By Thomas Gerbasi - A born and bred New Yorker, Mark Kriegel may not have been living in the Big Apple when he approached former world lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini about writing his biography, but sunny California hadn’t dulled his no nonsense pitch in the slightest.
“You have no control over the manuscript, I can’t pay you, you’re not going to get rich unless they make your life into a movie, and I promise you that I will go to all the places that you least want to talk about: (Duk Koo) Kim, the divorce, and the death of your brother,” said Kriegel. “But if you want a book about fathers and sons, I’m the guy to write this.”
Mancini paused to think the offer over. It wasn’t the first time he had been approached about doing a book. When he was fighting there were inquiries, and they picked up when he walked away from the sport for the first time at the age of 24. He had no interest at either juncture, simply because he didn’t feel that there was anything worth saying that hadn’t already been said.
But when Kriegel, who had already written best-selling biographies of NFL great Joe Namath and basketball legend Pete Maravich, talked about fathers and sons, Mancini knew this wasn’t going to be a typical book. [Click Here To Read More]
“You have no control over the manuscript, I can’t pay you, you’re not going to get rich unless they make your life into a movie, and I promise you that I will go to all the places that you least want to talk about: (Duk Koo) Kim, the divorce, and the death of your brother,” said Kriegel. “But if you want a book about fathers and sons, I’m the guy to write this.”
Mancini paused to think the offer over. It wasn’t the first time he had been approached about doing a book. When he was fighting there were inquiries, and they picked up when he walked away from the sport for the first time at the age of 24. He had no interest at either juncture, simply because he didn’t feel that there was anything worth saying that hadn’t already been said.
But when Kriegel, who had already written best-selling biographies of NFL great Joe Namath and basketball legend Pete Maravich, talked about fathers and sons, Mancini knew this wasn’t going to be a typical book. [Click Here To Read More]
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