Irish Thunder
The Hard Life & Times of Micky Ward
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Narrated by:
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Bronson Pinchot
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By:
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Bob Halloran
About this listen
Micky Ward is THE FIGHTER that inspired the major motion picture.
Welcome to Lowell, where anything can happen.
Rocky Marciano fought at the Auditorium in 1947. Mike Tyson fought there in his Golden Gloves days. Sugar Ray Leonard won there, as did Marvin Hagler. Each of them prepared for his battle downstairs in the boiler room, just like thousands of other kids.
“Irish” Micky Ward grew up in the 1970s and ’80s as a tough kid from Lowell, Massachusetts - a town where boxers were once bred as a means of survival. A hard worker who overcame bad luck, bad management, and chronic pain in his hands, he avoided the pitfall of poverty and dead-end work that plagued Lowell to become a Golden Gloves junior welterweight.
Ward participated in street fights from an early age and was forever known by his opponents and spectators as the underdog. But with his incredible ability to suddenly drop an opponent late in a fight with his trademark left hook, he kept proving everyone wrong.
After fifteen years of boxing, a string of defeats, and three years of retirement, Micky battled Arturo Gatti in 2002 in the battle that was later named “Fight of the Year” by Ring magazine and dubbed “Fight of the Century” by boxing writers and fans across the country. Ten rounds of brutal action ended with Micky winning by decision, and reviving enthusiasm for a sport that had been weighted down by years of showboating and corruption. ESPN and Boston television reporter Bob Halloran recounts Micky’s rise to hero status, his rivalry with his imprisoned brother, and the negotiations, betrayals, and drugs that ultimately shaped a wild youth into a nationally respected boxer.
BOB HALLORAN is the weekend news and sports anchor at WCVB-TV in Boston. He is also a former ESPN anchor and columnist for ESPN.com. He has worked as a news and sports anchor in New England for over twenty years, and he writes a weekly column for Boston’s Metro newspaper.
©2010 Bob Halloran (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Editorial reviews
If you’re not a fan of boxing, you might never even consider listening to Irish Thunder, the nonfiction account of boxer Micky Ward that inspired the Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter. And that would be a mistake, because even for listeners who’ve never watched a match in their lives the volatile history of Ward, his family, and his career is a timeless and entertaining sports story brought to life by narrator Bronson Pinchot.
Ward known to his fans as “Irish Micky Ward” grew up boxing in Lowell, Massachusetts, a wrong-side-of-the-tracks town that claimed many of its youth (including Ward’s brother, Dicky Ecklund) for drugs, alcohol, and jail time. For nearly two decades, Ward’s career was a roller coaster of incredible wins and crushing defeats, culminating in a sport-changing trio of matches against Arturo Gatti in 2002 and 2003. Author Bob Halloran, a Boston-based sports anchor, addresses every detail of the influences and events that shaped Micky’s career, from the number of punches thrown and landed in each match and the color of the trim on the fighters’ uniforms to the interpersonal conflicts that plagued Ward’s team and family and the driving emotional forces that kept him entering the ring round after round.
Actor Bronson Pinchot may be best-known for his role as Balki Bartokomous on the sitcom Perfect Strangers, but there’s no trace of his Mypos accent here: He brings Micky, Dicky, and their families and friends to life with a rich tone and neat inflection. Micky is tough, determined, and resolute and, in his lowest moments, Pinchot lets through just enough emotion to show the cracks in that resolve. The narrator handily navigates 10 hours of boxing talk, reading the fight scenes’ punches, jabs, cuts, and yells at a pace that expresses the intensity of the situation without losing the listener. The end result: You don’t have to like or even understand the sport to be taken in by the highs and lows of life in the ring with Micky Ward. BlytheCopeland
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Story
This collection of A.J. Liebling's classic New Yorker pieces on the "sweet science of bruising" brings vividly to life the boxing world as it once was. It depicts the great events of boxing's American heyday: Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano's rise to prominence, Joe Louis' unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring.
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Liebling is a master wordsmith, Gardner an incredible narrator
- By Josh on 03-29-16
By: A. J. Liebling
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The Boxing Kings
- When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring
- By: Paul Beston
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The Boxing Kings tells the story of the heavyweight title in the days when it was a defining institution in the United States. Author Paul Beston places special emphasis on those champions who held a central place in American culture beyond just in the boxing ring, including John L. Sullivan, who made the title a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who in 1908 became the first black man to claim the title; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; and many more.
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An outstanding book on heavyweight champions
- By LSmith on 02-01-18
By: Paul Beston
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Pin Action
- Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler
- By: Gianmarc Manzione
- Narrated by: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences.
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Excellent
- By joseph azze on 03-16-19
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Open
- An Autobiography
- By: Andre Agassi
- Narrated by: Erik Davies
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography. Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf.
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Just an Incredible Story!
- By Patrick on 12-13-09
By: Andre Agassi
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The Best in the World
- At What I Have No Idea
- By: Peter Thomas Fornatale, Chris Jericho
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Best in the World chronicles some of the incredible and often preposterous highlights of Jericho's recent career, including how Mickey Rourke challenged Jericho to a match then backed out; his escape from the 2010 Icelandic volcanoes in a broken-down, European rental-car shuttle; his encounters with Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Al Sharpton, and Mike Tyson; and his on-again, off-again relationship with WWE chief Vince McMahon.
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Among the Best Wrestling Autobiographies
- By VC on 09-04-16
By: Peter Thomas Fornatale, and others
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The Murder of Sonny Liston
- Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights
- By: Shaun Assael
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.
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Great read
- By Diane Dodge on 09-14-19
By: Shaun Assael
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The Keeper
- A Life of Saving Goals and Achieving Them
- By: Ali Benjamin, Tim Howard
- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 2014, Tim Howard became an overnight sensation after more than 10 years as one of America's leading professional soccer players. His record-breaking 15 saves for the United States national team against Belgium in the World Cup electrified a nation that had only recently woken up to the Beautiful Game after decades of hibernation. In this inspiring and candid memoir, the beloved US and Everton goalkeeper finally allows himself to do something that he would never do on the field: He drops his guard.
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Tim Howard Saves more then Goals!
- By Ron on 12-16-14
By: Ali Benjamin, and others
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The Secret Race
- Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
- By: Tyler Hamilton, Daniel Coyle
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is an explosive book that takes us, for the first time, deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to succeed that they would do anything—and take any risk, physical, mental, or moral—to gain the edge they needed to win. The Secret Race is a riveting, courageous act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France.
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Gripping and fascinating
- By Alan on 09-09-12
By: Tyler Hamilton, and others
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A Flame of Pure Fire
- Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Kevin Yon
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Through most of the Roaring '20s, Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion of the world. With his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, he was a fighter perfectly suited to his time. In A Flame of Pure Fire, renowned sports writer Roger Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the Manassa Mauler, but also illustrates how the tumultuous 1920s shaped Dempsey - and how the champ, in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history.
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Ambitious but poorly executed
- By Keith on 10-02-19
By: Roger Kahn
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The Fighter's Mind
- Inside the Mental Game
- By: Sam Sheridan
- Narrated by: Nicholas Techosky
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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To uncover the secrets of mental strength and success, Sam Sheridan interviewed dozens of the world's most fascinating and dangerous men.
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A Magnificient Perspective
- By Chase Chambers on 11-07-15
By: Sam Sheridan
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The Boys of Winter
- The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
- By: Wayne Coffey
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after.
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Great, but...
- By S. B. G. on 02-13-18
By: Wayne Coffey
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Arnie & Jack
- Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry
- By: Ian O' Connor
- Narrated by: Alpha Trivette
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Surprisingly, one of sport’s most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world’s finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their 50-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today. Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way.
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No Match
- By Craig Black on 05-11-15
By: Ian O' Connor
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My Story
- By: Steven Gerrard
- Narrated by: Michael Ryan
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of My Story by Steven Gerrard, read Michael Ryan. Steven Gerrard is the former captain of Liverpool football team and of the England national football team and is the only player ever to have scored in a FA cup final, a league cup final, a UEFA cup final and a champion's league final. His entire career, since 1998, has been spent at Anfield with Liverpool.
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Ohhhh, ya beautyyy!!
- By Gabriel on 09-29-15
By: Steven Gerrard
What listeners say about Irish Thunder
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- K. Mclemore
- 03-01-15
Wow--Inspiring and Entertaining,
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
YES. Well written and the narration was fabulous.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Micky, of course. He overcame so many challenges, difficulties, and unfair life circumstances to succeed.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I wanted to because it was so interesting and exciting. I listened as I had time and often just drove off to run long errands so I could listen.
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- Paul
- 09-15-16
Great Listen!!
What a terrific story. Being from Massachusetts and living in Lowell as a kid, this book really hit home with me. Mickey Ward embraced his tough surroundings and through faith and sheer determination he literally fought his way to the top! While never forgetting his friends, his family, and where he came from. I would recommend this book to anyone. Bronson Pinchot is terrific as well.
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