In the spirit of Flashman and in the inimitable George MacDonald Fraser style comes a rousing story of prize fighting in the 19th century.When Captain Buck Flashman sees the black boxer catch a fly in mid-flight he realizes that he is in the presence of speed such as the prize ring has never seen. Tom Molineaux may be crude and untutored, but if `Mad Buck’ knows anything, this ex-slave is a Champion in the making. Under his ambitious patronage, the `Black Ajax’ is carried on a popular tide of sporting fever to his great dream: to fight the invincible, undefeated Champion of England, the great Tom Cribb.Told through funny, colourful voices, this novel paints a portrait of a flawed hero who surmounted the barriers of ignorance, poverty and racial hatred to bring the prize ring a lustre it had never known before, and may never again.
