Standing Eight

by Pitluk, Adam

• ISBN13: 9780306814549
• ISBN10: 0306814544
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-24
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

"The extraordinary story of a man who overcame enormous obstacles - including time in prison and deportation to Mexico twice - to fight for his piece of the American Dream." "Gabriel Sandoval was born in 1972 and grew up in the impoverished city of Delicias, Mexico. At seven, he crossed the Rio Grande with his mother and younger sister to join his father, an illegal worker in Chicago. There Gabriel learned both English and boxing, eventually winning three Gold Glove championships. But as a teenager, like many in his neighborhood, he joined a street gang." "One day in 1990, Gabriel made the fateful decision to act as a lookout for two other gang members during a robbery. He was caught, convicted of a felony, and served time in three different prisons over nearly four years before his release in 1994 from one of the most violent prisons in America: Stateville, in Illinois. On his release from Stateville he was given fifty dollars and was met by an INS agent who put him on a plane to Mexico." "Within a month Gabriel had crossed the American border illegally again, this time settling in Austin, Texas, where he resumed his boxing career. Taking on a new identity as Jesus "El Matador" - named after the gym in Chicago where he learned how to box - Chavez fought his way through a host of contenders and won the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) Super Featherweight Championship in 1997." "But while Chavez was applying for a driver's license later that year, his real name popped up on a computer screen and his illegal status was revealed. Although he was the NABF Super Featherweight Champion of the world, he was deported a second time. It took nearly four years and a protracted fight with the U.S. government in the face of tough new immigration laws before Chavez was able to obtain the American citizenship he had in fact earned." "In September 2005, Chavez moved up a weight class and won the IBF Lightweight title in a bout against Leavander Johnson, pummeling his opponent for the entire fight until the referee finally stepped in and ended it. After the fight, the almost unimaginable happened: Johnson lapsed into a coma and died several days later. But Bill Johnson, the fighter's father and trainer, was adamant that Chavez was not to blame and urged him to continue fighting - to be the best champion he could be. And that is what Chavez had tried to do."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Adam Pitluk is a contributor to TIME magazine and is the author of Standing Eight. He spent most of the 1990s living along various rivers in Missouri and now lives in Dallas, Texas.

Table of Contents

Prologue	ix
Shining City upon a Hill	1	(20)
West Side	21	(16)
Promises	37	(12)
Stateville	49	(19)
Stranger in a Strange Land	68	(19)
House of Lord	87	(15)
King of Britannia	102	(15)
Terri	117	(17)
¡Viva Mexico!	134	(21)
We're up Here, and They Just Don't Know	155	(13)
Just a Camera	168	(7)
Homecoming	175	(27)
El Terrible	202	(19)
``The Fight Could Go Either Way''	221	(12)
Interviews and Bibliography	233	(6)
Acknowledgments	239	(3)
About the Author	242	(1)
Index	243