Lyons Regional Library

During the Great Depression, an everyday common-man hero, James J. Braddock was to become one of the most surprising sports legends in history. With the Depression going strong in the early 1930s, the impoverished ex-boxer was seemingly as broken-down and out-of-luck as the rest of the America. Driven by love and determination, he returned to the ring. He did not have much of a shot, but James was fueled by something beyond mere competition. He kept...

Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max to build and train a championship contender.

Jake Huard, a local kid, is a shipbuilder's son who wants to prove to his father, not to mention himself, that he can cut it as a Naval officer. But at the Academy he runs afoul of a hard-nosed training officer named Cole who does all he can to drive Huard out of the school. They end up settling their differences in the boxing ring during the Academy's annual competition.

Ten of boxing's best fighters tell what it was like to fight Muhammad Ali.