'How to Survive A Knockout' Author Thanks Boxing For Boost

Republished With the Permission of Lance Pugmire

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, April 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Touched by too many lessons from too many sensational people in boxing, music and life, Mercedes Ganon decided to pass on the experiences in her newly released book, “How to Survive a Knockout.”

The Southern California-based sports marketing agent and singer who counted deep connections with the likes of Roy Jones Jnr, Joe Frazier, Angelo Dundee, Penny Marshall and countless musicians, penned her first work in the aftermath of the 2013 death of her fiance, the mixing/audio engineer and record producer Mike Shipley (AC/DC, Def Leppard).

“We were getting married. Instead, there was a funeral,” Ganon said.

Climbing off the emotional canvas required Ganon to lean upon the musings of the sage spirits she had lived alongside.

“Smile if your heart’s breaking,” was part of the sound advice, along with, “If you hold on for five more minutes, the sun will shine.”

Ganon’s decades-long run being “thrown into a sea of testosterone,” in boxing and gangsta rap included her push to help create the never-realized forerunner to the rash of novelty/celebrity fights by trying to arrange a boxing match between pound-for-pound great Jones and former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Before a falling out with Jones, she campaigned fiercely to help him land the HBO broadcasting deal, all the while standing as a close friend and confidant to Marshall, as they sat ringside at NBA games in Los Angeles following the massive success of the now-late actress’ (“Laverne and Shirley”) direction of “Big” and “A League of Their Own,” both starring Tom Hanks.

The daughter of an Israel Defense Forces sharpshooter, Ganon leaned on the hardness of her backbone to navigate the merciless businesses she said were fraught with “rats and poisonous back stabbers,” enduring to often cross paths with a wide array of uplifting, well-known, hard-driven personalities ranging from Mel Brooks to Ice-T to sports executive Lon Rosen.

“I pinch myself still every moment – the magical ride of music and never even expecting to get into boxing,” Ganon told BoxingScene. “Sixteen years of sitting courtside with Penny, and I would still sit there every night in awe. I was never desensitized.

“And overall, I will say the greater, grander and more legendary the people I met were, the kinder they were in so many ways.”

Ganon wound up befriending former Muhammad Ali/Sugar Ray Leonard trainer Dundee, and she later marketed his memorabilia upon his passing.

“I can recall arriving at the airport feeling [overwhelmed] like a complete loser, and after three days, I came out of there thinking I am Muhammad Ali,” she said of her time with Dundee. “Many times, I would tell myself, ‘Oh my God, you were born in a little beach town [in Israel]. What the hell are you doing here?’

“But the humanity we experience is amazing if we just stop and soak it all in.”

Ganon said possessing the instant recall of watching how legends including Magic Johnson and Floyd Mayweather Jnr conducted their business and lives has been an invaluable asset in moving through the world, including recent days following the February death of her father.

“It’s always, ‘What would Penny do?’ and one of her go-tos with me was, ‘Stop being so fucking nice. You’re like a Jewish Marilyn Monroe. You’re going to have to toughen up if you want to get rich,’” Ganon said. “She always thought of me as Little Miss Rainbow, but she loved me, and that was one of the biggest drives that got me to write the book. I wanted people to have those lessons.”

In working with then-retired heavyweight champion Frazier to pitch his life story to Marshall, he turned his famed six-knockdown loss to George Foreman into a life lesson.

“You just gotta get back up! You gotta get up and get the job done!”

Ganon’s closest working relationship was with the legendary Jones, but it lingers in a time of friction, with Ganon alleging she was unpaid for many services. Jones didn’t respond to requests made to his publicist for comment about Ganon and her book.

“There were a lot of magical times with Roy,” she said. “I waited and waited to release the book in the hope there would be a happy ending, because I worked so hard in promoting him to the world, and adored him for so long. Then, after years, I said, ‘That’s it, I’m going to just tell it like it is – raw and real.’

“My walking on this earth and my footprint is not one of a Tiger Woods’ chick. It’s just that somebody believed in somebody and was disappointed and betrayed.”

Jones worked with Ganon to stage his novelty fight against Mike Tyson, and Ganon said she’s proud to know the plans she crafted had the legs she imagined, as Jake Paul and others have cashed in handsomely on celebrity boxing.

“I wish I had gotten paid. I tried to create something that has been really great for boxing … I’m trying really hard not to be bitter,” she said.

“You know I did this, and others will now, too. But if I spend my life being bitter, I’ll just age and become a grumpy old chick.

“I take comfort in the fact I was part of history so many times, and that’s what propels this book – which is about coming back up each and every time life knocks you down in any way, shape or form.” Read the rest of this hard-hitting article at Boxing Scene - https://www.boxingscene.com/articles/how-to-survive-a-knockout-author-thanks-boxing-for-boost

Media inquiries, interview requests, and podcast bookings may be directed to:
Stephanie Hollings
SHollings@GreaterAndGrander.com

Additional Information:
How to Survive a Knockout is available on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-Knockout-Mercedes-Ganon/dp/1962984397
How to Survive a Knockout is available on Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-survive-a-knockout-mercedes-ganon/1147014545

More about Mercedes Ganon’s work can be found at www.JusDAmour.com - https://jusdamour.com/product/jus-damour-1-4-oz/

Follow Mercedes Ganon on social media:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mercedesmusic18/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mercedes.ganon

Stephanie Hollings
Greater & Grander Media Productions
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