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The Ringmaster: Mickey Duff
The Ringmaster is a collection of gritty, true life stories of how one young man rose from the poverty stricken old Jewish East End as little known Monek Prager to become Mickey Duff, inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Within are fifty different personal accounts that focus on the life and glittering career of the truly unforgettable guvnor of British Boxing.
Loyalty, corruption, covetousness, luck and endurance, you'll find it all in here.
Mickey Duff was an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life!
___________________________________________________________________
About Mickey Duff…
With over 50 years in the game Mickey Duff has done and seen it boxing as an amateur and pro, matchmaker, manager, cornerman and promoter. Duff, real name was Monek Prager, was born in 1929 in Krakow, Poland. His father was a rabbi and moved the family over to England in the late 1930s in the face of the Nazi menace and the on-set of the Second World War. Duff took up boxing during the war and won most of his 100 plus amateur bouts.
At age 15, Duff turned pro (illegally -- the age requirement was 16 at the time) and won 61 of his 69 fights in the paid ranks as a lightweight and welterweight. Unable to dent the world rankings, he retired at only 19 years of age. After a short stint as a sewing machine salesman, Duff returned to boxing and began making matches throughout England and that is where the real story begins.
By the late-1950s, promoter Jack Solomon's monopoly on British boxing began to loosen. Duff, as a matchmaker, along with manager Jarvis Astaire and promoter Harry Levine would become a key players over the following decades. During that time, Duff was involved with 19 world champions and nearly every world-class British fighter somewhere down the line, including Jim Watt, Alan Minter, John Conteh and Terry Downes. He has also worked with champions Maurice Hope, John (The Beast) Mugabi, and Cornelius Boza Edwards.
Today Duff is generally regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and accomplished men in the history of the sport. Mickey Duff is a legend in boxing, when many boxing faces these days are barely a rumour.
___________________________________________________________________
"If you want loyalty, then buy a dog," Monek Prager, 1929 - 2014
Within are fifty different personal accounts that focus on the life and glittering career of the truly unforgettable guvnor of British Boxing.
Loyalty, corruption, covetousness, luck and endurance, you'll find it all in here.
Mickey Duff was an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life!
___________________________________________________________________
About Mickey Duff…
With over 50 years in the game Mickey Duff has done and seen it boxing as an amateur and pro, matchmaker, manager, cornerman and promoter. Duff, real name was Monek Prager, was born in 1929 in Krakow, Poland. His father was a rabbi and moved the family over to England in the late 1930s in the face of the Nazi menace and the on-set of the Second World War. Duff took up boxing during the war and won most of his 100 plus amateur bouts.
At age 15, Duff turned pro (illegally -- the age requirement was 16 at the time) and won 61 of his 69 fights in the paid ranks as a lightweight and welterweight. Unable to dent the world rankings, he retired at only 19 years of age. After a short stint as a sewing machine salesman, Duff returned to boxing and began making matches throughout England and that is where the real story begins.
By the late-1950s, promoter Jack Solomon's monopoly on British boxing began to loosen. Duff, as a matchmaker, along with manager Jarvis Astaire and promoter Harry Levine would become a key players over the following decades. During that time, Duff was involved with 19 world champions and nearly every world-class British fighter somewhere down the line, including Jim Watt, Alan Minter, John Conteh and Terry Downes. He has also worked with champions Maurice Hope, John (The Beast) Mugabi, and Cornelius Boza Edwards.
Today Duff is generally regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and accomplished men in the history of the sport. Mickey Duff is a legend in boxing, when many boxing faces these days are barely a rumour.
___________________________________________________________________
"If you want loyalty, then buy a dog," Monek Prager, 1929 - 2014
376 pages, Paperback
Published October 31, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 22, 2026
Not really accurate
As someone who knew Mickey for over 30 years, from the late 60s I find so much of this book complete bullshit. Firstly whilst Mickey was a hard and c.f.ending business associate he was both fiercely loyal and totally true to his word - we struck countless deals with just a hamdshake. Secondly day in that Jack Solomon's was friendly and helpful to Mickey simply wasn't true. Solomons, not Levene, refused to have anything to do with anyone associated with Levene. In fact he probably tried to come back to life when his girlfriend Kay Odwyer asked my father to sell his beloved World Sporting Club to Mickey and join the Anglo American Sporting Club. Mickey had an incredibly loyal staff of Eilieen, Val, Davy Jones, Bunny etc. These people I saw weekly over those years
As someone who knew Mickey for over 30 years, from the late 60s I find so much of this book complete bullshit. Firstly whilst Mickey was a hard and c.f.ending business associate he was both fiercely loyal and totally true to his word - we struck countless deals with just a hamdshake. Secondly day in that Jack Solomon's was friendly and helpful to Mickey simply wasn't true. Solomons, not Levene, refused to have anything to do with anyone associated with Levene. In fact he probably tried to come back to life when his girlfriend Kay Odwyer asked my father to sell his beloved World Sporting Club to Mickey and join the Anglo American Sporting Club. Mickey had an incredibly loyal staff of Eilieen, Val, Davy Jones, Bunny etc. These people I saw weekly over those years
Displaying 1 of 1 review