Experiencing the Golden Age of Boxing

This book contains my personal written and photographic account of the last golden era of professional boxing, which began when six Americans who won medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal turned pro and ended in 1983 when Marvin Hagler knocked out Thomas Hearns in three thrilling rounds. The real boxing enthusiast will vividly recall that bright shining period in the history of our favorite sport and remember nothing at all about me. That is exactly as it should be because this book is about the fighters and not the writer, who started to memorialize their exploits with a manual typewriter, nondigital camera, and miniature tape recorder over a quarter of a century ago.

For those readers who are curious about the author, I retired from the fight game in 1984 to resume my education and become a criminal lawyer. I specialized in defending the accused in Texas death penalty cases that were covered by Sixty Minutes, 48 Hours, and Twenty/Twenty. I exposed major political scandals at the risk of being indicted on false charges that resulted in the electoral defeats of two corrupt Texas district attorneys, won appeals that secured several important new legal rights for defendants tried for capital crimes, wrote a popular text book about Texas death penalty law that has been republished six times, and prevented the executions of about thirty men. I take great satisfaction in those achievements, but I had more fun hustling free ringside seats for myself at the greatest shows on earth during boxing's last golden era and participating in part of the drama. I hope that you will obtain the same sense of enjoyment from my very personal account of the story.