#44: ‘Sparring for Luck’ by Stephen ‘Johnny’ Hicks

‘Sparring for Luck’ by Stephen ‘Johnny’ Hicks is the confluence of what might be the three main areas of my cultural life over the past ten years: Socialism, poetry and boxing. This book tells the life story of Stepney-born Stephen Hicks, fortuitously found and published by The Tower Hamlets Arts Project.

This is a story of a man whose life revolved around social justice and writing, and who lived during a time of great hardship in an area of London where the poor were left to fend for themselves, with very little or no regard from a succession of local and national governments.

It’s just a great little book, and another fantastic example of the pull and hold that boxing has had over people who have stuck with the arduous training and physical strain in order to keep competing for small sums of money.

As the back cover of the book says, This is not so much a story of boxing but of a man who boxed.