George Francis

This is an autobiography of boxing trainer, George Francis. Borne in 1928 in the slums of Camden Town, he left school at the age of 11, and immediately started work. His earliest involvement with boxing was as a bare-knuckle street fighter but, after a spell in Wormwood Scrubs, he turned from pavement warfare to amateur boxing. He was a member of a local boxing club and it was here that he decided to switch from boxer to trainer, and soon he took on professional fighters - particularly black fighters. This was to be the start of an amazing career which saw of the best trainers in the world, involved with some of the greatest boxers in the world including Frank Bruno, John Conteh, Cornelius Boza-Edwards and John Mugabe. Francis's story is a remarkable slice of social history, an ebullient record of a colourful man and it offers an inside view of the mystique of the boxing trainer as motivator, conditioner and strategist. Francis survived setbacks and hardships that would have destroyed lesser men but he survived with good humour and exceptional moral strength.
This book includes quotes from such well-known figures as Frank Bruno and Don King and the George Francis fitness method - unique to the man who is known as the best conditioner of boxers.