Tuesday 18 November 2014

Boxing in Morecambe Bay - a new book by Larry Braysher

In 2012 boxing historian and collector Larry Braysher produced a neat little book on the history of boxing in Morecambe entitled ‘Boxing by the Sea’.   Copies of this informative book are still available directly from the author.

To complete his historical overview of boxing in the area Larry has now written a second volume which covers boxing and boxers from the local communities of the area around Morecambe bay, particularly Lancaster but also including Heysham and the other small towns and villages that produced such good fighters throughout the twentieth century.

Every facet of the sport is included in this journey through the decades with anecdotes, amusing stories and reminiscences to enhance the wealth of statistical information on boxers from the area.

If you want to read about the two boxers who fought for the favours of a young lady, with a quite farcical outcome, about the Grange boxer, Alex Newton, whose ring prowess was well known despite the fact that he had lost all of the fingers on his right hand due to an accident with explosives or about the Lancaster favourite Kid Dempsey who had a ring encounter with a boxing kangaroo then this delightful book is well worth getting hold of.

Once again, I have made a large number of boxer’s records available to Larry to assist him in his research and I am delighted to see that he has included twenty-seven of them in this book.
Larry has interviewed a number of ex-professionals from the area, including Bobby Day, Alvin Finch, Frank Harrington and Alan Lamb.     ‘The Lancaster Lion’, as Lamb was known, came very close to capturing the British Light-Welterweight Title in an epic fight with Clinton McKenzie.
What really makes the book stand out for me is the quality of the photographs that Larry has included.    Many of these are outstanding and there are very many of them.

Overall this book contains a wealth of material on the boxers, the managers and promoters, the gyms and the characters associated with the sport in the boxing hotbed around Morecambe Bay.    With records, photographs and personal memories of the many quality fighters that the area produced it is well worth £12 (+£2.50 p+p).
Copies available from the author on 01539 535459 or at the Tourist Information Centres at Morecambe and Lancaster.

1 comment:

  1. People were crazy about this sport but unfortunately it has lost somewhere for quite some time. Thanks for sharing this piece of writing and reviving the the old passionate times of boxing

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