The story of boxing legend Jerry Quarry has it all: rags to riches, thrilling fights against the giants of the Golden Age of Heavyweights (Ali?twice, Frazier?twice, Patterson, Norton), a racially and politically electric sports era, the thrills and excesses of fame, celebrities, love, hate, joy, and pain. And tragedy.
Like the man he fought during two highly controversial fight cards in 1970 and '72?Muhammad Ali?boxing great Jerry Quarry was to suffer gravely. He died at age fifty-three, mind and body ravaged by Dementia Pugilistica.

In Hard Luck, "Irish" Jerry Quarry comes to life?from his Grapes of Wrath days as the child of an abusive father in the California migrant camps to those as the undersized heavyweight slaying giants on his way to multiple title bouts and the honor of being the World's Most Popular Fighter in '68, '69, '70, and '71. The story of Jerry Quarry is one of the richest in the annals of boxing, and through painstaking research and exclusive access to the Quarry family and its archives, Steve Springer and Blake Chavez have captured it all.

Steve Springer has written or co-written six books including a 2008 New York Times bestseller (American Son: The Oscar De La Hoya Story) and two LA Times bestsellers. He was a journalist for the LA Times for 25 years. He is now a National Online Columnist with LiveSports.com. Blake Chavez is a professional writer who has had several original feature film screenplays optioned. Chavez enjoyed a successful career as an amateur boxing trainer for over a decade. He also managed a few professional boxers. Chavez is an authority on Jerry Quarry. Springer has covered boxing professionally for two decades.