Bunce’s Big Fat Short History of British Boxing

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

**FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED WITH THREE NEW CHAPTERS**


Boxing is Steve Bunce's game. He has filed thousands and thousands of fight reports from ringside. He has written millions and millions of words for national newspapers previewing boxing, profiling boxers and proselytising on the business. He has been the voice of British boxing on the airwaves, both radio and television, with an army of loyal fans. And now it's time to put those many years of experience into penning his history of the sport of kings on these isles. It's Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing.

Starting in 1970, the beginning of modern boxing in Britain, Bunce takes us from Joe Bugner beating Henry Cooper to an explosion then in the sport's exposure to the wider British public, with 22 million watching Barry McGuigan win his world title on the BBC. All boxing royalty is here - Frank Bruno taking on Mike Tyson in Las Vegas; Benn, Watson, Eubank and Naseem; Ricky Hatton, Lennox Lewis and Calzaghe; Froch and Haye - through to a modern day situation where with fighters as diverse as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, we have more world champions than ever before. And besides the fighters, there are the fixers, the managers, the trainers, the duckers and divers...

Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing will have every high and impossible low, tragic deaths and fairy tales. It is a record of British boxing, British boxing people and fifty years of glory, heartache and drama.

© Sreve Bunce 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

  • Bunce is a living, breathing British boxing institution. His new book, Bunce’s Big Fat Short History of British Boxing, brilliantly weaves together some weird, wonderful and forgotten events from 1970 right up to the present day, to deliver an unmissable tribute to the sport we all love, and tales you’d think – if it wasn’t Bunce telling them – were just too bizarre to be true. A treat for boxing fans of all ages.

    Boxing News
  • A brilliant read. Having covered thousands of fights for several newspapers, Bunce has crafted a wonderful turn of phrase and collected a library of anecdotes. Engaging details appear throughout, adding a welcome human touch to a brutally tough sport.

    Press Association Sports Book of the Month
  • Nobody knows British fighters and their stories better than Steve Bunce, a great raconteur who lives and breathes his subject. A history that crackles with energy and is rich in empathy.

    Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph
  • Essential reading for anyone with even a fleeting interest in boxing.

    Boxing Monthly
  • An enthralling chronology of clout: for aficionados it is a treasure trove of memories; for the lay fan an absorbing year-by-year, punch-by-punch historical assembly of fights and incidents surrounding them. He writes – as he speaks – with a genuine passion, clarity and forthrightness, plus a huge reservoir of knowledge of the sport.

    Alan Hubbard, FrankWarren.com

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