Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge

I'm a fighter--a man who's reached his goals by continually hammering away while refusing to either back off or quit; a country boy, long on Marine Corps values, who wears his heart on his sleeve.
        So, let's get it on . . .

With his distinctive bald head, bow tie, and signature phrase, "Let's get it on!" Mills Lane is the most
colorful and best-known referee in professional boxing. With almost a hundred world championship fights under his belt, he has a reputation for being one of the sharpest, most honorable refs in the business, a reputation confirmed internationally on June 28, 1997, when he disqualified Mike Tyson for twice biting Evander Holyfield's ears during what became the most bizarre championship fight in history.
        
Now, in Let's Get It On, Mills Lane provides a ringside seat for anyone who wants an intimate look into the outrageous personalities and often scandalous behavior that has defined the "sweet science" since he started refereeing.  Former Marine, ex-professional boxer, and lifelong boxing fan, Lane is also a mediator beyond the boxing ring--he has been a Nevada district court judge nicknamed "Maximum Mills" for his stiff penalties and will be the arbiter of justice on his own syndicated TV show.
        
No one is granted clemency from Judge Lane's razor-sharp insights and provocative opinions in this refreshing book, which takes on the greedy promoters, lazy fighters, and corrupt practices of boxing. Lane exposes the insanity at the heart of the boxing business: the artificially created rankings, the confusing number of sanctioning bodies, and the flesh merchants who take advantage of their fighters.
        
Mills Lane has been at the center of the good, the bad, and the ugly of boxing for three decades, including the Tyson-Holyfield debacle; the Oliver McCall--Lennox Lewis fight when former champ McCall dissolved into tears; and the Henry Akinwande--Lewis bout where Lane disqualified Akinwande for refusing to fight. But for every Mike Tyson or Riddick Bowe who never maximized his potential because he wouldn't pay the price, there is also an Evander Holyfield or Sugar Ray Leonard or Marvin Hagler or Alexis Arguello or Eddie Futch, the shining lights who show that there are important values to be learned from boxing: courage, honesty, integrity, responsibility, persistence, and loyalty, qualities we all need to live a good and righteous life.
        
This gutsy, sharp-tongued man of justice wants to save the profession he loves and reclaim a society that lacks the moral fiber to raise responsible citizens by sharing the code of conduct instilled in him by the Marine Corps and his boxing teachers and honed by a career in the law: Make no excuses. Never be afraid to say what you think. Cherish your fellow human beings. Strive to be honest. Important lessons from a country boy who wears his heart--and his integrity--on his sleeve.

Mills Lane was born in Savannah, Georgia. He joined the Marines, where he became the Far East welterweight champion, and then completed college and law school. He was district attorney in Reno, Nevada, and district court judge, and will have a syndicated court TV show in fall 1998. Mills Lane lives in Reno with his wife and two sons.

Jedwin Smith has worked for twenty-five years at newspapers throughout the country, mostly as sports editor. For the last four years he has been at the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  He lives in Atlanta with his wife and four daughters.