New Liverpool boxing book 'Graveyard of Champions' spotlights John Conteh

Stephen Barr’s *Graveyard of Champions* is now on sale, retelling Liverpool boxing history through the city’s two Liverpool Stadium sites and the fighters who filled them. (pitchpublishing.co.uk) (uk.sports.yahoo.com) Pitch Publishing lists the paperback at 240 pages, priced at £14.99, with a publication date of April 20, 2026. (pitchpublishing.co.uk) Barr’s book follows the original Liverpool Stadium in Pudsey Street, opened in 1911, and its successor in St Paul’s Square, opened in 1932. (pitchpublishing.co.uk) (liverpoolecho.co.uk) John Conteh is one of the central names in the book, and he wrote the foreword. The Yahoo version of the Liverpool Echo report said Conteh boxed at the St Paul’s Square venue and defended his world title there. (uk.sports.yahoo.com) Conteh remains one of the biggest figures in that story because he became Liverpool’s first world boxing champion in 1974 after beating Jorge Ahumada of Argentina. He also won British, Commonwealth and European light-heavyweight titles during his professional career from 1971 to 1980. (liverpoolecho.co.uk) The stadium itself carried the nickname that gives the book its title. Liverpool Echo’s archive says the St Paul’s Square arena was known as “the graveyard of champions” and staged its final boxing bill in 1985 before demolition in 1987. (liverpoolecho.co.uk) Barr’s account also reaches beyond title fights. Pitch says the book covers fighters including Nel Tarleton, Dom Volante, Dick Burke and Alan Rudkin, and Barr links the project to his own grandfather Dick Burke’s career. (pitchpublishing.co.uk) (uk.sports.yahoo.com) That local memory is being revived in more than one format. Good News Liverpool reviewed a new Royal Court Theatre biographical drama, *Conteh*, on April 27 and said the play follows Conteh through his mid-to-late career, including his battles with alcoholism after his rise in the 1970s. (goodnewsliverpool.co.uk) So the book arrives at a moment when Liverpool is documenting its boxing past in print, on stage and in public memorials. Last year, the Liverpool Echo reported that hundreds gathered in St Paul’s Square for the unveiling of a commemorative stone marking the old stadium site. (liverpoolecho.co.uk) For Conteh, the through-line is simple: the city’s best-known boxing venue is gone, but the stories tied to Pudsey Street, St Paul’s Square and his own title years are being retold again in 2026. (pitchpublishing.co.uk) (goodnewsliverpool.co.uk)