Jock McAvoy was influenced by his poor 1930s background. A ferocious fighter, a special kind of person who fought hard to give his family a better standard of living. Many older boxing journalists believe that the romance of the ring and its hungry exponents rest, almost entirely, in the years gone by. The 1930s were, without doubt, the greatest period in British boxing history. On the social side, this period was hard and desolate: there was no welfare state, conditions of employment for this generation were oppressive, everyone worked for wages that allowed no margin for illness. If a man didn't work, he and his family went hungry. Man was at his best when up against it and thousands fought to put food on the table for their families. "McAvoy: Portrait of a Fighting Legend" lays not only a man but an era to rest.