Mansfield boxing world champion Steve Ward autobiography really packs a punch

Like the subject of the book, Steve Ward's autobiography – The Legend - packs a punch from start to finish.

This is a man who has lived a real life and has many rich tales to tell from it which range from the pain of contemplating suicide to the sheer ecstasy of becoming a world champion.

Too many young Premier League footballers rush out autobiographies which are as dull as dishwater as they have hardly lived.

Ward has seen it all.

He has fought his way up from a tough upbringing in, been ‘used’ as a professional boxer, and suffered two excruciating work accidents that would have finished off most men.

He also found himself drawn into the shadowy and brutal world of underground bare knuckle boxing.

But his boxing career and life started to really come together after meeting Lou, his wife, who has backed his bids to become the world's oldest boxer, seen him win a world title, go into the Guinness Book of Records three times and publish an autobiography he never expected to write or that anyone would want to read. Ward has even had a film made about him that has won over 40 awards, including the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

This is not a book about a man who has made millions at the top of the boxing world.

But it is a no holds barred story of a man who has shown courage to fight adversity all his life and the good guy finally ended up a winner and fulfilled his late father's prediction that he would win a world title one day.