Irish Thunder: the Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward Free

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Growing up in Lowell, Massachusetts, a once lively and robust town that had fallen on extremely hard times by the s, Ward saw many of his friends and family fall prey to the lurid temptations of the streets. Ward, who was 12 at the time, worshipped his brother and would eventually be trained by him when he turned professional in The hard-hitting but extremely sordid film chronicled the daily lives of several Lowell crack addicts. Eklund immodestly lit up a crack pipe on camera, with the smoke swirling around his head like an ominous halo. One night Ward was arrested for interfering with the arrest of Eklund for a relatively minor offense. During the fracas, a policeman cracked Ward on the hand with a nightstick. That injury incurred by Ward would plague him throughout his career. The interview had been set up in advance, and Ward was aware that on the same weekend I would also be visiting Eklund at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Plymouth, where he was serving at least eight years for robbery. I had a good relationship with Joe Lake, an advisor to Ward, as well as with Ward himself. When Ward failed to make weight on his first try, I followed him into the steam room where he obligingly gave me a good interview. Over the years Ward had Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward lot of people around him who seemed to hinder his career more than they helped him. Ward finally managed to attain a measure of ring immortality on the basis of his three-fight series against Arturo Gatti. He finally retired in with a record of 27 KOS. He is the type of fighter whose legend will only grow larger as more time goes by. He was always a stand-up guy, whether it was in the ring as a boxer, in the streets where, if provoked, he could be a tremendous street fighter, or when dealing with his very large and dysfunctional family. In a sport that is virtually devoid of happy endings, Ward has somehow managed to come out on top. Despite his breathless battles against Gatti, he seems to have his faculties intact. He bought a house on the good side of town and is living a simple but seemingly happy life. Although the social dynamics in Lowell have changed somewhat, he is a local icon for all of the right reasons. He has always been, and continues to be, a guy that you want to root for. Not only was he a gladiator in the ring, his loyalty to others, especially Eklund and many people who did not deserve such devotion, is well known in boxing circles. While the book reads like fiction, it is all true. It is hard not to like Ward, but the book will only make you like him more. Ward was a fighter who was hard to keep down. Comment on this article. Pierre took the final chapter in the trilogy with Hughes and now is the UFC interim champion at the pound division. Hughes just shook his head after tapping out before a sold out audience at the Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Pierre conquered his nemesis. Pierre several years ago, but lost two years ago in a title match. Pierre found Hughes using a left-handed stance to change up his attack, but the Canadian quickly adapted Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward used his quickness, skills and raw strength to take Hughes to the ground. Inside the Octagon the Canadian was Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward in danger. In fact, Hughes was the fighter teetering for the entire fight that ended in of the second round. Every move the Illinois fighter attempted was squashed. Pierre is now promised a fight against the current UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra, who pulled out of the fight with Hughes because of injury. Pierre filled in for Serra with less than a month of training. After dominating the first round on top of Hughes, the second round was even worse as St. Pierre Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward elbows and fists. Though the Illinois fighter escaped from underneath, he was quickly thrown down. Within seconds St. Pierre grabbed Hughes left arm and turned it into an inescapable arm bar. Silva dominated the second round for four minutes and 30 seconds but Liddell rallied and took the Brazilian to the ground. With both fighters huffing and puffing, and Silva with a bad cut over his right eye, Liddell seemed the stronger puncher and landed a back-handed fist and a right hand that stunned the former Pride FC fighter Silva. But he survived the round. The judges scored ittwice for Liddell who won his first bout after back-to-back losses. The Cameroon native was unable to use his punching power with effectiveness against the karate-trained fighter. Then, unexpectedly, Machida landed a left hand that dropped Sokoudjou and proceeded to gain an arm triangle that forced a submission at of the second round. A heavyweight bout featured two Southern Californians eager to punch out. With his nose bleeding profusely and sustaining three consecutive uppercuts, referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight at of the third and final round for a technical knockout. A grudge fight between two Louisiana fighters ended in a decisive submission victory by Rich Clementi of Slidell over the favored Melvin Guillard of New Orleans. A rear naked choke at seconds of the first round forced Guillard, who had been predicting domination, to tap out. Though the fight was definitively over, Guillard attempted to assault Clementi but referee Herb Dean grabbed the fighter. Unable to continue, Irvin was declared the winner by disqualification at Cane seemed unaware that UFC rules disallow knees to the head while the person is on the ground. Some mixed martial arts organizations allow it. Former Ultimate Fighter participant Manny Gamburyan quickly took his fight to the ground with former boxer Nate Mohr Once on the ground the lightweight used his quickness to grab an ankle and twist. Mohr screamed to stop the fight at of the first round. The judges scored it for Lister. With UFC threatening to snarf up those much lusted after PPV dollars, the suits went into overdrive, and worked smarter, and harder, to give fans compelling matchups. They agreed to get along to get money, and they relegated the sanctioning bodies, with those moronic mandatories, and instead listened to you, the consumer, and booked the fights that made sense. He transcended the sport, and boxing added another player to the mix of fighters that even non-fight fans in the US recognize the name of. Boxing, a sprawling mess of interests lacking a central organization that insures cohesiveness in marketing, and message, and mission, relies on a central figurehead to maintain its precarious perch in the mainstream sports information flow. Mayweather, a savvy marketer who has outgrown his periodic outbreaks of youthful indiscretions, is a superstar that fits our age to a T. He knows exactly what buttons to push to keep his name in the papers-—or, more accurately today, on computer screens—and feeds us rabid presshounds of negativity and turmoil red meat, with his intra-familial beefs and 50 Cent-inspired Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward proclaiming his peerlessness. The only thing holding Mayweather back is his own talent, probably, as he owns too much of it. He blew out De La Hoya, and Hatton, and like Roy Jones in his heyday, he so dominates his opposition, that drama is missing from his fights. That sort of drama, as manufactured by the late Diego Corrales, is the variety that the sweet science can deliver like no other sport. He dug into his well, after getting knocked to the floor in the second round of his tussle with middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, and refused to lose. All of us could apply his tenacity in staying on his feet, and roaring back to topple Taylor with a furious flurry in the seventh round of their Sept. As referenced before, maybe his superior level of talent has set the bar too high for us nitpickers. We may be prone to be too hesitant to bestow praise on Floyd, because he makes it look too easy. You certainly are the runaway frontrunner for Fighter of the Decade…. We knew how good his promoter, Bob Arum, thought he was. But we still withheld a measure of respect before Pavlik met Taylor, the middleweight king, in Atlantic City. Maybe we had been burned by not as great as we were led to believe white hopes in the past, and were worried that hype and marketing were his greatest attributes as a boxer. The respect came pouring forth when he stayed on his trembling legs in the second round of his September scrap with Taylor, and intensified when he closed the show with a KO crack in the seventh. The fighter has to be rewarded for staying the course, and not allowing himself to be knocked off the title path since turning pro inand progressing at a sometimes snailish pace, and sticking with his no-name trainer Jack Loew even though some experts urged him to trade Loew in for a flashier model, and battling frail hands, and getting pinched for slugging an off-duty cop in There was no mega marketing machine bombarding our short attention spans with a campaign to make Kelly Pavlik into the torchbearer for the sport in But the leg of his march to prominence reaffirms the best Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward what the sport has to offer, and reminds us that with talents like Pavlik, the sweet science will never crumble into obsolescence. What he sees is the dynamic, hard-hitting heavyweight who made it to the finals of the Olympic Trials, and began his pro career with six straight knockouts and one decision victory. Since being stopped in the first round by then undefeated Bermane Stiverne, Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward had won all nine of his fights by knockout, in FebruarySconiers has completely reassessed his life and career. He has come to understand what transformed him from an exciting amateur and fledgling young pro with seemingly limitless future to a nominal heavyweight who had at one point lost 10 fights in a row. Now aligned with a new manager, David Selwyn of New York, he plans on utilizing that newfound knowledge to embark on what he believes will be the comeback story of I would do things to make sure I never rose above a certain level. During his intensive, exhaustive and brutally honest re- examination of himself, he chose to forego all of the negative aspects of his career and instead focus only on the positive. Through lots of reading and candid discussions with his former trainer Larry Berrien, he went about changing the mindset that made him so comfortable with losing. The first Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward he did was look at his complete record from a totally different perspective. Rather than just dwell on the losses, Sconiers lauded himself for beating six previously unbeaten or once beaten fighters. Among them was Ray Austin, who was at the time and later challenged Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight title. He also fought Edward Escobedo, who wasto a draw, and lost a split decision to Ruddock, who has always been a formidable ring presence. When he examined his 10 fight losing streak, he realized that his opponents had a combined record of Of the 32 losses, Harris, who had revitalized his once dismal career in much the same way Sconiers hopes to, had incurred 10 of them. And the always competitive Sherman Williams, accounted for another 10, which means eight other opponents had only 12 losses between them. Several were undefeated at the time they faced Sconiers. Tapping deep into his own psyche, Sconiers came to realize that much of his lack of self worth was rooted in Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward issues. As a kid he had a passive personality, and both of his parents were college graduates who Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward what he calls high ranking positions in the corporate world. He was bright enough to skip grades in school and he scored high on IQ tests. In no way was he destined to become a boxer. His parents had told him on many occasions that he would be well-suited as psychiatrist or attorney. Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward - Google книги

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Irish Thunder by Bob Halloran. Box-office sensations Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale star in The Fighterin theaters December 10,and Irish Thunder is Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward story behind the film, the story of ''Irish'' Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. Welcome to Lowell, Massachusetts -- where anything can happen. Rocky Marciano fought at the Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward in Mike Tyson fought t Box-office sensations Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale star in The Fighterin theaters December 10,and Irish Thunder is the story behind the film, the story of ''Irish'' Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. Mike Tyson fought there in his Golden Gloves days. Sugar Ray Leonard won there, as did Marvin Hagler. Each of them prepared for his battle downstairs in the boiler room, just like thousands of other kids. A hard Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward who overcame bad luck, bad management, and chronic pain in his hands, he avoided the pitfall of poverty and dead-end work that plagued Lowell to become a Golden Gloves junior welterweight. Ward participated in street fights from an early age and was forever known by his opponents and spectators as the underdog. But with his incredible ability to suddenly drop an opponent late in a fight with his trademark left hook, he kept proving everyone wrong. After fifteen years of boxing, a string of defeats, and three years of retirement, Micky battled Arturo Gatti in in the battle that was later named ''Fight of the Year'' by Ring magazine Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward dubbed ''Fight of the Century'' by boxing writers and fans across the country. Ten rounds of brutal action ended with Micky winning by decision, and reviving enthusiasm for a sport that had been weighted down by years of showboating and corruption. ESPN and Boston television reporter Bob Halloran recounts Micky's rise to hero status, his rivalry with his imprisoned brother, and the negotiations, betrayals, and drugs that ultimately shaped a wild youth into a nationally respected boxer. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Lowell, Massachusetts United States. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Irish Thunderplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Apr 14, Sunny rated it it was amazing Shelves: sportsbiography. Where do you start to write a description on this book about Irish Micky Ward. I will start practically at the end. Some fighters wow you with their skill Mayweather and others with their stamina Ali in the Jungle and others with their technique Gennady Gelovkin and others with their brute force and aggression Mike Tyson. Micky Ward wowed the world with his heart. He lost plenty of fights but he came back again and again and again. He came from Lowell, Massachusetts and at the age of 7 decided to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Dickie Eklund. He started off well enough but had a terrible run of around 4 defeats in pretty much close succession and after a few run ins with the police one of which left him with deliberately targeted and broken hands he decided to give up boxing. Dickie was in prison, his life was a mess and his dreams of becoming a champion of the world had been shattered. Then something changed, he decided not to go gentle into that good night and raged against the dying of his dreams and his light to quote Dylan Thomas. Somehow he managed to get back into boxing and slowly but surely crawled his way to a world title shot which he won in London England. The determination that Micky Ward showed in his training and in his vision and also in the maelstrom of the thick of his fights was incredible. He had a left hook to that body that was described as a bullet wound. He was one of those unique boxers that while not the most skilled was willing to put his will up against another fighters will. Taking a shot was not the biggest issue. You could train your neck to act as a shock absorber in the fight. What was more important was that voice inside you that said that you were not going to give up while all around you was darkness and the screaming cacophony of the crowd cheering ur opponent while u lay sprawled on the floor - how do You get up to potentially receive more pain? In fact in his last fight again Gatti he was cut in 3 different places on his face and bleeding profusely, he realised from the 6th round of this his last fight that he had nothing left in the tank there were 4 mores rounds to go but he carried on fighting, his vision had been impaired almost irrevocably in that fight to the point that for the last few rounds and for almost 12 months after he had double and triple vision. The guy was an incredibly humble human. He continued to work in Massachusetts paving the roads like he used to for intermittent parts of his career. He was never brash or arrogant with his money and to this day he lives a fairly humble life. Massively inspirational insight into the life and mind of a true fighter. View 2 comments. Apr 16, Ellis rated it liked it. This book tells the story of a guy who rises or more aptly is pushed into the life of a boxer. I got the feeling Micky Ward would have been perfectly fine living the life he had before his family decided he Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward to fulfill the dream THEY had for him. And in the Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward he was sold down the river. The other life than springs to mind when I think of Micky Ward is that of Jerry Quarry - a guy whose family's greed killed him and he was too loyal and big-hearted to refuse them. Jan 04, Wayne Fitzpatrick rated it really liked it Shelves: sports Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward, memoir. Or, you heard of his hard luck boxing career. But, such is the story of Micky Ward. Nothing ever came easy for Micky. Ward is a true to life Rocky Balboa, minus the over the cheesy one liners and alcohol-raddled brother-in-law well, there was his If you live anywhere in the New England area you have at least heard of "Irish" Micky Ward. Ward is a true to life Rocky Balboa, minus the over the cheesy one liners and alcohol-raddled Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward well, there was his own brother who provided that guise. In fact, Ward engages in very little trash talking, letting his hands and boxing skill do the talking. Unfortunately, Halloran fails to delve deeper into Ward's personal life, perhaps by design. Ward does tend to keep his nose clean despite a few dust ups and parties and the people of his hometown Lowell MA consider him along the lines of a demigod. But, it seems Halloran avoids some of Micky's more personal adventures outside of the ring. While these experiences in Wards personal life may not be exemplary, it would shed more light on his character and makeup. Further examination shows Ward to be a tough, old school hard working blue collar man who never forgot where he came from. But, contrary to the Hollywood story, Ward's career has just as many ups as downs. When Ward does win it almost seems anti-climactic. While some victories come easier than others, most victories, and most rounds of each fight, come hard. It's as though he has to reach down deep just to survive let alone prevail. And that is what this story is mostly about. It's about his surviving through being let down by his brother Dickie who came closer than Micky to boxing glory in his heyday before his addictions knocked him outbeing cheated out of countless dollars by unscrupulous promoters and surviving the hard luck tough streets of Lowell. Micky Ward is, if nothing else, a survivor. May 08, P. I'm going to give this four stars because of the topic and my interest in it. In reality, if it was allowable, I'd probably give it a 3. If you've read a police report or a crime novel, then picture that style telling the story of Micky Ward, one of the most amazing stories in boxing. The story is decent and it kept me interested. Yet, it lacked something. It's hard for me to put a finger on what exactly. But as much as I wanted to love this book, I couldn't. I did, however, like it a real lot I'm going to give this four stars because of the topic and my interest in it. I did, however, like it a real lot. Micky Ward is simply an incredible story. Life of Irish Micky a thundering hard read

America at Large : Irish Micky Ward never won a recognised world title, and lost 13 of his 51 professional bouts, but his dramatic rise from the depths of despair and an old-school, blood-and-guts fighting style provide such an inspirational tale that by the time he hung up his gloves at the conclusion of his jaw-dropping trilogy against Arturo Gatti, two Hollywood companies were locked in a battle to produce a film based on his life story, writes George Kimball. And, hot on the heels of the film deal, an authorised biography, Irish Thunder: The hard life and times of Micky Wardwas commissioned to Boston television sportscaster Bob Halloran. The film, starring Mark Wahlberg as Irish Micky, is due to begin production this year. The original plan had been for Matt Damon to portray Micky's crack-addled half-brother and sometime trainer Dickie Ecklund, but Damon dropped out and was replaced by Brad Pitt. The saga of Micky Ward is such a great story it would be almost impossible to screw it up, but Irish Thunder is marred by a litany of factual errors and misspellings. The product of a dysfunctional family, Ward grew up in the rough-and-tumble mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, where Jack Kerouac once covered the Golden Gloves for the Lowell Sun. Shortly after he turned pro inhe was described by the legendary matchmaker Teddy Brenner as "the best fighter to come out of New England since Marvin Hagler", and during his first 14 fights he did nothing to dispel that notion. The first phase of Ward's career was hastened to its conclusion by a well-chronicled episode that occurred between his 13th and 14th wins. Ward was drinking peacefully at a seedy pub called the Cosmopolitan Cafe and was not even a participant in the brawl to which police were summoned that night. But when the cops became overzealous in subduing his elder brother, Micky intervened on Dickie's behalf. Having already split his head open with a nightstick and handcuffed him, one policeman, having recognised Ward, broke his left hand with a large flashlight. He won his next fight, but then lost to Edwin Curet on a split decision. There followed more wins before things began to come off the rails. Repeatedly reinjuring the hand, Ward lost six of nine fights, and following his fourth loss in a row inhe "retired" to work at paving roads. Three years elapsed before Irish Micky laced on the gloves again, and in a decade filled with fits and starts, he re-established himself as the most crowd-pleasing boxer of his era. Fromhe won nine in a row, including back-to-back victories of then unbeaten Louis Veader. In he was matched against Mexican Alfonso Sanchez on the Oscar De La Hoya-Pernell Whitaker card in Las Vegas, and had lost the first five rounds before he unloaded a savage left hook to the body that left Sanchez crawling around the ring through the count. Ward was badly cut over the eye early in the fight, which was halted after two rounds at the direction of the ringside physician, but the stoppage produced a mini-riot at the Roxy. In Ward went to London and knocked out the previously unbeaten Shea Neary. Having already hooked up with manager Sal LoNano, Team Ward then joined forces with then-nascent promoter Lou DiBella, setting the stage for the three Gatti fights that closed out Ward's career. Ward and Gatti emerged from their epic trilogy close friends and golfing partners, and when trainer Buddy McGirt parted ways with Gatti last year, Micky stepped in and served as the trainer for his old rival's final fight - a loss to Alfonso Gomez in Atlantic City last summer. It would be hard to miss with material like this, but sadly Halloran has managed to make Irish Thunder an infuriatingly bad book. Halloran not only got the names of all three wrong, but managed to Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward two of them. He has Pernell Whitaker misspelled "Whittaker the winner by unanimous decision in his fight with De La Hoya, Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward precisely the opposite was the case. He suggests Ward was "winning" the aborted Vince Phillips fight, although all three judges had Micky down after two completed rounds. Referring to Ward's fight against Antonia Diaz he alleges, "At the time, there were five championship belts, and the IBA's was the weakest and least prestigious Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward the group. Mickey's WBU belt was fourth on the list. If the list were to include every fly-by-night sanctioning body the count would have been closer to a dozen - and neither the IBA nor the WBU would have been in the top eight. Save your money and wait for the film. It might be better, and it couldn't be any worse. Monday — Sunday, October 19th — 25th. See a sample. Latest news from the world Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward sport, along with the best in opinion from our outstanding team of sports writers. Subscribe Now. Sign up. Life of Irish Micky a thundering hard read Thu, Jan 3, More from The Irish Times Golf. Other Sports. Sponsored Affordable homecare? Employers can ease employee concerns by prioritising their wellbeing. Think cloud when you think digital transformation. Most Read in Sport. Here is your handy guide to sport on television this week Monday — Sunday, October 19th — 25th. Subscriber Only. Intercounty season to continue under Level 5; the state of play as Six Nations resumes. In Pictures: Ireland 24 Wales In Pictures: Ireland 19 Scotland Morning Sport Briefing Subscriber only. Monday to Friday See a sample. Sport Videos. Connect with Irish Times Sport. Follow IrishTimesSport. Latest Sport. 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