The Road to Nowhere

A trip across America to track down the great fighters from yesteryear who vanished from the limelight, and hear their incredible stories

In the era of boxing's pay-per-view superstars, Tris Dixon invested in a Greyhound bus pass and spent several months traversing America on a shoestring budget, tracking down fighters from yesteryear who had vanished from the limelight. Venturing from New York to Las Vegas and from Toronto to Miami, the young writer—himself a former amateur boxer—sought out coulda-been-contenders and cult heroes from the 1950s to the 2000s, all now faded from popular memory. He visited old people's homes, gyms, and too many prisons, discovering that life after boxing can be a cruel place when the ropes are no longer in place to keep fighters safe from the outside world. Dixon meets men who shaped boxing history, fighting the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson. He shares their memories and weaves together their forgotten tales over the course of a remarkable American journey.