sits alone in the dimly lit dressing room, waiting to fight one last time. The boxing gloves make it difficult to drink and the little man has to use both trembling hands to lift the bottle to his lips like a child, clumsily spilling brown liquid down his chin and staining his shorts. Just in case someone walks in and sees the recently deposed world champion numbing his senses without the help of being hit, Benny conceals the half-empty bottle s contents. He wraps the brandy bottle in a towel, and knocks it back as if it is water