Sorry, You CANNOT Buy This Book For Christmas

The forthcoming book on Marvin Hagler by Brockton-born New York Times bestselling author and award-winning investigative journalist Dave Wedge would be atop my self gifting list this Christmas, were it written and put into the marketplace.

Alas, I will have to wait for this good thing, as publisher Hamilcar will drop the Hagler book in 2025.

I am hyped.

The book is pitched as “the definitive tale of middleweight boxing champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler in a new book for Hamilcar Publications titled Blood & Hate: The Untold Story of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s Battle for Glory.”

“Dave is one of the premier nonfiction storytellers in America today, whether he is writing about the Boston Marathon bombings, Deflategate, the Whitey Bulger saga, or his most recent bestseller about biker subculture, Riding with Evil,” said Hamilcar publisher Kyle Sarofeen.

“His unrivaled journalistic skills and passionate writing style, coupled with the fact that he grew up in Brockton during the Hagler era, will ensure that this book is the definitive story of one of the all-time greats not only in boxing, but in sports history. It’s a perfect fit for Hamilcar and we look forward to sharing this incredible, never-before-told story.”

More text to titillate you: “BLOOD & HATE will, for the first time, tell the riveting and inspirational tale of the unbreakable bond between undisputed middleweight boxing champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler and his trainers, Goody and Pat Petronelli, and their march to victory in one of the most racially-charged championship matches in history—Hagler’s first title fight in 1980 in England against Alan Minter.”

Need more inducement?

“The book will tell the story of Hagler’s escape from riot-torn Newark to Petronelli Gym in Brockton, Massachusetts, where the stone-faced young fighter was trained into a contender by two middle-aged, white Italian World War II vets with underwhelming credentials but endless heart.

“They slowly built a triangle of trust—Marvin the fighter, Goody the trainer, and Pat the businessman—and became a family as they fought corrupt boxing forces while Marvin prepared for his long-awaited title shot in an ugly, race-fueled championship bout in England.”

Triangle of trust should be trademarked, yes? And are you pondering the casting of Goody and Pat in the film that the book will birth, as I am?

Longtime hardcores will recall this story element…

”Minter, a Brit, was backed by the white supremacist National Front, and infamously boasted that “no Black man” would take his title. Hagler was pelted with cans and bottles at the conclusion of the fight and run out of Wembley Arena in one of sports history’s ugliest moments, captured in one of boxing’s most iconic photos.”

Wedge will pull off the task, I’m sure.

Hagler died in 2021, so the former Boston Herald investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author of 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption with Casey Sherman, The Last Days of John Lennon with Sherman and James Patterson, and Riding with Evil: Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang will be working around that fact.

“This is a story I was born to tell,” Wedge (above) said. “Growing up in a proud, blue-collar city like Brockton, with such a rich boxing history and fighting spirit, made me who I am today and prepared me well to take on the challenge of writing such an important story. I’m honored to be able to tell this story of one of the most iconic and inspiring sports figures of the last century, Marvelous Marvin Hagler.”

The book will be released in early 2025 via Hamilcar Publications.

Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author based in Boston.

He has co-written five books with author Casey Sherman, including Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph Over Tragedy, a nonfiction drama about the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings adapted for the 2017 movie Patriots Day; 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption; Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss; and The Last Days of John Lennon, written with James Patterson.

Dave’s latest true crime bestseller, Riding with Evil: Taking Down the Notorious Pagans Motorcycle Gang, is the story of the only police officer to ever infiltrate the ultraviolent Pagans motorcycle gang.

Riding with Evil is currently in development as a major motion picture, while Hunting Whitey has been adapted for a theatrical stage show starring actor Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Captain America, Band of Brothers, American Horror Story).

Dave is a writer for Boston magazine, has written for VICE, Esquire, and Newsweek and was an award-winning investigative journalist for the Boston Herald for fourteen years.

Readers of this “publication” know of Hamilcar Publications, a Boston-based publisher focused on professional boxing, true crime, hip-hop, jazz, and more.

Hamilcar books appeal to fans of these fascinating, often-intersecting worlds as well as to readers who are simply passionate about great nonfiction storytelling and beautiful book design.