Off The Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story

"[Ron Lyle's] life was a remarkable one and the story of it worth re-telling, which makes the book’s new edition thoroughly welcome. Off The Ropes is absolutely recommended reading."―Gary Lucken, Boxing Monthly 
"Nobody ever hit me that hard. No question. I’ll remember that punch on my deathbed. A great puncher, a great guy."―Earnie Shavers
In a life as tough as his battles in the ring, Ron Lyle had already served hard time for second-degree murder before he started his amateur boxing career at the age of twenty-nine. After he turned pro, fans knew him as the man who had Muhammad Ali beat on the scorecards for ten rounds in a fight for the heavyweight title; as the man who fought George Foreman in a legendary brawl with four knockdowns that nearly saw Foreman knocked cold; and as the man who was arrested for murder a second time.
Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story is not your typical boxing biography, exploring not only the greatest era of heavyweights in boxing history, but also telling an equally compelling personal tale. Ron Lyle grew up in the Denver projects, one of nineteen children in a tight-knit, religious family. At twenty, he was convicted for a disputed gang killing and served seven and a half years at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City, where at one point he was nearly shanked to death, and where he learned to box before he was paroled in 1969.
After a meteoric amateur career, he turned pro in 1971, and over the next six years established an outstanding professional record, which, in addition to the near misses against Ali and Foreman, included a brutal knockout win over one of the era's most feared fighters, big-punching Earnie Shavers.
Then, in 1978, Lyle was indicted for murder a second time and, even though he was acquitted, his career was effectively over. The years that followed were filled with struggle, a captivating love story, and eventual redemption. Today, a youth center in Denver that he ran still bears his name.
Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story is the poignant, uplifting biography of a singular man.

Biographies & Memoirs

Candace Toft

Community & Culture

Hamilcar Publications

"[Ron Lyle's] life was a remarkable one and the story of it worth re-telling, which makes the book’s new edition thoroughly welcome. Off The Ropes is absolutely recommended reading."―Gary Lucken, Boxing Monthly 
"Nobody ever hit me that hard. No question. I’ll remember that punch on my deathbed. A great puncher, a great guy."―Earnie Shavers
In a life as tough as his battles in the ring, Ron Lyle had already served hard time for second-degree murder before he started his amateur boxing career at the age of twenty-nine. After he turned pro, fans knew him as the man who had Muhammad Ali beat on the scorecards for ten rounds in a fight for the heavyweight title; as the man who fought George Foreman in a legendary brawl with four knockdowns that nearly saw Foreman knocked cold; and as the man who was arrested for murder a second time.
Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story is not your typical boxing biography, exploring not only the greatest era of heavyweights in boxing history, but also telling an equally compelling personal tale. Ron Lyle grew up in the Denver projects, one of nineteen children in a tight-knit, religious family. At twenty, he was convicted for a disputed gang killing and served seven and a half years at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City, where at one point he was nearly shanked to death, and where he learned to box before he was paroled in 1969.
After a meteoric amateur career, he turned pro in 1971, and over the next six years established an outstanding professional record, which, in addition to the near misses against Ali and Foreman, included a brutal knockout win over one of the era's most feared fighters, big-punching Earnie Shavers.
Then, in 1978, Lyle was indicted for murder a second time and, even though he was acquitted, his career was effectively over. The years that followed were filled with struggle, a captivating love story, and eventual redemption. Today, a youth center in Denver that he ran still bears his name.
Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story is the poignant, uplifting biography of a singular man.

"Brings to life the fight world of that era. Mr. Mitchell's account is full of memorably drawn scenes, and the stories we haven't heard before make Jacobs Beach a cigar-chomping read."―Wall Street Journal
Gangsters have always infected fight game. At the end of the First World War, through Prohibition, and into the 1930s, the Mob emerged as a poisonous force, threatening to ravage the sport. But it was only when cutthroat Madison Square Garden promoter Mike Jacobs, chieftain of a notorious patch of Manhattan pavement called Jacobs Beach, stepped aside that the real devil appeared former Murder, Inc. killer and underworld power broker Frankie Carbo, a man known to many simply as Mr. Gray. 
And Carbo wasn't alone. Along with a crooked cast of characters that included a rich playboy and an urbane lawyer, he controlled boxing through most of the 1950s, with the help of a diabolical deputy, Francis Blinky Palermo, who did much of Mr. Gray's dirty work, reportedly drugging fighters and robbing them blind. Not until 1961, when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy shipped Carbo and Palermo to jail for twenty-five years, did it all come crashing down. 
Enriched by the recollections of some of the men who were there, Kevin Mitchell's Jacobs Beach offers a gripping, noirish look at boxing and organized crime in postwar New York City and reveals the fading glamour of both.

Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Garden and the Golden Age of Boxing

History

Mitchell, Kevin

Americas

"McRae brings to the highly charged, obsessive world of professional boxing a novelist's eye and ear for revealing detail and convincingly recalled dialogue. This is an impassioned book."―Joyce Carol Oates, LA Times
“This deeper understanding of everything that surrounds the fight game is what makes Dark Trade so compelling and why McRae’s brave book remains essential reading for any boxing fan.”―Joshua Isard, The Fight City
Dark Trade: Lost In Boxing, by Donald McRae, award-winning author of eleven non-fiction books and staff writer for The Guardian, is widely considered of one of the best boxing books all time. 
This is a new edition, released in the United States for the first time, that includes a new chapter by the author, plus a stunning cover that features a painting of boxer James Toney by noted boxing artist Amanda Kelley.
There is no other sport like boxing. Over twenty years ago, Donald McRae set out across the United States and his adopted home, Britain, to find deeper meaning in the brutal trade that had transfixed him since he was a young man. The result is a stunning chronicle that captures not only McRae's compelling personal journey through the world of professional prizefighting, but also the stories of some of its biggest names in boxing―James Toney, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, Naseem Hamed, Roy Jones, Jr., and others. 
Singular in his ability to uncover the emotional forces that drive men to get into the ring, McRae brilliantly exposes the hopes and fears and obsessions of these legendary fighters, while revealing some of his own along the way. What he shares with them most, he comes to realize, is that he is hopelessly, and willingly, lost in boxing.

Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing

McRae, Donald

Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing

This is powerful writing. Enjoy it."―Thomas Hauser, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee
“Carlos Acevedo is the most original, perceptive, and best new writer in boxing. Sporting Blood is a vivid and gripping collection.”―Donald McRae, writer for The Guardian and author of Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing
Boxing’s literary tradition is perhaps the richest in sports. From A. J. Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great sportswriting. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that honored tradition. 
The essays that make up Sporting Blood include Acevedo’s moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; his penetrating look at Ali’s fearsome rival, the enigmatic heavyweight Charles “Sonny” Liston; and his profile of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King’s late 1980s reign of terror. Acevedo offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing’s dark side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Johnny Tapia, Evander Holyfield, Jake LaMotta, and more.
Sporting Blood is ultimately a poetic throwback, an uncanny book that evokes journalism’s golden age and places Acevedo not only among the best sportswriters of this generation, but of any other as well.

Acevedo, Carlos

Historical

"This is powerful writing. Enjoy it."--Thomas Hauser, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee "Carlos Acevedo is the most original, perceptive, and best new writer in boxing. Sporting Blood is a vivid and gripping collection."--Donald McRae, writer for The Guardian and author of Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing "...this book may cement [Acevedo's] status as one of today's best boxing journalists."--Kirkus Reviews Boxing's literary tradition is perhaps the richest in sports. From A. J. Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great sportswriting. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that honored tradition. The essays that make up Sporting Blood include Acevedo's moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; his penetrating look at Ali's fearsome rival, the enigmatic heavyweight Charles "Sonny" Liston; and his profile of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King's late 1980s reign of terror. Acevedo offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing's dark side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Johnny Tapia, Evander Holyfield, Jake LaMotta, and more. Sporting Blood is ultimately a poetic throwback, an uncanny book that evokes journalism's golden age and places Acevedo not only among the best sportswriters of this generation, but of any other as well. Contents Foreword: Thomas Hauser 1: A Ghost Orbiting Forever: Muhammad Ali 1942-2016 2: Fugitive Days: Jack Johnson in Exile 3: The Last Goodbye: Remembering the Rivalry Between Roberto Durán and Esteban De Jesús 4: Right on for the Darkness: On Aaron Pryor 1955-2016 5: The Catastrophist: The Troubled World of Don Jordan 6: Dark Sun: Remembering Joe Frazier 7: Strange Days: The Johnny Saxton Story 8: The Hurting Kind: Wilfredo Gomez vs. Lupe Pintor 9: Yesterday Will Make You Cry: The Short, Tragic Career of Davey Moore 10: Under Saturn: Johnny Tapia 1967-2012 11: Total Everything Now: Mike Tyson, 1988 12: The Windfall Factor: The Night Bert Cooper Almost Beat Evander Holyfield for the Heavyweight Title 13: Red Arrow: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston 14: The Dark Corner: The Furious Life of Jake LaMotta 15: A Young Old Man: The Tragic Life of Ad Wolgast 16: The Lightning Within: Tony Ayala, Jr. 17: No Exit: Eddie Machen 18: One Long Season in Hell: On Michael Dokes 19: Lightning Express: The Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall of Al Singer 20: Live Forward, Learned Backward: Mike Quarry and the "Quarry Curse" 21: Leftover Life to Kill

Macho Time will be the first definitive biography of Hector Camacho Sr., who lived a life as fast as his fists flew in the ring. Camacho's son, Hector Camacho Jr., also a professional boxer, has worked closely with author Christian Giudice to give him unprecedented access and insight into this complex man, who was tragically murdered in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2012.
Raised in 1970s Spanish Harlem, Hector Camacho lived a life as fast as his fists flew in the ring. Handsome, flamboyant, and outspoken, Camacho electrified the boxing scene of the 1980s and, shouting his mantra “Macho Time!”, beat some of the greatest fighters of his generation. His fast-lane life caught up with him eventually―and tragically―when he was shot dead outside a nightclub in Puerto Rico at the age of fifty. MACHO TIME is written by Christian Giudice, author of HANDS OF STONE, which was made into the motion picture of the same name starring Robert De Niro.

Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho (Deluxe Limited Edition)

Giudice, Christian

“Stradley [has]…a clipped, hard-hitting narrative style that makes no excuses and offers no apologies. Boxing fans interested in this…tragic figure should be captivated. A gritty, absorbing account of a boxer who couldn’t defeat his own inner demons.”―Kirkus Reviews
 From the pages of Berserk: The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero... 
"There’s no telling what went on during the next few hours, or where his paranoia took him, but in that room something terrible happened. At 5:30 a.m. Valero appeared in the lobby. As calmly as one might order something from room service, he told the staff that he had just killed his wife."
Within the dark pages of Berserk: The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero, author Don Stradley uncovers the gritty details of the undefeated (27-0, 27 KO), troubled, boxer Edwin Valero.
Edwin Valero’s life was like a rocket shot into a wall. With a perfect knockout record in twenty-seven fights, the demonic Venezuelan boxer, known as “El Inca” and “El Dinamita,” seemed destined for a clash with all-time great Manny Pacquiao. But the Fates had other ideas.
Fueled by cocaine and booze and paranoia, Valero blazed into a mania that derailed his career in the ring and resulted in the brutal death of his young wife Jennifer–and soon afterward, his own. In chilling detail, Don Stradley captures one of the darkest and most sensational boxing stories in recent memory, which, until now, has never been fully told.
Filled with firsthand accounts from the men who trained Valero and the reporters who covered him, as well as insights from psychologists and forensic experts, Berserk is a hell-ride of a book.
Berserk is the first in the Hamilcar Noir series, from Hamilcar Publications.
Hamilcar Noir is "Hard-Hitting True Crime" that blends boxing and true crime, featuring riveting stories captured in high-quality prose, with cover art inspired by classic pulp novels.

Berserk: The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero (Hamilcar Noir True Crime Series)

Sports & Outdoors

Stradley, Don

Biographies

“The narrative describes the arc of Tapia’s professional life in economical but effective detail…Zanon knows the sport well enough to keep these bouts intriguing…with a good deal of momentum and little sentimentality. The resulting portrait is that of a deeply weak and flawed man who could nevertheless exhibit a real zest for living. A gritty, engrossing, and concise account of a boxer’s meteoric career and tortured personal life.”―Kirkus Reviews
 "If I wake up, I know I'm a success. The day I don't wake up, I know I'll be home. I have one foot on this earth and one foot has crossed over. I didn’t just die, I lived.”―Johnny Tapia ...the ghost of Johnny Tapia lives on
“Mi Vida Loca” (My Crazy Life) was Johnny Tapia’s nickname and his reason for being. Haunted by the brutal murder of his beloved mother when he was a child, fighting and drugs gave him the escape he craved―and he did both with gusto. In The Ghost Of Johnny Tapia, Paul Zanon, with the help of Tapia’s widow Teresa, tells the harrowing and unforgettable story of a boxing genius who couldn’t, in the end, defeat his demons.
The Ghost of Johnny Tapia is the second in the Hamilcar Noir series. Hamilcar Noir is "Hard-Hitting True Crime" that blends boxing and true crime, featuring riveting stories captured in high-quality prose, with cover art inspired by classic pulp novels.
From the Foreword: "Johnny had incredible heart, was such a sweet man, but was also tormented. He had two sides to him. The sweetest, nicest guy, but then the other side which could probably kill you. He was tortured with his addictions, but Johnny was always pure emotion in that ring."―Sammy ‘The Red Rocker’ Hagar, Musician

The Ghost of Johnny Tapia (Hamilcar Noir True Crime Series)

Zanon, Paul

"With deadpan humor, whip-smart insights and some damn fine sentences, Charles Farrell has written a classic chronicle of life in the twilight world, on par with masters of the genre like Damon Runyon, Mezz Mezzrow, Nat Hentoff and Nick Pileggi. A truly great read."--Debby Applegate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, and author of Madam: The Life of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz-Age A world-class jazz pianist, Charles Farrell made his living working Mob clubs from the time he was a teenager in the 1960s. He later moved from music to the complex world of professional boxing, managing dozens of fighters, including former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks and former gang leader Mitch "Blood" Green, who famously went toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson--once in the ring and once in the street. A fight-fixer and gangster, Farrell ran afoul of New York mobsters in the 1990s and retreated to the mountains of Puerto Rico, coming home only after an infamous boxing legend brokered his safe return. Retired from the fight game, he returned to jazz and, among other collaborators, played frequently with his friend Ornette Coleman, the godfather of "Free Jazz" and one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. (Low)life is a singular book by a singular man.

(Low)life: A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and the Mob

Farrell, Charles

Humor & Entertainment

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Books by Hamilcar Publications

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Hamilcar Publications publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Off The Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story

Off The Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story

Jacobs Beach: The Mob, the Garden and the Golden Age of Boxing

Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing

Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing

Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing

Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho (Deluxe Limited Edition)

Berserk: The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero (Hamilcar Noir True Crime Series)

The Ghost of Johnny Tapia (Hamilcar Noir True Crime Series)

(Low)life: A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and the Mob