The Bull-Dog Breed (You Got to Kill a Bull-dog)

A sailor's devotion to his bulldog becomes a matter of honour settled in the boxing ring. Steve Costigan, an American seaman and prize fighter, refuses to yield when that loyalty is challenged, carrying the stubborn spirit of his companion into a contest where courage must withstand punishment. Told in Steve's own strongly colloquial vernacular, the story speaks with the blunt confidence of shipboard life and the immediacy of a fighter describing events on his own terms. In Hong Kong, the sailor-boxer faces an opponent whose speed, skill and technique threaten to outmatch raw durability. The contest draws its force from that sharp opposition: precision against persistence, superior craft against the capacity to absorb pain and keep advancing. Rather than treating prize fighting as a simple display of strength, this work of boxing fiction tests how long pride, personal honour and determination can survive exhaustion and repeated setbacks. The recurring idea of the "bulldog breed" binds the maritime adventure to its central human-and-animal loyalty. Steve's toughness is not presented as invulnerability, but as an insistence on moving forward when the body has every reason to stop. His sailor's voice, the seafaring setting and the formal challenge of the ring give the short story a distinctive identity, while its compact form keeps attention fixed on endurance under physical hardship. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.