Boxing Shadows

by Stratton, W. K.

• ISBN13: 9780292721296
• ISBN10: 0292721293
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

Reaching the top in any sport requires a long, hard climb. But when you start with the baggage of years of family dysfunction and incarceration in a hellish mental hospital, The climb is especially steep. Yet even with such weights to carry, Anissa Zamarron won not one, but two, world championships in women_s boxing. Her story, As dramatically intense as the Clint Eastwood film Million Dollar Baby, Is one of tremendous courage and determination to overcome the odds against her as a Latina and as a woman working through mental illness and addiction_a fight in which Zamarron has been as powerful and successful as she has been in the boxing ring. In this compelling biography, acclaimed author W. K. _Kip_ Stratton collaborates with Zamarron to tell the story of her unlikely rise to The pinnacle of women_s boxing. With searing honesty, Zamarron describes how the chaotic breakup of her childhood family caused her to develop _demons_ that drove her to aggressive behavior in school, An addiction to self-destructive habits, including cutting, and eventually to a corrupt for-profit mental hospital in which she spent eighteen months tied to a bed. She explains how boxing became her salvation as an adult; she learned how to turn her anger and aggression into motivation to train hard and excel at her sport, not only becoming the first woman to fight as a professional in a sanctioned fight in New York, but also fighting more ten-round fights than any other woman in history. A gripping account of Zamarron_s 2005 upset win over Maribel Zurita to claim her second world championship caps the book.