Bare Knuckle
Bobby Gunn, 73–0 Undefeated. A Dad. A Dream. A Fight like You’ve Never Seen.
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4.1 • 7개의 평가
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- US$9.99
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INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
Father. Fighter. Champion. Outlaw.
Hailed as an “exhilarating debut” by Publishers Weekly, Bare Knuckle by former Rolling Stone editor Stayton Bonner (nominated for the Dan Jenkins Medal of Excellence in Sportswriting) takes readers into a previously unknown world: the underground circuit of illegal bare-knuckle fighting.
Bare Knuckle is the remarkable true tale of Bobby Gunn, the 73–0 undisputed champion of bare-knuckle boxing.
An inspiring underdog story that reads like a real-life Rocky.
Bobby Gunn has been fighting for his existence since a childhood spent living under the hand of his volatile father, and would do anything to give his seven-year-old daughter a better life—including betting on himself in the underground world of bare-knuckle boxing.
In 1984, Gunn was an eleven-year-old boxer in Ontario when his father woke him in the middle of the night to fight grown men in motel parking lots for money, his old man pocketing the cash. From there, Gunn traveled to Las Vegas, Tijuana, and beyond, competing in ringed matches as well as in biker bars and mobster dens on the side, brawling to make ends meet.
But it was only with the birth of his daughter—and his desire to help her avoid his fate—that Gunn entered the big-time world of underground Russian-mob matches of up to $50,000 a night in New York City, hoping to finally raise his family above the fray.
Former Rolling Stone editor Stayton Bonner travels the underground for years with Gunn, the world champion of bare-knuckle boxing with a 73–0 record, shining a light on a secret circuit that’s never before been revealed. Along the way, we explore the fascinating history of this first sport in America, Gunn’s Irish Traveler community—a sect of religious fighters best known through Brad Pitt’s depiction in Snatch—as well as his part in the improbable rise of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, the first legal revival of the sport.
Bare Knuckle, a tale of triumph, loss, and a father’s love for his family, is a heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring story that will have you rooting until the end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this exhilarating debut, former Rolling Stone editor Bonner follows the riveting life of Bobby Gunn, "the most famous bare-knuckle fighter in the world." Opening with a fight in 2015 in an auto-body shop—where one observer wryly comments, "This is exciting because it's illegal"—Bonner ushers readers into the lurid and fascinating world of illegal underground bare-knuckle fighting. Anchored by his treatment of Gunn's day-to-day life—including his relationship with his son, Bobby Jr., whom he hopes will become a boxer ("It's in his breeding," Gunn exclaims)—Bonner's narrative presents the controversial sport in a manner that's revealing, while maintaining a respectful sense of its roughshod nature. He contextualizes bare-knuckle boxing within history, following its popularity from the Roman Empire ("in the sand pits of the gladiators") to 1600s England to its current iteration in the U.S., where it's been deemed "barbaric... in contravention of a multitude of federal, state, and tribal boxing laws" by boxing commissioners. Throughout, Gunn's character—a gritty, endearingly avuncular figure—and his ambition to legalize the sport ("All this fighting can sound sick.... But if you go into our culture... winning a fight is what makes us proud") lends pathos to the sensational subculture he exists within. Boxing fans won't want to miss this.
