The Lords Of The Ring

In the boxing ring, five seconds can be an eternity, as Alex "the Slugger" Wade learned when Vince "Dynamite" Dickson landed a punch square in his face at the beginning of the second round. Blood trickled from Wade's mouth, and he swayed from side to side. The crowd of 800 at London's York Hall — the spiritual home of British boxing — held its breath.

But Wade returned with a flurry of punches, and finished with his pride intact. Despite his tough-guy nickname, Wade, a 37-year-old father of two, is not a professional boxer — he's a lawyer...