Let's Get It On: Tough Talk from Boxing's Top Ref and Nevada's Most Outspoken Judge
"My only hobby," writes Nevada District Court judge Lane in his usual no-nonsense, straight-ahead style, "is refereeing professional prizefights." Right. And Mark McGwire likes to hit home runs. One of the most ubiquitously recognizable faces in the sweet science, "Maximum Mills" (don't dare show up in his courtroom if you're guilty) has been refereeing fights--nearly 100 of them title contests, including the infamous disqualification of Mike Tyson for biting the ear of Evander Holyfield--for more than three decades, handling them the way he handles business from the bench: with unquestioned gavel-to-gavel authority. In a folksy, anecdote-filled memoir that pulls no punches, he introduces you to his particular corner of the sporting universe, separating boxing fact from fiction as if they were a pair of heavyweights in the clinches. He can be as brutal as an unseen uppercut: he constantly nails Don King for behavior worse than his hair, and is especially tough on Tyson's pleas that he's been taken advantage of, abused, humiliated and betrayed all his life. "That's the sort of self-pitying crap I hear far too often in court," Lane counters, "where the accused hides behind artificial excuses and refuses to stand up like a man." There is no room for political correctness in his universe; with Lane, if you don't stand up by the count of 10 you're out, which makes him both fascinating and exasperating, a man resolute enough to live his life in black and white, while most of the rest of us just try to shadow box through the shades of gray.--Jeff Silverman