Ring of Truth

British poet Scannell at first seems to be collecting every prize-fight cliche he can find, but his book and its characters soon come to life and the result is a stunning look at the boxing ""game.'' Dave Ruddock is world middleweight champion, happy with his placid wife Aileen and his life in Leeds. When he meets Judy Styles, a beautiful singer who was an unrequited childhood crush, they begin a torrid affair. His marriage is destroyed; Aileen finds solace in religion, and Dave manages to keep Judy as well as his training schedule for a big title fight with a rising American. After some hifalutin' initial talk about boxing (``heroic because it's pure''), the book provides a vivid description of the fight scene and one can believe in Dave's devotion to it. The characters are also convincing and interestingespecially Dave's mother, who thinks men's heroics, whether in the ring or the Falklands war, ``foolish.'' The climactic Big Fight, told in fairly gory detail, is gripping and the ending is wrenchingly bleak. February 12