Toy Bulldog ─ The Fighting Life and Times of Mickey Walker

This is a cradle-to-grave biography of Mickey Walker, former welterweight (1922-1926) and middleweight champion (1926-1931) of the world, one of the greatest fighters in ring history. He fought at a time when boxing was a major sport with only eight championships, and he held two of them over a nine-year period. He fought at a time when each weight division was jammed with good fighters, and he fought them all from welterweight up to heavyweight, frequently being outweighed 20 to 30 pounds, himself only five-seven and never weighing more than 170 pounds. Walker was not only a great fighter, he was a great personality who loved life and lived it to the full. He went through seven marriages with four different women, he cavorted with movie stars and mobsters from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone. When his boxing career ended in 1935, Walker ran saloons in various locations, was often his own best customer, finally quit drinking and became an artist of some standing, several of his paintings hanging in some of America's top galleries. Walker died in 1981, aged 79.

John Jarrett has been writing about boxing since 1951 and has been the Northern Area Secretary to the British Boxing Board of Control since 1978. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.