Paul Harris leads a sheltered existence. The son of a Niagara winery owner, his suits and cars are paid for, his career in the family business assured. He is insulated from the rough realities of life—until a vicious barroom beating sets him down a new path.

Rob Tully also feels that his life is on a set course. A born boxer with natural talent, Rob trains with his father, Reuben, and his uncle Tommy, both of whom believe that a gift like his can change their lives.

Rob and Paul's fathers want so much more for their sons than they ever had themselves, but both sons are determined to find their own way. While Paul descends into the world of hardcore bodybuilders and boxing gyms, Rob struggles under the expectations set upon his young shoulders.

Their disparate paths lead to The Barn, an underground fight venue where vicious and hopeless men brawl for cold hard cash. No rules, no limits, no brakes. And when two fighters step into a ring where anything goes, sometimes only one walks out.

Set in the violent world of illegal bare-knuckle boxing, The Fighter unflinchingly captures that world's colourful denizens, its bleakness, its bracing and bloody violence. Written with the power and originality of Craig Davidson's debut fiction, Rust and Bone, The Fighter secures his reputation as a talent to watch with this reflection on fathers and sons and on the ultimate question of how a modern man makes his way in today's society.

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"Davidson’s pain is his book’s gain: the chapter where one of the two boxers embarks on a steroid-fuelled rampage in Welland is uncomfortably hilarious."
—Canadian Business Online

Article in the Toronto Star

Article in Jane Magazine

Article in the Globe and Mail

Article in the National Post

Mention in the Times Online Books Section