3X World Champ

The thrilling true story of the rise and fall of a kickboxing legend in the notorious 1980s Miami crime scene . . . and the shocking end that that led him to a new life. From 1982 to 1987, Thaddeus J. “Ted” Pryor was the middleweight kickboxing champion of the world. But behind the scenes, he was a key player in the biggest marijuana trafficking operation in American history. As a renowned athlete, TV model, and bodyguard to stars like Elvis Presley, he drew the attention of the head of the Miami mafia. When the kingpin wanted protection—and some flash—he made Ted his personal intimidator, keeping the peace in the celebrity-drenched nightclub scene and beyond. But when the gangster blocked him from getting in on the big money of the smuggling business, Ted started his own. Three-Time World Champ tells the electric story of how Ted became the master of the run-and-gun smuggling business around the Caribbean islands, hustling in hundreds of millions of dollars in weed under the noses of cops and coast guard patrols—until a dubious traffic stop began the unraveling of everything. What began as easy money became a ringside seat to kidnapping, murder, police double-crosses, and a harrowing turn in prison. Three-Time World Champ brings readers directly into the action of neon-soaked, 1980s Miami, chronicling the rise and fall—and rise again—of an amazing man: a world champ of kickboxing and a world champ of smuggling who, in a wholly unexpected turn, becomes world champ of a business completely removed from everything that came before. It’s harrowing, it’s thrilling, and it happened just like this: the wild life of a Three-Time World Champ.