Binnie Klein’s BLOWS TO THE HEAD describes her journey, at age 55, from sedentary psychotherapist to boxer.

In which the author ponders how he wound up interviewing Mike Tyson in his Las Vegas home.

Alberto Brea explains that the greatest pride for a Cuban is being a father and a Cuban’s biggest disappointment is not having any ability to provide for his children. Havana and the story of her greatest boxer take over to fill in some more detail for Brin Friesen’s latest installment of The Domino Diaries.

With the American Dream having had its hand up the skirt of both Havana and Las Vegas, the latest chapter of The Domino Diaries looks at how Communism and Capitalism still masturbate to the same brand of porn: boxing. Our poor, confused author explores the tragic consequences this has on him.

Guillermo Rigondeaux, the most successful amateur boxer in the world, fails to show up for one of his fights at the Pan Am games in Brazil. It turns out he has attempted to defect before being caught and sent back to Cuba, where Castro has forbade him from ever fighting for his country again. A portrait of meeting him in Havana.

The sweaty towel is thrown in the ring on the final fight of the evening at the National Boxing Championships in Havana’s Kid Chocolate Gymnasium, unfortunately it turns out the towel belongs to a spectator who has struck the referee in the head and is being hauled off to jail for the offense. The Domino Diaries continues…

Fidel Castro banned professional sports in Cuba in 1962. His decree presented a difficult choice for boxers: stay in Cuba and fight for national glory or defect to a country where their talents could make them rich. Examining the lives of boxers who’ve defected as well as those who have remained, discover some of the possible reasons why.

“What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?” asked a Cuban boxing champion when offered five million dollars to fight Muhammad Ali. Brin Friesen, at the Cuban National Boxing Championships, looks at why any Cuban who wishes to disagree can only do so in a whisper.

A tourist and a local take a walk in the dirty realism of Havana and learn some sour truths along the way from a section of Brin Friesen’s The Domino Diaries.