About The Book
Oscar “Battling” Nelson (1882–1954) was perhaps the toughest professional boxer ever to enter the ring. Although a Hall of Fame inductee, Nelson remains a lesser known great of boxing lore. From the beginning of his career at 14, the Danish immigrant presented himself as a man of integrity who never smoked, drank or took a dive.
In the ring and in public, Battling Nelson crafted a Renaissance man image as a lightweight champion, reporter, entertainer, real estate mogul, entrepreneur and ladies’ man. The first ever champion in his weight class to mount a comeback, he strove to break new ground (even if he wasn’t always successful). This book tells the story of a ring legend whose endurance was second to none and whose trilogy with Joe Gans is one of the great rivalries in sports history.
“[Baker] enthralls the readers of the brutal encounters Nelson engaged in in his scrappy career…It is simply the best book ever written on the life of Battling Nelson. Not only does Mr. Baker bring to life the long forgotten pugilist, but his era is vividly reconstructed where the reader feels as if he were sitting in the early years of the 20th Century…To those fans who enjoy reading about a bygone era and the great fighter who plied their trade, this is the book for you. It is terrific….highly recommended”—The USA Boxing News
Mark Allen Baker, business executive and writer of hundreds of articles and more than 25 books, is the only person to serve the International Boxing Hall of Fame as an author, historian, chairperson, sponsor, volunteer and biographer. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame. He was accorded a Lifetime Award of Merit by the State University of New York in 2022.
Mark Allen Baker
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 296
Bibliographic Info: 66 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6372-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2625-3
Imprint: McFarland
This book is available at McFarland Publishing