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The Last Bell: Life, Death and Boxing
'The Last Bell takes us on a journey through the last six years in boxing, from 2018 to 2024 as McRae loses his parents and questions why he is still obsessed by the brutality of boxing....The result is exhilarating and terrifying'
The Herald
, Book of the Month
‘One of the very best writers working today’ Benjamin Myers, author of The Offing and The Gallows Pole
'Thrilling and raw, this is sport writing at its best' Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee
Donald McRae has been immersed in boxing for fifty years. He has followed fighters around the world and won multiple awards for his writing. But, in recent years, McRae’s love has waned, as criminality and corruption consume the soul of boxing.
In 2018, grieving the death of his sister and with his parents terminally ill, he sought refuge in boxing again – just as Tyson Fury completed an incredible comeback, proving that the ring can still offer exhilaration and redemption.
From Fury’s resurrection to the first undisputed heavyweight champion this century, boxing can be epic and electrifying. It can also be disappointing, as McRae discovers when he documents doping’s insidious rise or travels to Saudi Arabia where boxing ignores state repression. In The Last Bell, McRae takes us ringside to thrilling bouts with great contemporary champions and fighters as different as Fury, Canelo Álvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Katie Taylor, Regis Prograis and Isaac Chamberlain. Whether in London or Las Vegas, he shows us what it is like to see joy pour out of a boxer in the dressing room after a magnificent victory or to hold the hand of a fighter being wheeled away on a stretcher after a devastating defeat. As he tries to reconcile the contradictions which lie at boxing’s murky heart, McRae is unflinching and compelling.
McRae helps boxers open up about their doubts and fears and charts the courage of fighters facing ordeals from depression to war. And in telling the heartbreaking story of Patrick Day, he faces death in the ring. The Last Bell is his most powerful and personal book yet, a riveting account of life, death and boxing.
‘One of the very best writers working today’ Benjamin Myers, author of The Offing and The Gallows Pole
'Thrilling and raw, this is sport writing at its best' Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee
Donald McRae has been immersed in boxing for fifty years. He has followed fighters around the world and won multiple awards for his writing. But, in recent years, McRae’s love has waned, as criminality and corruption consume the soul of boxing.
In 2018, grieving the death of his sister and with his parents terminally ill, he sought refuge in boxing again – just as Tyson Fury completed an incredible comeback, proving that the ring can still offer exhilaration and redemption.
From Fury’s resurrection to the first undisputed heavyweight champion this century, boxing can be epic and electrifying. It can also be disappointing, as McRae discovers when he documents doping’s insidious rise or travels to Saudi Arabia where boxing ignores state repression. In The Last Bell, McRae takes us ringside to thrilling bouts with great contemporary champions and fighters as different as Fury, Canelo Álvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Katie Taylor, Regis Prograis and Isaac Chamberlain. Whether in London or Las Vegas, he shows us what it is like to see joy pour out of a boxer in the dressing room after a magnificent victory or to hold the hand of a fighter being wheeled away on a stretcher after a devastating defeat. As he tries to reconcile the contradictions which lie at boxing’s murky heart, McRae is unflinching and compelling.
McRae helps boxers open up about their doubts and fears and charts the courage of fighters facing ordeals from depression to war. And in telling the heartbreaking story of Patrick Day, he faces death in the ring. The Last Bell is his most powerful and personal book yet, a riveting account of life, death and boxing.
- GenresNonfiction
448 pages, Hardcover
Published March 13, 2025
7 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Donald McRae
30 books40 followersDonald McRae was born near Johannesburg in South Africa in 1961 and has been based in London since 1984.
He is the award-winning author of six non-fiction books which have featured legendary trial lawyers, heart surgeons and sporting icons. He is the only two-time winner of the UK’s prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year – an award won in the past by Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and Laura Hillenbrand’s Sea Biscuit. As a journalist he has won the UK’s Sports Feature Writer of The Year – and was runner up in the 2008 UK Sports Writer of the Year – for his work in the Guardian.
Donald lived under apartheid for the first twenty-three years of his life. The impact of that experience has shaped much of his non-fiction writing. At the age of twenty-one he took up a full-time post as a teacher of English literature in Soweto. He worked in the black township for eighteen months until, in August 1984, he was forced to leave the country. He is currently writing a memoir based on these experiences.
He is the award-winning author of six non-fiction books which have featured legendary trial lawyers, heart surgeons and sporting icons. He is the only two-time winner of the UK’s prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year – an award won in the past by Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and Laura Hillenbrand’s Sea Biscuit. As a journalist he has won the UK’s Sports Feature Writer of The Year – and was runner up in the 2008 UK Sports Writer of the Year – for his work in the Guardian.
Donald lived under apartheid for the first twenty-three years of his life. The impact of that experience has shaped much of his non-fiction writing. At the age of twenty-one he took up a full-time post as a teacher of English literature in Soweto. He worked in the black township for eighteen months until, in August 1984, he was forced to leave the country. He is currently writing a memoir based on these experiences.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 30, 2025
Here’s a fact: you need less than two hands to count how many real boxing writers there are left today. Almost everyone seems to be in the pocket of a promoter, broadcaster, or murderous dictatorship. That this will be the author’s last book about the sport is a shame, part of me hopes it sets up a Fury-esque comeback, but Don McRae is a man whose words wear integrity and they remain punctuated with purpose.
I have read all of Don’s books on boxing and they never disappoint. This is much more personal, though. There’s also sadness in coming to terms with there being no more to come, because we should be thankful for all of The Last Bell’s observations.
Although to a very different disease, I lost my own dad 18 months ago. That’s probably why the premise of this book touched an extra nerve and moved me to tears this week. There is something haunting about seeing the people we love and look up to reach their end, and Don covers this with so much care and honesty.
While my grief gave me some distance from being a helpless boxing obsessive for the first time in 15 years, Don’s sucked him in as deep as ever. What he found in that period was the sport sinking in to a dark period, polluted with death, drugs, and an ambitious authoritarian regime. Nothing new to boxing, you could argue, but the sheer relentlessness of dishonesty, greed, and immorality has been accelerated at an unprecedented rate recently.
The last 7/8 years have been a wild ride in the sport. Maybe we are just more aware of events in this modern digital age. Maybe not, and the people who wield the power are as driven to better themselves as any who came before them. Like parasites, it’s often at the expense of boxing.
There are meaningful stories in this book on the likes of Regis Prograis and Isaac Chamberlain as they try to find their way to self-worth through their status in the sport. The most striking passages, however, are those centred on Eddie Hearn. For me, at least. Some of the pages that document Hearn’s hypocrisy are scathing.
Through involvement in various cases of performance enhancing drugs, Hearn appears to be the most morally bankrupt operator in boxing. He will adopt whatever agenda suits his circumstance as the undisputed #1 P4P figurehead for flexible ethics, regardless of how he acted in similar situations previously.
That we have Don to hold him to account and document the behaviour is a blessing. Hearn isn’t the first promoter to be like this, but he took it to a new level when Conor Benn returned two positive anti-doping tests in 2022. Now Hearn has his own version of older classics, like Boxing Confidential or The Life and Crimes of Don King, to outline how rotten things can become.
There was something sweet about Don’s writing on the increasingly irritating elements of following the sport. From annoying announcers to the travelling circus of YouTubers pretending to be independent media, there are both subtle and explicit observations that feel like small wins for the sane.
The chapters on Patrick Day, the super-welterweight who died from injuries sustained in the ring in 2019, and his loved ones provided the hardest reads. Sharing common themes from Don’s Dark Trade in 1996, these are the types of stories that shouldn’t be lost amidst all of the BS and misinformation we are force fed. It’s hard, but Don helps us to remember what is and who are actually important.
I have read all of Don’s books on boxing and they never disappoint. This is much more personal, though. There’s also sadness in coming to terms with there being no more to come, because we should be thankful for all of The Last Bell’s observations.
Although to a very different disease, I lost my own dad 18 months ago. That’s probably why the premise of this book touched an extra nerve and moved me to tears this week. There is something haunting about seeing the people we love and look up to reach their end, and Don covers this with so much care and honesty.
While my grief gave me some distance from being a helpless boxing obsessive for the first time in 15 years, Don’s sucked him in as deep as ever. What he found in that period was the sport sinking in to a dark period, polluted with death, drugs, and an ambitious authoritarian regime. Nothing new to boxing, you could argue, but the sheer relentlessness of dishonesty, greed, and immorality has been accelerated at an unprecedented rate recently.
The last 7/8 years have been a wild ride in the sport. Maybe we are just more aware of events in this modern digital age. Maybe not, and the people who wield the power are as driven to better themselves as any who came before them. Like parasites, it’s often at the expense of boxing.
There are meaningful stories in this book on the likes of Regis Prograis and Isaac Chamberlain as they try to find their way to self-worth through their status in the sport. The most striking passages, however, are those centred on Eddie Hearn. For me, at least. Some of the pages that document Hearn’s hypocrisy are scathing.
Through involvement in various cases of performance enhancing drugs, Hearn appears to be the most morally bankrupt operator in boxing. He will adopt whatever agenda suits his circumstance as the undisputed #1 P4P figurehead for flexible ethics, regardless of how he acted in similar situations previously.
That we have Don to hold him to account and document the behaviour is a blessing. Hearn isn’t the first promoter to be like this, but he took it to a new level when Conor Benn returned two positive anti-doping tests in 2022. Now Hearn has his own version of older classics, like Boxing Confidential or The Life and Crimes of Don King, to outline how rotten things can become.
There was something sweet about Don’s writing on the increasingly irritating elements of following the sport. From annoying announcers to the travelling circus of YouTubers pretending to be independent media, there are both subtle and explicit observations that feel like small wins for the sane.
The chapters on Patrick Day, the super-welterweight who died from injuries sustained in the ring in 2019, and his loved ones provided the hardest reads. Sharing common themes from Don’s Dark Trade in 1996, these are the types of stories that shouldn’t be lost amidst all of the BS and misinformation we are force fed. It’s hard, but Don helps us to remember what is and who are actually important.
May 24, 2025
This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in boxing.
It reveals all the sleazy side - brain injury, death, drug dealers and corrupt governments’ involvement, drug use by boxers and the overwhelming influence of money above all else.
But it also shows the positive side of boxing too.
A very personal tale of the author’s lifelong interest in boxing and of events in his own life as he tries to get over what he refers to as his addiction to the sport but also personal because of how close he gets to the boxers resulting in them opening up to him in fascinating insights not just on boxing but on life in general.
Best summed up by this quote that appears near the end from “the great old trainer Brendan Ingle”:
“At its worst, boxing is a dirty, rotten, prostituting game. But at its best, it’s the most beautiful thing that you’ll ever see”.
It reveals all the sleazy side - brain injury, death, drug dealers and corrupt governments’ involvement, drug use by boxers and the overwhelming influence of money above all else.
But it also shows the positive side of boxing too.
A very personal tale of the author’s lifelong interest in boxing and of events in his own life as he tries to get over what he refers to as his addiction to the sport but also personal because of how close he gets to the boxers resulting in them opening up to him in fascinating insights not just on boxing but on life in general.
Best summed up by this quote that appears near the end from “the great old trainer Brendan Ingle”:
“At its worst, boxing is a dirty, rotten, prostituting game. But at its best, it’s the most beautiful thing that you’ll ever see”.
October 8, 2025
A wonderful way to bow out for one of the best boxing writers of the last few decades. A personal and powerful book about the dangers and brutality of the sport with a particular focus on Patrick Day. But there is also a look at the more human side as Donald struck up friendships with Isaac Chamberlain and Regis Prograis and follows their progress amidst a sport where there is so much corruption and bad moments but then highs make it feel like it's all been worthwhile.
If this is to be McRae's final book then he's made sure to leave on a high, which comes as no surprise if you have read his other books about boxing.
If this is to be McRae's final book then he's made sure to leave on a high, which comes as no surprise if you have read his other books about boxing.
August 5, 2025
Huge thank you to Donald for the hours this took. Boxing is a sport but is also som much more than that - a reflection of the highs and lows of life. So many fantastic people and some less so sadly within this book but that is also true of life. Huge thank you to Ronald as well for the efforts to bring Donald’s words to life in the audiobook version. A fantastic orator reading the words of a stupendous writer. Best wishes to both of them
December 31, 2025
A superb book, it took me a while to get into it as I’m not a huge boxing fan and only have a passing interest in it but a few hours into it I was hooked. The author writes with such passion and knowledge about the sport that it becomes infectious. I feel this was a thorough account of some of the most recent boxing matches and controversies of recent times. A highly recommended read for boxing or sports books fans.
March 16, 2025
A wonderful book. It jumps between a series of narrative threads but is held together masterfully. I always thought McRae must have an interesting personal story, and here he opens up about himself, albeit with much tragedy and worry too. It becomes clear towards the end that this is also a very courageous book, for several reasons. Stay well and keep writing a little bit about boxing, Mr McRae!
December 4, 2025
In a business full of morally bankrupt, narcissists (promoters, managers, execs and funders), McRae’s empathy, genuineness and love for the sport and more importantly the boxers shines through. An excellent read for any boxing fan who can see beyond the childish YouTube beefs, the name calling and the materialistic, toxic vapour that permeates the sport.
April 9, 2025
Really good read.
McRae is a journalist in a world of clickbait and YouTube chumminess, and his empathy as a human being shines through.
Some fascinating insight, but with few good stories a real snapshot of how boxing can chew you up and spit you out.
McRae is a journalist in a world of clickbait and YouTube chumminess, and his empathy as a human being shines through.
Some fascinating insight, but with few good stories a real snapshot of how boxing can chew you up and spit you out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2025
A fantastic synopsis about being a boxing fan through the ups and downs of boxing and life. Incredible book.
April 14, 2025
Another classic boxing book by Donald McRae..heartfelt, insightful & compelling...bringing truth & shining a light on the 'Dark Trade'
June 29, 2025
An outstanding book by the best boxing writer around. But it's about much more than boxing as the title suggests.
September 17, 2025
Brilliant, highly recommended. Simply a great writer
October 3, 2025
As always from this author, a wonderful and personal look at sports.
October 12, 2025
I’ve become interested in boxing over the past few years despite being repelled by the issues inherent to paying people to hit each other in the head over and over again. I can’t shake following the sport because (to me) the total dedication and mastery of the self that fighters display is fascinating and inspirational and elevates the drama beyond that of other sports. The thing I love about this book is how McRae’s maturity and experience allows him to pick apart the deeper motivations and characters of a number of figures in modern boxing, including Tyson Fury, Eddie Hearn, Turki AlSheikh, Patrick day (who died in the ring) and Charles Conwell, the man Day died fighting against. He interweaves this with the personal losses he experienced in recent years, illustrating how spectator’s emotions drive the attachments we form (or dissolve) with sports and athletes.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews