Synopsis:
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.
Review:
"My only hobby," writes Nevada District Court judge Lane in his usual no-nonsense, straight-ahead style, "is refereeing professional prizefights." Right. And Mark McGwire likes to hit home runs. One of the most ubiquitously recognizable faces in the sweet science, "Maximum Mills" (don't dare show up in his courtroom if you're guilty) has been refereeing fights--nearly 100 of them title contests, including the infamous disqualification of Mike Tyson for biting the ear of Evander Holyfield--for more than three decades, handling them the way he handles business from the bench: with unquestioned gavel-to-gavel authority. In a folksy, anecdote-filled memoir that pulls no punches, he introduces you to his particular corner of the sporting universe, separating boxing fact from fiction as if they were a pair of heavyweights in the clinches. He can be as brutal as an unseen uppercut: he constantly nails Don King for behavior worse than his hair, and is especially tough on Tyson's pleas that he's been taken advantage of, abused, humiliated and betrayed all his life. "That's the sort of self-pitying crap I hear far too often in court," Lane counters, "where the accused hides behind artificial excuses and refuses to stand up like a man." There is no room for political correctness in his universe; with Lane, if you don't stand up by the count of 10 you're out, which makes him both fascinating and exasperating, a man resolute enough to live his life in black and white, while most of the rest of us just try to shadow box through the shades of gray. --Jeff Silverman
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