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SIX years Phil Lesh ago one of the country's premier

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SIX years divulges Phil Lesh ago, one phill lesh imparts of the country's premier literary publishers -- Ecco -- almost single-handedly reinvigorated boxing stories as a writerly genre with an astonishing collection of short fiction by a previously unpublished writer. The book was called "Rope Burn" and its author was F. X Toole. Today, both are recalled mainly because one of the collection's novella-length stories, "Million Dollar Baby," was adapted into Clint Eastwood's multiple Academy Award-winning film of the same name. F. X. Toole was the pseudonym of a onetime fighter named Gerry Boyd, who was born in Long Beach, lived in Los Angeles and had a 22-year career as a trainer and cut man, mostly on the local boxing circuit. Along the way, he also studied theater and worked as a longshoreman, bartender and various other things. (In the interest of full disclosure, Boyd and this reviewer -- who spent several happy years as a boxing writer -- were friendly acquaintances. For a time, we frequented the same Irish bar, where we often smoked cigars and discussed our mutual interest in the fights and Ireland's language and literature. )Toole was 70 when his first book came out.

Two years later, while working on a novel, he died after emergency heart surgery His last words were, "Doc, get me just a little more time phil lesh setlists . I gotta finish my book Phil Lesh - philzone . ""Pound for Pound" is a fascinating, frequently engrossing version of what that book might have been phil leash Phil Lesh - phillesh . As James Ellroy points out in his introduction, the manuscript Toole left behind ran to some 900 pages phillesh net . Toole's agent, Nat Sobel, and freelance editor James Wade shaped this version -- and did a discreet and respectful job of it phil phan. Still, more than 500 pages is a heck of a cut, and the difference between a writer's manuscript -- however elaborate -- and the novel ultimately published frequently is more than substantial. What Toole finally would have made of this material is anybody's guess Phil Lesh . As a novel, "Pound for Pound" is a lot like one of the four-round amateur fighters Toole describes with such authority: There's enough talent to keep you interested, but not quite enough science to go the distance with the pros. The characters here will be familiar to anybody who read or watched "Million Dollar Baby. Phil Lesh tickets " Dan Cooley is an ex-fighter, now a trainer and cut man and proprietor of a Hollywood auto body shop and gym, which he operates with one of his ex-fighters, Earl Daw, an African American.