Off the Canvas: A Tale of Two Brothers

Fast moving and guaranteed toevoke all emotions, the nine chapters of Offthe Canvas takes the reader from the depths of the Great Depression,through the days of segregation and Jim Crow, then into World War II and to theevents of today.These are the recollections ofTony Petrovic, former middleweight champion of theworld. At that time there was just eight divisions and one sanctioning body,and his brother Billy, a welterweight champion, The book describstheir rise to the top of the boxing world, only to have Billy gunned down by aracist assassin.Off the Canvas will provoke laughter, tears, anger, hate andunderstanding. It is a work of fiction that is so historically correct, itactually could have happened.Although historically correct, Off the Canvas is a fictionalizedaccount of two brothers, whose lives are intertwined until the tragic death ofBilly, the younger of the two.We are taken through this historyand these events by older brother, Tony Petrovic,who, at age 80, doesn't recall as well as he should, but is able to expresshimself in such a way that once into Offthe Canvas the reader will not want to put down this novel till itscompletion.

Honesty and loyalty are the twotraits that Rusty Rubin values most, and he imparts this in the lead characterof Off the Canvas.In his five decades in boxingRubin has been the sports editor of Ahora Spanishnews, managing editor of Nevada Boxing, Ring Arts, RingsportsMagazine and now Ringsports.com the magazine and website.He founded "RABBIT: a big brotherprogram where fighters go into the jails and get the inmates interested in thesport of boxing. Not getting the needed support it closed down in 1984.He founded and operatesGlove2Glove, a non-denominational prayer group that aids those fallen warriorsand their families in need by sending prayers and mail.Among his awards are IBF BoxingWriter of the Year in 1993, AAIB Boxing Editor of the Year in 1991. He was theonly non-Californian inducted into the Bay Area Boxing Hall of Fame (1996) andin 2002 was inducted into the Northwest Boxing Hall of Fame.