Looking for a Fight: How a Writer Took on the Boxing World - From the Inside

(, New edition)

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Description

When David Matthews began to research the strange underworld of boxing, he found that many were reluctant to talk to a writer looking for colour pieces without really understanding the sport. So he decided take them on at their own game and began a two-year training programme so he could have one professional fight. LOOKING FOR A FIGHT is Matthews' story of his own battle for fitness, the difficulty of learning how to punch properly and how to take a punch. Above all, he reveals what really motivates the characters that he worked and trained with. What makes someone risk their life for a purse of a few hundred pounds Why do so many boxers believe that God is on their side Is boxing a force for good in our society This is a remarkable account of boxing from within and without.

Reviews

As the author recounts the sights and sounds of the scary new world he has embraced, it connects like a sweetly timed uppercut - Mike Rowbottom, Independent

His book has huge vitality, beguiling characterisation, authentic dialogue and a fine evocation of time and place...We have lost a boxer, but gained a writer - Brian Glanville, Sunday Times

A highly readable book ... Made even better by the author's facility for memorable similes ... This absorbing book paints the bottom end of the British fight game, warts and all - Sunday Herald

Compulsive reading - Martin Smith, Daily Telegraph

A hell of a tale - Robert Philip, Daily Telegraph

Packs a mighty punch ... A raw, new voice steeped in an experience that is very 21st century - Morning Star

An epic, downbeat journey of discovery. A painfully honest account - Mike Rowbottom, Independent

Unputdownable ... [a] riveting work to read - Frank Keating, Guardian

Author Bio

David Matthews is a freelance journalist who has written for various newspapers, including the OBSERVER and the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, and is currently working on a scholarship with the BBC.