Staying Positive

The Story of 'The Real' Paul Banke

Ray Mancini, Paul Zanon, Paul Banke

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785316074
• Year: 2019

A member of the USA's stellar 1984 Olympic boxing team, Paul Banke then scaled the heights as a professional to become world champion in 1990. Unfortunately, throughout his career, he was at the mercy of his secret mistress—drugs. As part of the celebrity slipstream, Banke often had free access to heroin, crystal meth, and cocaine. Best remembered for his epic trilogy with Daniel Zaragoza, drugs overtook him and Banke soon became a forgotten champion. Shortly after retiring in 1993, he was homeless and destitute. Having not eaten for three days, Banke found himself lying in a dumpster in Vegas, ecstatic at finding a partially consumed cheeseburger. Arrested for grand theft auto in 1995, he was urged in jail to take an HIV test, due to sharing needles. He had contracted full-blown AIDS. Miraculously, after three decades of drug abuse, Banke turned his life around in September 2014 and became clean and sober. Now once again warmly embraced by the boxing fraternity, he shares his story to inspire and deter those on a similar path.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Foreword
• Down In The Dumpsters
• 1. Paul Andre Banke
• 2. Kidding Around
• 3. Boxing Bug
• 4. Azusa
• 5. Gym Addict
• 6. Wanderlust
• 7. Global Development
• 8. Cold War
• 9. Shattered Dreams
• 10. High Ground
• 11. Career Blow
• 12. All Heart
• 13. No Horsing Around
• 14. First Time Failure
• 15. Fight Of My Life
• 16. KO In Korea
• 17. Slam Dunk
• 18. Losing The Battle
• 19. Curtain Call
• 20. Busted
• 21. Positive
• 22. Death’s Door
• 23. Outcast
• 24. Scared
• 25. Drug Damage
• 26. Hometown Hero
• 27. Hall Of Shame
• 28. Clean
• 29. Facebook Friend
• 30. Guardian Angel
• 31. Old Faithful
• 32. Take Care
• 33. Fresh Start
• 34. Experience, Strength And Hope
• 35. Positive
• Photos
• Back Cover