Fightback

GARY JACOBS was a highly-successful welterweight from Glasgow. During a 12-year career he held the Scottish, British, Commonwealth and European titles. He won 45 of his 53 pro fights and lost a world title bid on points to an opponent described as ‘the world’s best pound for pound boxer’. As a Jewish kid growing up in lilywhite Glasgow, Gary was a regular in playground fights and earned a fearsome reputation. He soon came under the tutelage of Maurice Lewis, a Glaswegian jeweller who was a devoted student of the sweet science. Lewis would end up guiding Jacobs to the top of British boxing and set him on the path to a glittering career that saw him fight on the biggest bills of his era in London, Paris, Vegas, New York and Atlantic City. Yet adjusting to retirement proved difficult as a failed business venture led to an addiction to drugs and drink as he sought the buzz that came with his former life. Caught in a trap of booze and cocaine use, Gary contemplated suicide and was only snapped out of it by the random comment of a passing stranger. Gary opens up on the battle with his demons and how he used his renowned courage in the ring to conquer the hardships that surrounded him once the hangers-on and back-slappers had moved on. As he says himself, “Whenever fate was unkind to me, I always fought back!”

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