Three-Time World Champ

The thrilling true story of the rise and fall of a kickboxing legend in the notorious 1980s Miami crime scene . . . and the shocking end that that led him to a new life. From 1982 to 1987, Thaddeus J. "Ted" Pryor was the middleweight kickboxing champion of the world. But behind the scenes, he was a key player in the biggest marijuana trafficking operation in American history. As a renowned athlete, TV model, and bodyguard to stars like Elvis Presley, he drew the attention of the head of the Miami mafia. When the kingpin wanted protection--and some flash--he made Ted his personal intimidator, keeping the peace in the celebrity-drenched nightclub scene and beyond. But when the gangster blocked him from getting in on the big money of the smuggling business, Ted started his own. Three-Time World Champ tells the electric story of how Ted became the master of the run-and-gun smuggling business around the Caribbean islands, hustling in hundreds of millions of dollars in weed under the noses of cops and coast guard patrols--until a dubious traffic stop began the unraveling of everything. What began as easy money became a ringside seat to kidnapping, murder, police double-crosses, and a harrowing turn in prison. Three-Time World Champ brings readers directly into the action of neon-soaked, 1980s Miami, chronicling the rise and fall--and rise again--of an amazing man: a world champ of kickboxing and a world champ of smuggling who, in a wholly unexpected turn, becomes world champ of a business completely removed from everything that came before. It's harrowing, it's thrilling, and it happened just like this: the wild life of a Three-Time World Champ.