Next Round: A Young Athlete's Journey to Gold [Paperback]

Arthur Biyarslanovs journey to competitive boxing has not been easy. As a small child he fled Chechnya with his family, dodging bullets and rocket fire and fording a freezing river. As a young Muslim refugee he faced hardships and hostility in his new homes in Azerbaijan and Toronto. Soccer became his refuge, and he learned two languages by playing the game with his new friends. In Toronto, he joined a league and quickly became their star player. A broken leg left him weakened and he turned to boxing to keep his strength up. Soon it became his new love. After many hours of hard work, he started to win his bouts. And by the age of twenty the Chechen Wolf was a champion amateur boxer, winning gold for Canada, his new homeland, at the 2015 Pan Am Games. That medal earned him a shot at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeirothe next round for this talented boxer and determined survivor.This is a true story, and also a very exciting one. My favourite character in this book is...Arthur, of course! And my favourite part of this book is when Arthur faced Zsolt, another boxing champion, for the first time. That was a really exciting part...I give this book FIVE STARS cause it was entertaining the whole entire time. I recommend this book to kids who want to be athletes and boxers when theyre older, and kids who like action stories and sports.[Next Round is] a good read, approximately 104 pages in total. Its got very sharp black and white pictures with a brilliant, colour photo-essay in the middle... It tells you a lot about Arthur, whos very charismatic, but also a quiet kind of guy who works extremely hard& As we all know, theres not much coverage of Canadian athletes, much less Canadian boxers, so I think this book is a brilliant, brilliant play&good on you John Spray, good on you Arthur Biyarslanov&This book is a great promotional item and a fantastic idea.John Spray writes an engaging story that pulls us in from the first page...Readers will find themsellc8