Book excerpt: Tony Franks was always a natural athlete. He excelled at every sport he ever tried out for. Academics, however, did not come as easy to him. His first conflict came when trying to balance his academic grades for his mama, and his excellence at sports for his father. His poor grades in high school forced him off of three different sports teams. Once he found out he was academically ineligible for any high school sanctioned sports, he turned his attention to boxing, where he met his coach and mentor, Louie Denucci. Dealing with adversity, including an abusive father and the death of the person closest to him, Tony goes on to find solace in his boxing coach and trainer, and to live a successful life-not only as a professional fighter, but as a person. Tony would later find in life what a true family was. It is a truly heart-whelming story of tragedy and triumph.