This book is the autobiography of Joe Egan, champion heavyweight boxer from Ringsend, who represented Ireland at senior and junior level, but missed out on a potentially brilliant career as a professional due to a serious accident outside the ring.

‘The Toughest White Man on the Planet’ is not just a boxing book though. Still relatively young, Joe has led a dramatic life, which sometimes reads like the script of a Hollywood movie.

His name has featured heavily in the tabloids in recent years because his then fiancé Lisa Murphy left him for Michael Flatley.

When Joe’s professional boxing career ground to a halt, he moved to Birmingham and managed a public house in the city.

The pub was successfully run but gangsters in what was a rough area got wind of the pub’s success and began demanding £500 a week ‘protection’ money.

Events soon began to spiral out of control, culminating in a vicious battle outside the pub with guns, knives, axes and machetes all used in the frenzied attack on Joe and his friends.

Despite being shot at and without starting any trouble, Joe was charged with attempted murder. Luckily the charges were dropped by the police only for the big fella to fall foul of the law a second time and be jailed for two years for his part in a luxury car-ringing scam.

After his release from prison Joe attempted a comeback in 2004. Despite winning his first fight back, fate was not on his side and when an old wound was freshly opened in training, he threw the towel in on professional boxing for good.

A tough and proud man, Joe is not shy about revealing his successes and glories inside the boxing rings of the world. Equally, he is not afraid to let his guard down and reveal a tender side.

After a particularly brutal sparring session with Mike Tyson, the author tells us he cried with the pain.The title of the book is Tyson’s description of Joe after the same sparring session.

This is a very frank account of a man who seems equally blessed and cursed by fate.

The highs and lows of an extraordinary life are well documented over a short but absorbing read. Just as revealing is the character of a man who, though flawed, you can’t help admire and respect.
‘The Toughest White Man on the Planet’ is currently available in all good book shops.