Tara Murray
Ivan Rukavina has swapped the boxing ring for the literary world, writing a book about his boxing journey.
Born in Croatia before moving to Australia, Rukavina was one of Australia’s top boxers in the 1980s and 1990s, winning Australian titles.
He headed to America to try his luck and lived there for nine years before coming back to Australia.
Later settling in St Albans, Rukavina decided several years ago to put his journey into words.
His story is filled with incidents of humour, romance, failure and disappointment, as well as a fighting spirit both in the ring and outside it.
Another former Australian boxer, Barry Michael wrote the introduction for the book, calling Rukavina a world class boxer and a man of principle and his word.
Rukavina said he was looking forward to launching the My Fighting Life, which is available in both English and Croatian.
The book is being launched at the Melbourne Knights Soccer Club on Friday.
