West Texas Middleweight is the story of LaVern Roach's all too brief journey from a West Texas amateur, to enlistment in the US Marines, where he captained the nations most successful military boxing team, to becoming a Madison Square Garden main eventer. He received the distinction of being named The Ring Magazine's "Rookie of the Year" for 1947 and was considered a top ten contender for the middleweight championship of the world. This book chronicles Roach's road to his final fight-and it explains why, as noted by legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee, "boxing changed because of LaVern Roach."