Originally published in as Rope burns. New York : Ecco, ©2000.

Member of the fancy : an introduction -- The monkey look -- Black Jew -- Million dollar baby -- Fightin in Philly -- Frozen water -- Rope burns -- Between rounds : an acknowledgment.

This hard-hitting collection of powerful and moving tales based on the experiences of the late, great fight manager and cut man Jerry Boyd, who wrote under the pen name F.X. Toole, is now the basis for a major motion picture starring Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. Breathing life into vivid, compelling characters who radiate the fierce intensity of the worlds they inhabit, Million Dollar Baby "is not just fight fiction at its finest, it is excellent fiction, period" (Dan Rather).