Jarrod Tillinghast’s name has always meant violence. His father, a tough guy for the Patriarca crime family, was convicted of murder and imprisoned when Jarrod was young. In the decades that followed, Jarrod moved between the worlds of boxing and crime, earning a streak of wins and a reputation for a punishing left hook but then detouring into robberies, some of them brutal. Tim Struby lets Jarrod tell much of his own story, an approach that could lead to a lot of self-glorification. Instead, he manages a portrait of a fighter whose exercise of power has opened up new spaces for doubt—and, perhaps, transformation.
Jarrod didn’t disappoint in his pro debut. On a June summer night, fans flocked to the Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston. Not all of them well-wishers. “Not everyone loved Jarrod’s family history,” explains Burchfield, Sr. “Like Ali, half of them came to see him win, the other half to see him lose.” Jarrod’s opponent, Robert Jones, came out swinging. “He threw two punches,” explains Jarrod. “But I weaved back, threw a left hook, and BOOM. First punch of the fight. Twelve seconds and he was done. They heard that left hook in the top of the balcony.”
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