John Roby

John Roby

Fort Dodge native and former professional boxing champion John Roby announced that a new book is being written about him.

It is tentatively titled “The Life After Boxing: The John Roby Story.”

It is a followup to his 2022 biography “The Belt of Wisdom.” The new book is expected to be published in the spring.

Since his boxing career ended, Roby has made a second career of talking to youth, encouraging them to keep going in the face of challenges. He sums up his philosophy as :”If you get knocked down, get back up. If you get back up, you’ve got heart.”

Roby began boxing when he was 16 years old and trained under the late Bud Fair, of Fort Dodge. After a successful amateur career, he turned professional and moved to Long Beach, California. He fought 48 professional bouts. In addition to the IBO super featherweight championship, late in his career he was the Capital Boxing Promotions super middleweight champion. He now lives in Des Moines.