“IT SEEMS to be very popular with the female readers,” smiles Bobby Vanzie with a glint in his eye.

Snakes and Ladders, the autobiography taken from his fighting nickname of the Viper, is not your standard sportsman’s book.

Bradford’s former British and Commonwealth lightweight boxing champion certainly pulls no punches as he bares all about his life in and out of the ring.

All the big fights are there, Stephen Smith, Wayne Rigby, Graham Earl, and the background politics with the likes of Frank Warren and the Italian promoters who denied him the shot at the European title that he had earned.

But the most explosive stuff is what was going on behind the boxing; the inner turmoil, the promiscuity, the wild lifestyle that shaped one of the city’s most complex sporting characters.

Flash in the ring, full on outside of it; it’s a story that is not the faint-hearted.

From sporting glory to divorce, sex addiction, prison, mental breakdown and religious awakening – every high matched by a plummeting low.

Vanzie recalls the wise words of his first amateur trainer at Bradford’s Karmand Centre. Bill Carris, whose death hit him hard, did more than anyone to shape his future career path.

“Always keep your feet on the ground Bobby,” said his mentor when he first turned pro. “No matter how high you ever get in life, always remember you can fall right back to the bottom again.

“Do you know why they couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again? Because he fell from such a great height.”

Vanzie scorned the warning at the time. Looking back now, he sees exactly where Carris was coming from.

Snakes and Ladders is officially launched today at the Leicester Social Club, Leicester Street in Bradford. It is available via Amazon as well as for Kindle.