Taking the Punches

A story of the cut-throat world of promoting in New Zealand boxing, from the 1960s to the modern era, as told by legendary trainer and promoter Mike Edwards.

'Who would want to be a boxing promoter? It's like being on a treadmill you can't get off, as you forever chase the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.'

Taking the Punches is legendary trainer and promoter Mike Edwards' story, from an Otahuhu gym in the 1960s through to the height of modern era. It's a world of showmen, superstars, larger-than-life characters, brawlers, shysters, fraudsters and out-and-out criminals.

Anyone who is anyone in the story of New Zealand boxing has worked with (or against) Mike, including Tuna Scanlan, Kevin Barry, Lance Revill, David Tua, Monty Betham Snr, Paul Murdoch and Joseph Parker, to name but a few. Taking the Punches is an incredible chronicle of some 60 years in boxing.

'…life is always made easier by having a good man in your corner, and there are none better than Mike.' - Monty Betham Jnr