Synopses & Reviews
Now in paperback!
The true story of a boxers unlikely road to becoming a world champion
Irish” Micky Ward was always the underdogone able to stage a stunning comeback late in a fight. After a fifteen-year pro career followed by a string of defeats and three years of retirement, the Lowell, Massachusetts, native defeated Arturo Gatti in 2002, capturing the world light welterweight title. The grueling battlenamed Fight of the Year” by Ring magazine and Fight of the Century” by boxing fans around Americawas broadcast live on HBO, made Ward famous, and launched two legendary rematches.
In Irish Thunder, Bob Halloran recounts Wards rise to hero status, his rivalry with his imprisoned brother, and the negotiations, betrayals, and drugs that shaped a wild youth who ultimately became a nationally respected boxer. This is a story about a boxer from a boxing family and a boxing townand it is a wrenching account of life in blue-collar America. Wards dramatic victories inside the ring are recounted in gripping detail, but it is his victory outside the ring that inspires.
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Author Bob Halloran is a consultant on a major motion picture due in 2010, The Fighter, that tells the Micky Ward story and stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.
Synopsis
Irish Thunder is about a boxer from a boxing family and a boxing town, but it is not a boxing book. It is about the human spirit, blind loyalty, self-preservation and self-destruction. Mickys dramatic victories inside the ring are recounted in detail, but it is his victory outside the ring that will leave the reader inspired.
About the Author
Bob Halloran is the weekend news and sports anchor at WCVB-TV in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also a former ESPN anchor and columnist for espn.com. Halloran has worked as a news and sports anchor in New England for over twenty years, and he writes a weekly column for the Boston Metro newspaper. He is also the author of Breakdown: A Season of Gang Warfare, High School Football, and the Coach Who Policed the Streets (Lyons Press, forthcoming).