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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence > Boxing
This is the complete story of boxing from the pugilists of the
classical amphitheatres to the heroes of today. This is the
ultimate companion for any serious fight-fan. The Champions
includes illustrated biographies of Corbett, Sullivan, 'Kid' Lewis,
Dempsey, Tunney, Freddie Mills, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Henry
Cooper, Muhammad Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes, Bruno, McGuigan,
Hagler, 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson and many others.
This guide to the finer points of boxing provides the wisdom needed
to make the transition from enthusiastic beginner to proficient
pugilist. The ABCs of ring generalship, offensive and defensive
ring movements, feints, and draws and fakes are examined and
explained along with clinching techniques, head-hunting, body work,
and counter-punching chains. Strategies for boxing against tall and
short opponents as well as for a variety of fighting styles such as
charger, speed-demon, stick-and-move, and slugger and brawler are
discussed in detail. Specific drills focus on sophisticated ring
stratagems such as throwing complex combinations, cutting off the
ring, fighting off the ropes, generating power, and cornering an
opponent are included.
There has always been a great boxing tradition in Newport and the
valleys of Monmouthshire, but recently the area has excelled
itself. Over the last two decades, no fewer than four world
champions have been groomed in local gyms. Robbie Regan, Gavin
Rees, Nathan Cleverly and the incomparable Joe Calzaghe may be the
stand-out achievers featured in this book, but they are far from
the only stars remembered here. Johnny Basham and the `Maesglas
Marciano', Dick Richardson, lead the way for the city on the Usk,
while there are many others who have worn the Lonsdale Belt or
claimed Commonwealth Games medals. And the changing face of boxing
is epitomised by Ebbw Vale girl Ashley Brace, the first woman to
top a professional bill in Wales - and the first to win an
international title. Some 70 boxers are pictured and profiled. Any
fight fan, whether a `Gwentie' or not, will enjoy this book.
The 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, staged in
the young nation of Zaire and dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle, was
arguably the biggest sporting event of the twentieth century. The
bout between an ascendant undefeated champ and an outspoken master
trying to reclaim the throne was a true multimedia spectacle. A
three-day festival of international music-featuring James Brown,
Miriam Makeba, and many others-preceded the fight itself, which was
viewed by a record-breaking one billion people worldwide. Lewis A.
Erenberg's new book provides a global perspective on this singular
match, not only detailing the titular fight but also locating it at
the center of the cultural dramas of the day. TheRumble in the
Jungle orbits around Ali and Foreman, placing them at the
convergence of the American Civil Rights movement and the Great
Society, the rise of Islamic and African liberation efforts, and
the ongoing quest to cast off the shackles of colonialism. With his
far-reaching take on sports, music, marketing, and mass
communications, Erenberg shows how one boxing match became nothing
less than a turning point in 1970s culture.
Darren and Gary Barker were the Fabulous Barker Boys. As amateurs,
Darren won a Commonwealth Games gold medal while Gary, four years
younger, won a Junior Olympic Games title.Then sadly, cruelly,
Gary's life was cut short in a car accident when he was just 19,
devastating the Barker family. Darren could not face boxing
again.Inspired, however, by a brilliant therapist and mentored by a
sympathetic trainer in Tony Sims, who had his own story of tragedy
and loss, Darren got back into the ring and worked his way up to a
world title shot. After first losing to the legendary Argentine,
Sergio Martinez, and undergoing two hip operations, Darren finally
returned to Atlantic City to wrest the IBF world title from the
Australian Daniel Geale. A DAZZLING DARKNESS is written in
collaboration with Ian Ridley, Sports Journalist of the Year in the
British Press Awards 2007 and author of the best-selling Addicted,
the autobiography of the former Arsenal and England captain Tony
Adams. It is story of triumph out of tragedy, hope from despair,
achievement from adversity.
Growing up on one of Scarborough's toughest estates, Paul Ingle
pulled on his first pair of boxing gloves at the age of seven.
Known by fans, foes and friends as 'The Yorkshire Hunter' he fought
almost 200 times as an amateur, representing his country in every
major international tournament and, in November 1999, beat Manuel
Medina for the IBF featherweight world title. Months later, in
front of a packed crowd at Madison Square Garden, Paul came off the
canvas and stopped Junior Jones in an eleven-round epic to add the
IBO belt. In December 2000, he fought Mbulelo Botile in what ought
to have been a straightforward defence. But then, knocked down in
the twelfth, Paul was rushed to hospital where he had emergency
surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. The Yorkshire Hunter
tells the story of an endearing and enduring man who never left his
roots. With a foreword by Kellie Maloney, this is the tale of a
fighter whose fiercest battle came outside the ring.
Hats, Handwraps and Headaches is the inspiring, surprising and
sometimes shocking story of Irish boxing coach Paddy Fitzpatrick, a
failed pro boxer who was almost a Foreign Legionary before finding
fame as a trainer of world-class fighters. After struggling as a
young adult and attempting suicide, Paddy's life was transformed by
a chance meeting with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. Paddy
moved to LA to learn his trade at Roach's Wild Card gym, working
with the likes of world champions James Toney and Laila Ali, and
spending time with Laila's legendary father Muhammad Ali. Back in
England, Paddy used the things he had learnt to take George Groves
to three world title fights, including the return super-fight with
Carl Froch, which drew 80,000 fans to Wembley Stadium. Filled with
astonishing anecdotes - like the time Paddy took shots from a
Heavyweight contender and a near-miss with a grizzly bear - Hats,
Handwraps and Headaches is funny and poignant in equal measure,
with riveting tales from both sides of the Atlantic.
A Social History of Sheffield Boxing combines urban ethnography and
anthropology, sociological theory and place and life histories to
explore the global phenomenon of boxing. Raising many issues
pertinent to the social sciences, such as contestations around
state regulation of violence, commerce and broadcasting, pedagogy
and elite sport and how sport is delivered and narrated to the
masses, the book studies the history of boxing in Sheffield and the
sport's impact on the cultural, political and economic development
of the city since the 18th century. Interweaving urban anthropology
with sports studies and historical research the text expertly
examines a variety of published sources, ranging from academic
papers to biographies and from newspaper reports to case studies
and contemporary interviews. In Volume I, Bell and Armstrong
construct a vivid history of boxing and probe its cultural
acceptance in the late 1800s, examining how its rise was
inextricably intertwined with the industrial and social development
of Sheffield. Although Sheffield was not a national player in
prize-fighting's early days, throughout the mid-1800s, many
parochial scores and wagers were settled by the use of fists. By
the end of the century, boxing with gloves had become the norm, and
Sheffield had a valid claim to be the chief provincial focus of
this new passion-largely due to the exploits of George Corfield,
Sheffield's first boxer of national repute. Corfield's deeds were
later surpassed by three British champions: Gus Platts, Johnny
Cuthbert and Henry Hall. Concluding with the dual themes of the
decline of boxing in Sheffield and the city's changing social
profile from the 1950s onwards, the volume ends with a meditation
on the arrival of new migrants to the city and the processes that
aided or frustrated their integration into UK life and sport.
This is the most thoroughly researched boxing-detailed biography of
James J. Corbett's career ever written. It reveals new dates,
bouts, and facts, shedding fresh light on his experience, skills,
and ability. It meticulously describes his bouts and provides
multiple viewpoints by local next-day newspapers, giving it
unparalleled authenticity and accuracy. The exhaustive research
provides an encyclopedic wealth of knowledge about Corbett's boxing
career. His bouts are placed into social, legal, racial, and
historic contexts, including anti-prize-fight laws and the color
line. Corbett's complete career record is included, as well as 53
photos, 813 footnotes, a bibliography, and an index. Adam J.
Pollack is the author of boxing biographies of John L. Sullivan,
James J. Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Jeffries, Marvin Hart,
and Tommy Burns. He is a member of the Boxing Writers Association
of America, Cyberboxingzone.com, and is an attorney practicing in
Iowa City, Iowa. Adam was a guest lecturer on the career of John L.
Sullivan for the Whitehall lecture series at the Flagler Museum in
Palm Beach, Florida, and also an interviewee in the documentary
film on James J. Corbett, The Gentleman Prizefighter.
Casual observers of the Welsh boxing scene might well think that
the best practitioners of the sport have all hailed from the
valleys and coastal cities of the south. But the rural counties
have contributed their share to the nation's fistic history. In the
high-profile heavyweight division alone, the area covered by this
book has produced two British champions and another who contested
the title. Others have worn and challenged for Lonsdale Belts at
lower weights. The first British boxer ever to win a medal at the
world amateur championships can be found between these covers,
along with the incredible youngster who was ranked in the world's
top 10 by the American Ring magazine when he was just 16 years old.
This volume, packed with photographs - many published for the first
time - profiles more than 50 boxers from the bare-knuckle era to
stars of the present and future. It is a must-read for any fight
fan, whether from Wales or further afield.
Alan Scott Haft provides the first-hand testimony of his father,
Harry Haft, a holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance,
desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a sixteen-year-old
Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to
fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse
entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own
survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the
inhumanity of the ""sport"" in which he must perform in brutal
contests for the officers. Ultimately escaping the camp, Haft's
experience left him an embittered and pugnacious young man.
Determined to find freedom, Haft traveled to America and began a
career as a professional boxer, quickly finding success using his
sharp instincts and fierce confidence. In a historic battle, Haft
fights in a match with Rocky Marciano, the future undefeated
heavy-weight champion of the world. Haft's boxing career takes him
into the world of such boxing legends as Rocky Graziano, Roland La
Starza, and Artie Levine, and he reveals new details about the
rampant corruption at all levels of the sport. In sharp contrast to
Elie Wiesel's scholarly, pious protagonist in ""Night"", Harry Haft
is an embattled survivor, challenging the reader's capacity to
understand suffering and find compassion for an antihero whose will
to survive threatens his own humanity. Haft's account, at once
dispassionate and deeply absorbing, is an extraordinary story and
an invaluable contribution to Holocaust literature.
"With deadpan humor, whip-smart insights and some damn fine
sentences, Charles Farrell has written a classic chronicle of life
in the twilight world, on par with masters of the genre like Damon
Runyon, Mezz Mezzrow, Nat Hentoff and Nick Pileggi. A truly great
read."-Debby Applegate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Most
Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, and
author of Madam: The Life of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz-Age A
world-class jazz pianist, Charles Farrell made his living working
Mob clubs from the time he was a teenager in the 1960s. He later
moved from music to the complex world of professional boxing,
managing dozens of fighters, including former heavyweight champion
Leon Spinks and former gang leader Mitch "Blood" Green, who
famously went toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson-once in the ring and once
in the street. A fight-fixer and gangster, Farrell ran afoul of New
York mobsters in the 1990s and retreated to the mountains of Puerto
Rico, coming home only after an infamous boxing legend brokered his
safe return. Retired from the fight game, he returned to jazz and,
among other collaborators, played frequently with his friend
Ornette Coleman, the godfather of "Free Jazz" and one of the
greatest musicians of the twentieth century. (Low)life is a
singular book by a singular man.
The first world title fight in Wales featured Swansea lightweight
boxer, Ronnie James, and the city produced another three
challengers at the highest level before Enzo Maccarinelli finally
reached the pinnacle. Colin Jones, Brian Curvis and Floyd Havard
were far from the only top-class exponents of the boxer's craft to
emerge from Wales's second city. And the rival conurbation across
the Loughor Bridge has contributed its share of stars to the fistic
firmament. As well as two-weight British champion Robert Dickie and
the legendary Gipsy Daniels, who once knocked out the great Max
Schmeling inside a round, Llanelli gave birth to the man who
codified the laws by which the sport is regulated, famous under the
name of his patron, the Marquess of Queensberry. Some 50 boxers are
profiled in these generously illustrated pages. Whether or not you
hail from the area, if you are a fight fan, this book will make a
worthy addition to your shelves.
This absorbing book unravels the reasons for the enduring respect
and reverence that Muhammad Ali commands long after the end of his
athletic career. It will appeal to those teaching and studying
cultural studies, social theory, sports studies, and sociology, as
well as to general readers interested in Muhammad Ali.
A probing account of Muhammad Ali's life, which also examines the
man's celebrity and his importance in global history.
The first book to unravel the reasons for the enduring respect and
reverence that Muhammad Ali commands long after the end of his
athletic career.
Traces the key controversies and significant events, from Ali's
first announcement of his membership in the Nation of Islam,
through his courageous refusal to fight in Vietnam, to his
spiritual calm in the face of crippling disease.
Offers an original and compelling theory of the celebrity in
postmodern society.
Wales has always punched above its weight in the boxing ring. The
United States, with 100 times the population, may have been the
dominant player in the sport, but St David has done remarkably well
against Goliath over the 120 years since the first bout in 1894.
The Americans drooled over Jim Driscoll, the man dubbed 'Peerless'
by the gunfighter-turned-journalist, Bat Masterson, while Jimmy
Wilde also demonstrated his right to be considered one of the
greatest of all time. Freddie Welsh even based himself in the
States for most of his career, although he claimed the world
lightweight title from Willie Ritchie in London, with both men
having to cross the Atlantic. In more recent years, Joe Calzaghe's
masterclass against Jeff Lacy finally convinced the American
doubters, before he completed his unbeaten career by beating
legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, Jr, in front of their own
people. This book, while giving those bouts their due, looks at
dozens of other contests between the two nations, covering more
than a century, revealing some of the tales behind the headlines.
Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize In this groundbreaking new
book, Thomas Page McBee, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity
match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the
vexed relationship between masculinity and violence. Through his
experience of boxing - learning to get hit, and to hit back;
wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the
betrayals and strength of his own body - McBee examines the weight
of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and the
limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration
of gender in our society, Amateur is ultimately a story of hope, as
McBee traces a way forward: a new masculinity, inside the ring and
out of it. A graceful and uncompromising exploration of living,
fighting and healing, in Amateur we gain insight into the
stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the
eyes of a new man.
In this poignant, deeply moving book, Muhammad Ali shares the
beliefs he has come to live by and which he has passed on to his
children. Some of the wisdom is his own; some comes from the
teachings of true Islam, from his spiritual studies, and from
people he has met in the course of his extraordinary life. Here, as
he recalls his relatively impoverished early days as a young
warrior in Louisville, Kentucky, and his meteoric rise to fame as
Heavyweight Champion of the World, a title he won three times, he
tells of the many battles he won and lost, both inside and outside
the ring, his conversion to Islam in the 1960s and the many life
lessons he learned along the way. Now, working tirelessly as a
worldwide ambassador for peace, he talks of the damage caused when
religion is used to tear people apart, the essential need for unity
in this troubled world, and how his faith sustains him on this, the
most important journey of his life - the journey to forgiveness and
peace. includes a selection of exclusive photographs) All draws
upon his rich reserve of notes, tapes and journals, and writes with
compassion, warmth and, of course, humour on how we can liberate
mind, body and spirit when we pursue and embrace the one essential
truth - love. As he says, 'It is after I retired from boxing that
my true work began. I have embarked on a journey to love.'
A stroll around Merthyr town centre demonstrates the importance of
the fight game in the borough's history. Where else on the planet
can you find no fewer than three statues of boxers? A must-buy for
all fight fans this book tells the stories of some 50 fighters who
have made their mark to varying degrees over the past century and a
half. Some are known world-wide, such as the occupants of those
plinths - Howard Winstone, Johnny Owen and Eddie Thomas - others
were local legends, such as the king of the cobbles, Redmond
Coleman, and the man whose skin colour robbed him of the chance of
greatness, Cuthbert Taylor. The neighbouring Taff Valley towns of
Aberdare and Pontypridd also contribute their heroes including
little Dai Dower, who won British, Empire and European titles in
less than five months, while Pontypridd folk are justly proud of
their world champion, Freddie Welsh, and the three Moody brothers,
who all won belts. With several dozen illustrations, some never
before published, this is recommended reading for all fight fans,
whether or not they have the good fortune to hail from the Taff
Valley.
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