Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business

Boxing and the Art of Life

De: Ed Latimore

Narrado por: Ed Latimore

We’ve all got a choice. We can get better at fighting or worse at life.

Every day, we absorb body blows: some glancing, others that knock us to the mat. It doesn't matter how well-prepared or tough you think you are. Everyone, at some point, is hit with a haymaker from life. It's the cost of living. And just like in the ring, opting out of pain is not an option.

In Hard Lessons From The Hurt Business, former heavyweight boxer Ed Latimore takes listeners on a journey from his hardscrabble childhood in Pittsburgh's public housing projects to his signing with Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sport. With honesty and humor, Ed shares how the discipline of boxing served as his rite of passage into manhood and gave him the tools he needed to overcome his childhood trauma and the demons of alcoholism.

Ed’s story is one of learning the hard lessons of maturity in perhaps the harshest way possible—from the hurt business. It’s a story about finding self-mastery in the face of uncertainty, discovering the power of forgiveness, and embracing pain and adversity to design a life of purpose.

Like Ed says, “How we absorb life's blows and rally through bruised and bloodied rounds shows who we are at our core. We sacrifice, weep, heal, and carry on. In hardship, we transcend.”

©2025 Ed Latimore (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Must Read…Life Perspectives

This is not a standard “self help” book but definitely offers a lot of great insight on how to improve your life. This is a captivating story that allows you to understand the author without even knowing him. This book includes a lot of wisdom from lessons in life. It allows you to realize that every challenge, issue and set back in life can bring with it a lot good, if you choose to view it and accept it that way. It lead me down a path to hit the refresh button on a lot my perspectives in my life. Life will hit you hard but are you willing to hit back even harder to better yourself and improve your situation… this is a question I was let thinking about several times during this book.

Anyone Can Change Their Life If The Want It

This is a story of hope like you’ve never heard. A young man destined for a life of hardship and pain, Ed takes you back to what life was like in the projects of the inner city. The challenges that would keep most from aspiring to anything. An addiction that most would never beat. Ed Latimore is the real deal! Clean and sober and highly successful. This story is more than inspiring, it’s life giving. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be motivated to go after what life tried to take from you.

Amazing! Couldn’t stop listening!

Fascinating read! It’s like a 1990s gangster movie mixed with Tony Robbin’s level wisdom.

It’s raw, gritty, truthful, brutally honest. A real underdog story. Ed manages to create a new form of storytelling and style that’s never been done before and better than anyone else in the space.

I’ve listened to this twice already and it’s not enough. Now I’m ordering the hard copy.

An Everyday Hero

I was lucky enough to see one of Ed’s you tube videos and thought his audio book would make interesting listening.
It certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s amazing to think someone could go through this much disfunction and abuse and come out the other side a whole and healthy human. The story was definitely inspirational. It gives us hope in a world full of self agenda and leaders with misplaced priorities. I loved it!

Interesting, well narrated by author, Good pacing

I liked listening to the authors narration, and I have found the pacing to be great. It’s been both enjoyable and insightful.

Life’s Hardest Hits

The book is a mix between a memoir and motivational about an individual from Pittsburgh, PA who goes from a rough upbringing to a pro boxer to a math tutor and new father. It’s an inspiring story of ups and downs and relatable to those who grew up with absent parents and individuals struggling with addiction.

While the author narrates this book himself, the performance is slightly uneven as he works through pronunciation while others his words flow easily and clearly. It’s unclear if those latter segments were edited later but it’s the only mark against the book I have.

Otherwise it’s a real life boxing story that, while not a feel good story in the traditional sense, shows what a person can accomplish by not giving up to external obstacles or mental barriers.

I wasn't sure what to expect

When I saw Ed was promoting his new book, I decided to pick it up. However, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was worried it would be dry and similar to the myriad of self-help books I had already digested. Thankfully, that is not the case. There are lessons woven into the story, but the book doesn't try to beat you over the head with them.

One thing that shocked me about Ed's background was his childhood. I thought I had a pretty decent understanding of what it might have been like. But it was actually far worse. It's the kind of thing you would have a hard time imagining if you'd grown up in a relatively stable environment.

Despite the fact that Ed and myself come from very different backgrounds, I was excited to find out that we apparently have similar taste in Japanese RPGs on the PS1. That was a welcome surprise.

There are plenty of twists in the story of Ed's life. It was an entertaining listen and I am glad I bought this.