Combat Memoirs

Three months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, prizefighters Charles "Sonny" Liston and Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. stepped into a boxing ring in Miami to dispute the heavyweight championship of the world. Liston was a mob fighter with a criminal past, and rumors were spreading that Clay was not just a noisy, bright-eyed boy blessed with more than his share of the craziness of youth, but a believer in a shadowy cult: the Nation of Islam. Instead of a hero and a villain, boxing had served up two bad guys.

Boxing has given Australian sport some of our most inspiring champions and captivating tales. Stories of underdogs overcoming heartbreaks and hurdles, of endless courage and dedication, triumph and tragedy. From the first brawls in old Sydney Town, the travelling boxing tents across the country and the first black world heavyweight champion to today's most celebrated fighters, Australia's pre-eminent boxing journalist and former assistant trainer to some of the ring's most talented champions presents our nation's greatest boxing stories.

Allein gegen alle und sich selbst: die mitreißende Autobiografie des deutsch-türkischen Profi-Boxers und vehementen Erdoğan-Kritikers Ünsal Arık.Als "Kanake" im Land der "Almans" lebt Ünsal Arık von Anfang an nach der Devise: ganz oder gar nicht. Er versucht sich als Fußballer, IT-Vertriebler und Versicherungsfachmann. Doch sein Glück findet Arık dabei nicht und fällt tief, rutscht sogar in die Obdachlosigkeit ab. Was ihn schließlich vor dem Untergang rettet, ist das Boxen.

Bruce Lee ist vor allem als Kampfkünstler bekannt, doch er war auch ein tiefgründiger Denker. In seinen nun zum ersten Mal auf Deutsch veröffentlichten privaten Notizbüchern teilt er mit uns seine persönlichen Gedanken zu allen wichtigen Themen aus den Bereichen Psychologie und Philosophie. Besonders spannend ist seine Auffassung von den geistigen Prinzipien, die gute Kampf- und Lebenskünstler*innen ausmachen. Empty Your Mind ist ein Jubiläumsband zum 50. Todestag des Meisters am 20. Juli 2023, auf den all seine Fans und Praktizierenden der Kampfkünste nicht verzichten können.

By the age of 24, Big Joe Egan had over 80 boxing wins and seven Irish titles and was a Golden Gloves champion. A mean body puncher with a durable chin, he went the distance with Lennox Lewis and beat future WBA champion Bruce Seldon. Encouraged by Floyd Patterson to try his luck in the USA, Joe joined "Iron" Mike Tyson’s training camp in the Catskill Mountains with the great Cus D’Amato. Joe became like a brother to Mike, who described him as the Toughest White Man on the Planet. Big Joe Egan is a gripping, entertaining, and uncompromisingly emotional account.

Picture a man, he’s tall, not excessively so, yet as wide as he is high. This man is a spitting and growling street brawler; a tank full of ready-to-blow, muscle-fuelled aggression. Imagine, if you will, the comic-book style Bulldog of Great British stamp. Well, there you have him! The prototypical face taken from the terraces of an ’80s football fan’s rolled-up newspaper cosh; a poster-boy of malevolence left over from Thatcher’s post-punk Britain.

Ahmed und Hussen Chaer sind Wrestling-Stars - und doch ganz anders als die meisten Erfolgssportler. Die Flucht des Vaters aus dem Libanon, eine Kindheit im Kreuzberger Hinterhaus, ihr Einsatz gegen Vorurteile und Ausgrenzung: All das hat die unzertrennlichen Brüder geprägt - und macht sie zu sympathischen Streitern für eine bessere Welt.

Pittsburgh’s Paul Spadafora defeated Israel Cardona to capture the International Boxing Federation lightweight belt and the heart of a city that had not boasted a world champion prizefighter in over a half-century. Outside the ring, Paul’s dependency on drugs and alcohol marred his legacy and bore tragic consequences. Paul’s narrative was one of brilliance, crippled by madness, a dichotomy of in-ring savant and out-of-ring calamity. Fighting Till the End is a candid examination of a flawed champion determined to conquer his demons and come out on top in the final round of his life.

Amidst the tension of a true historical military escalation between the USA and Libya in 1986, a Navy fighter pilot navigates his haunted past and uncertain future, discovering that true battles lie within, while a determined detective in Denver unravels a web of deceit, murder, and stolen diamonds that threatens to destroy them both.

"Je me prénomme Michel et je suis l'orphelin dont parle cette histoire. Durant la nuit du 26 au 27 mai 1944, j'ai non seulement perdu le père dont j'avais tant besoin pour me construire, mais j'ai aussi perdu ma mère, car une part d'elle-même est morte lorsque mon père s’est éteint. [...] À l'âge de soixante-dix-huit ans, je ne parviens pas à oublier la cruauté et l'injustice de son assassinat. En vérité, pas une minute ne s'écoule sans que mon sang ne bouillonne de colère, car je le sais à présent : rien ne justifiait son meurtre. [...]"

This book has all the ingredients of an exciting action film because it's a highly entertaining coming-of-age martial arts memoir about a karate-crazed teen who discovers that his martial arts heroes are deep into drug, drinking, and debauchery. John Graden joined the Florida Karate Academy at the height of the Bruce Lee Kung Fu Boom in the 1970s. Within a decade, he became a protégé of the legendary Joe Lewis, twice voted as the greatest karate fighter of all time. With humor and unflinching honesty, this story is a pause-resister.

James Webb, author of Fields of Fire, the classic novel of the Vietnam War - and a former U.S. Senator; Secretary of the Navy; recipient of the Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart as a combat Marine; and a self-described "military brat" - has written an extraordinary memoir of his early years, "a love story - love of family, love of country, love of service" in his words.

1st Lieutenant Robin Bartlett suddenly found himself at the "repo-depo" in Bien Hoa reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. The unit had more helicopter support than any other unit in Vietnam. Immediate support from artillery, helicopter gunships, and ARA was only minutes away to support a firefight. Wounded troops could be medevaced even in dense jungle using "jungle penetrators." It also meant that Bartlett's platoon could deploy through helicopter combat assaults into hot LZs (landing zones) at a moment's notice if an enemy force had been spotted. And they did.

Bullied at school, Simon Gray set off on a journey to avenge his demons. From the Muay Thai ring to the traditional Japanese dojo, his journey of self-discovery is packed full of humor, inspiration, and lessons to live a better and more fulfilling life. Approaching his mid-thirties, he stepped away from the corporate rat race.

Published for the first time in the United States, Combat Diary is the war story of Dog Battery, also known US Army Gun Battalion D. Originally only published in Germany in 1945, it tells the tale of 150 US soldiers as they arrive in England in July of 1944. The battalion arrives on the beaches of Normandy, fights through France—and ultimately into Germany—at the time of the fall of the Nazi regime. It is an intimate account of the actions and endurance of the soldiers over those seven months.

In the early 1980s, Ray Mancini was more than the lightweight champ. He was a national hero. Sinatra fawned over him. Warren Zevon wrote a tribute song. Sylvester Stallone produced his life story as a movie of the week. After all, an adoring public considered Boom Boom the real Rocky. But it all came apart in a brutal 1982 battle against an obscure Korean challenger....

Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout—and lives to tell in this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer.

An in-depth exploration of the pivotal Cassius Clay transformed into Muhammad Ali, exploring the events, relationship, and experiences that shaped him.

Frank Warren has spent 40 years working with boxing's most colourful and controversial characters. In his long-awaited autobiography, he reflects on the battles he had to win to reach the top and remain there, not least the battle to stay alive after he was shot at point-blank range in an attempted assassination in 1989. In Frank and Fearless, Warren pulls no punches, taking us behind the scenes into a world of blood and sweat, and intense relationships that all too often end in tears.

Follow the journey of Mark Tullius, former cage fighter and boxer turned author and stay-at-home dad as he puts his love of fighting and his sociology degree to use. What began as a personal exploration to unlock his reasons for continuing to train and pursue a fight career evolved into an in-depth sociological study of why competing in mixed martial arts (MMA) appeals to fighters. Why do these men and women subject themselves to the endless hours of grueling training required for the full-contact sport?