Here was a young black boy who faced the hourly life-and-death reality of growing up in a humble town on the South Africa–Zimbabwe border, with the edifice of apartheid beginning to crumble in South Africa and civil war raging in Zimbabwe. He only ever started fighting to protect himself, his parents and his siblings. But he became so good at boxing, he became a triple world champion! Lovemore did not get the opportunity to go to school until he was nine years of age, yet he was committed to educating himself and making the most of his life and epitomised the value of education. Today, he is a successful lawyer with a thriving legal business in Sydney, and with no fewer than seven university degrees to his name. Like he did as a boy trying to protect his family, Lovemore is today committed to helping as many people as he can. As a child growing up in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Lovemore Ndou experienced poverty and the injustices of the apartheid system, witnessed atrocities committed against his family and community, was a victim of police brutality and saw his best friend gunned down in a street protest. Yet, against all odds, Lovemore succeeded and rose through the ranks to become a boxing world champion and then a successful law- yer, while making Australia his home. In Tough Love Lovemore Ndou evocatively recalls the many challenges he has over- come on his journey and his ultimate triumph through hard work, dedication, resilience and persistence.
