Natural born fighters - Craig Goldman

Bare-knuckle fighters, unlicensed boxers and No Holds Barred gladiators. They're not amateurs, because they do it for cash; they're not professionals, because nobody regulates them. They're fighters - it's what they do.

Plunged into a brutal world that exists beyond the authority of any sporting body, Natural Born Fighters uncovers today's kings of underground combat. It's a world where every fight has different rules and some have no rules at all. From bare-knuckle fights that take place in country lanes and inner-city building sites, to bloody, raw gladiatorial cage fighting, here we meet hard men, villains, gypsies, maybe even the bloke who lives next door. They're all connected by the common thread of their love of fighting, and they'll do anything to win.

Introductions and personal insights to these twenty-first-century gladiators and the world they inhabit are given by several respected and feared personalities, including Bobby Frankham, ex-professional boxer and gypsy bare-knuckle fighter; Alan Mortlock, Britain's king of unlicensed boxing; and Andy Jardine, founder of the British end of the new mixed martial arts, the fighting art of No Holds Barred. And then, of course , there are the fighters themselves.

The fights span the globe. In the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation, Leigh Ramedios, electronic engineering undergraduate, fights in two anything-goes cage contests. There's the very first unofficial world heavyweight title fight in a leafy upmarket Essex suburb, while northern hard man Ian Freeman competes in a bloody No Holds Barred contest in Rotterdam.

In the age of virtual reality, this book captures a genuine fighting spirit and reveals men who are doing it for real.