From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins

(Hardback)

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World champion boxer Lew Jenkins fought his whole life. As a child, he fought extreme poverty during the Great Depression; in his twenties, he fought as a professional boxer and became a world champion; and at the pinnacle of his boxing career, Jenkins fought in World War II and the Korean War. From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins details for the first time this extraordinary story. Despite his talent for boxing, Jenkins often fought and trained in drunken stupors. Although he became the world lightweight champion, he soon wasted his ring title and all his money. Jenkins eventually found purpose during World War II and the Korean War, fighting in major battles that included D-Day, Bloody Ridge, and Heartbreak Ridge. His efforts earned him one of the highest decorations for bravery, the Silver Star. Unable to find meaning in life at the peak of his boxing success, Jenkins discovered values to which he could cling during war. From Boxing Ring to Battlefield features exclusive interviews with Lew Jenkinss son and grandson, providing a personal perspective on the life of this complicated war hero. The first biography of Jenkins, this book will fascinate boxing fans and historians alike.

Reviews

Lew Jenkins had a howitzer of a right hand and sometimes fought drunk. What more could you ask for -- Nigel Collins, ESPN Boxing analyst and columnist, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, and former editor-in-chief of The Ring magazine
Author Gene Pantalone delves into the life of Lew Jenkins in his latest book, From Boxing Ring to Battlefield. . . . . [A] must-read for all boxing fans. Throughout the two-hundred pages, Gene Pantalone does a terrific job at engaging the reader and making him become invested in the development of Jenkins as if it was a life story being played out in real time. Pantalone also does a great job telling the stories of the people that played different roles in Jenkins life. . . . If not for Pantalone this is the type of story that may have been lost in the annals of time. Lew Jenkins may have been viewed as just another lightweight champion from years past. Instead readers are now able to connect with an intriguing character who finds purpose in the most unlikely of places during a period of time that is becoming more and more distant. * The Sweet Science *
From Boxing Ring to Battlefield: The Life of War Hero Lew Jenkins is the sort of high-spirited account that only Jenkins could inspire [and] Pantalone is the biographer Jenkins deserves, telling the story simply but thoroughly . . . Jenkins sad smile is all over this book. * Ringside Seat *
Pantalone is a first-rate researcher, enabling him to depict scenes that could not vary more wildly in content from Jenkins early fights in backwater Texas venues to lethal battles in Koreas Haean-Myon Valley near todays Demilitarized Zone. He describes the emotion and technique of a 1940s New York City title match with the same skill as the even more challenging nuances of 1950s land-based warfare. * Fieldhouse Asheville *
A full-length biography of boxer Lew Jenkins has been long overdue, and here Gene Pantalone does a good job of connecting Jenkins hard-scrabble upbringing in rural Texas to the bright lights of Broadway to the grim realities of the battlefield. Its an exceptional story of a fighters struggle, success, disgrace, and a sincere and hard-earned redemption. -- Clay Coppedge, author of Texas Singularities and Forgotten Tales of Texas
The life of Lew Jenkins is the stuff of boxing legend. From his Depression era upbringing and carnival barnstorming to winning a world title and squandering it all before becoming a war hero, Jenkins is an epic pulp novel come to life. In the capable hands of Gene Pantalone the story brims with all the hardscrabble detail you want in a great boxing book. This is a must-read for fans of the squared circle's history. -- Chad Dundas, sportswriter and award-winning author of Champion of the World
Gene Pantalone has done a remarkable job bringing lightweight champ and Hall of Famer Lew Jenkins to life in thismost entertaining and informative biography. "The Sweetwater Swatter" was one helluva hard puncher... so's his biographer. -- Clarence George, boxing writer and historian
Too often the history of boxing boils down to tales about heavyweights, as if the exploits of Sullivan, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali, and Tyson are all that matter. Well, Lew Jenkinslightweight champion, war hero, and a danger to himself as much as any opponentmattered. His is the story of survival in the ring, in two wars, and in life. Gene Pantalones biography of Jenkins richly recounts a fascinating life. -- Randy Roberts, professor of history, Purdue University, and co-author, A Season in the Sun: The Rise of Mickey Mantle
Until the publication of Gene Pantalones biography, the annals of boxing have been missing a chaptera chapter on Hall-of-Famer Lew Jenkins. Jenkins was a bony Texan who, as a world lightweight champion, mastered the stylized warfare of the ring as well as the real thingWWII and the Korean War. A must-read for all students of the history of the sweet science, Pantalones richly-documented biography presents an arresting portrait of a boxer and soldier who was as wild as a pirate and as courageous as Achilles. -- Gordon Marino, veteran boxing trainer and award-winning boxing writer for the Wall Street Journal and HBO Inside Boxing
I served in combat with Lew Jenkins during the Korean War when he received his Silver Star. Jenkins was a brave soldier who cared for his men. It was an honor to have served with him. -- Ronald E. Rosser, Medal of Honor recipient, Korea 1951-52

Author Bio

Gene Pantalone is an expert on the golden age of boxing1920 to 1950and Madame Beys boxing camp, which hosted fourteen heavyweight champions and no fewer than eighty International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees. He is a contributing writer to the boxing website The Weigh-In and author of Madame Beys: Home to Boxing Legends.