Family affairs

Adam Smith explains why his new book brings a new angle to boxing that has rarely been highlighted.

Boxing is of course man against man. But before a fighter climbs in the ring and from the very moment he leaves - celebrating, struggling or even being stretchered off - the sport is a family affair. Fight fans will know about the unique partnership between Joe Calzaghe and his dad Enzo. Most will know Ricky Hatton's close relatives inside and out. And of course, the Klitschko brothers are top of the pile right now. But Adam Smith takes you further behind the ropes and the relationships of many more fighters and their families in Beautiful Brutality. The book takes him back to starting at Sky 20 years ago, then around the world to some of the biggest fights in recent history. Some of the boxers covered will be very well known, others might not, but behind all of them are people who have never been highlighted but have - in one way or another - followed their fighter every step of the way. There are the fathers that have been on the front line in the business world of boxing, the mothers who refuse to even watch at home and simply pray for their sons to come out unscathed and of course, the children, who put the brutal passion a distant second. It is a side of boxing that has, until now, been overlooked. Smith admits that even he, as he made his way alongside Naseem Hamed and Lennox Lewis as well as the foreign stars like Mike Tyson and Marco Antonio Barrera, has been moved by the relationships that are always there. "I've always been fascinated by boxers but increasingly fascinated by their families and the people around them," he said. "It's the hardest career being a boxer, there's no doubt about that. If you've had four rounders and 100 fights just to scrape a living from week to week or whether you have been a world champion, the families have to go through the same emotions, if not more. "Everyone has different successes and different set-ups. Everyone has different upbringings. Some have no parenting, some have excellent parents, some tend to get involved with the fighter, some tend to take a step back. "Some become trainers, some decide it's not for them and they can't stand by and see the emotion in a ring, giving instruction and seeing his son getting hit. Others want to be at home, watching or not, waiting to make sure their son is not hurt. "There's all sorts of ways families can help and have an effect on fighters."

Dysfunctional

When Smith began to write a boxing book, their presence made him think again and approach it from an angle that has never been used as a main thread when discussing the biggest names in the game It starts with the Mob and shifts through the gears to the peak of boxing here in Britain today. Amir Khan, Carl Froch, Nathan Cleverly and Kell Brook are climbing to the very top with their family roles comparatively well-known early on. When Hatton - who writes the foreword - took on Floyd Mayweather and flooded Las Vegas with his fans, his parents became TV stars for a while. His father Ray, was as always, part of the management for a once in a lifetime occasion. But when the fight was over, the Hattons and Mayweathers did not head separate ways. Floyd Snr became Ricky's trainer, leaving Roger, little Floyd and then Jeff, the forgotten one. Mayweather is more watchable than most once the bell goes, but Smith found a "dysfunctional family" equally if not more, interesting. And on the other side, Hatton's decision to deal with one of them didn't really work out. "Sometimes I have got too close with some boxers and I do lay it bare in this book," he says. "There are mistakes I have made in my job and there are mistakes fighters and at times, I think, their families have made. "If there is a conclusion it is that the family are, or should be, there unconditionally supporting you; in good times and in bad times. "Fighters with their family's support will have more success, whether it is in their career or later in their life." Smith is keen not to simply focus on those successful stories. Did Hamed fulfil his talent and did he finish too early? And did anyone ever know the real Mike Tyson? The family role is always a major factor for any fighter. How did Billy Smith cope when his twin brother Ernie took his life, when the two boxing journeymen had been inseparable? And what about the view on boxing of Margaret Murray, whose son James is the last British boxer to die in the ring? Where do the families and the sport of boxing sit now? There are stories and situations that we will not have seen. Smith admits that even he was surprised at what he had dealt with in 20 years. The answers are there, but there are questions and issues that boxing has rarely wondered about. Behind every single boxing match at any level, there are two families involved one way or the other. This is a chance to see just what unconditional love does in the Beautiful Brutality that is boxing...