Off the Ropes: the Ron Lyle Story

"How do we reconcile this soft-spoken, gentle man with the toughest heavyweight who never won the title?"

In a life as tough and brutal as his bouts, heavyweight boxer Ron Lyle - who died in November, 2011 - had already served hard time for second-degree murder before he began his amateur boxing career. Afterwards, he was the supposedly third-rate fighter who had Muhammad Ali beaten for ten rounds in a Las Vegas title bout; the guy who fought George Foreman in a brawl with four knock-downs known, in boxing lore, as The One For the Ages; and the guy who was then arrested for murder a second time.

Against a background of the greatest era in heavyweight boxing history, author Candace Toft retraces Ron Lyle’s compelling personal journey, which began in the Denver projects as one of 19 children in a religious family. Aged 20, he was convicted for a disputed gang killing and served time in the state penitentiary, where he learned to box. After a meteoric amateur career and an executive pardon, he went professional in 1971 and over the next six years established an outstanding record in the ring.

Then, in 1978, Lyle was indicted for murder a second time and - even though he was acquitted - his career was effectively over. The years that followed were filled with struggle, a captivating love story and ultimate redemption. Before his death, he ran a youth centre in Denver, Colorado, that bears his name. Off the Ropes: The Ron Lyle Story is an uplifting biography of a singular life.