Held on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium, the second Louis-Schmeling fight sparked excitement around the globe. For all its length-the fight lasted but two minutes-it remains one of the most memorable events in boxing history and, indeed, one of the most significant sporting events ever. In this superb account, Lewis A. Erenberg offers a vivid portrait of Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, their individual careers, and their two epic fights, shedding light on what these fighters represented to their nations, and why their second bout took on such international importance. Erenberg shows how in the first fight Schmeling shocked everyone with a dramatic twelfth-round knockout of Louis, becoming a German national hero and a (unwilling) symbol of Aryan superiority. In fact, the second fight was seen around the world in symbolic terms-as a match between Nazism and American democracy. Erenberg discusses how Louis' dramatic first-round victory was a devastating blow to Hitler, who turned on Schmeling and, during the war, had the boxer (then serving as a paratrooper) sent on a series of dangerous missions. Louis, meanwhile, went from being a hero of his race-"Our Joe"-to the first black champion embraced by all Americans, black and white, an important step forward in United States race relations. Erenberg also describes how, after the war, the two boxers became symbols of German-American reconciliation. With Schmeling as a Coca Cola executive, and Louis down on his luck, the former foes became friends, and when Louis died, Schmeling helped pay for his funeral. Here then is a stirring and insightful account of one of the great moments in boxing history, a confrontation that provided global theater on an epic scale.

The most bizarre world championship fight in boxing history was staged on St. Patrick's Day 1923, in war-torn Dublin. The winner in the ring, Mike McTigue, went on to run with gunmen, gangsters and racketeers in Jazz Age New York. A Bloody Canvas: The Mike McTigue Story tells the story of how Michael Francis McTigue left Kilnamona, Co. Clare, to seek fame and fortune in the United States, only for circumstances to bring him back to Dublin where he would win one of the strangest world title fights in boxing history. Set partly against the background of the Irish Civil War, it also tells of a bitterly divided people who managed to set aside their differences for twenty rounds of boxing before the guns started firing and the mines started exploding once more. But primarily, A Bloody Canvas is a biography. It tells how an ageing journeyman fighter found himself to be the right Irishman, in the right place at the right time. This is the saga of an underdog boxer laced with wrenching danger and a panoramic sense of life from late eighteenth-century rural Ireland to the Civil War, to the heady days of the Jazz Age in New York and the desperation of the Great Depression.

These gentlemen do not hesitate to take a serious look at the major fights of today, weigh the important factors, and make a prediction as to how the contest will proceed and who will win. This does not mean they are always correct. Who is? But in addressing how each combatant will fight his adversary, they are usually on target. In selecting the winner, again they are correct an uncanny number of times. So, it is quite interesting to see what they have to say in advance of a match and also in assessing the outcome. Their study of boxing is not limited to the present either. While they focus primarily on boxers after the year 1930, they are well-read and extremely knowledgeable about the old-timers that preceded these men, even as far back a the bare-knuckle fighters. I have experienced some challenging debates with Tom and Frank regarding several men in boxing history and, in some cases, I am hard-pressed to produce a decent argument in response to some of the points they emphasize. I have followed boxing for over 57 years now, ever since I was a child, eight years of age. subject--magazines, books and newspapers (from as far back as 1820). I have read what sportswriters, coaches, athletes, boxers, and fans have to say. In conclusion, I must say that Tom and Frank write with as much authority and in-depth knowledge as anyone I have read and exhibit in their writing the keen observation and analysis that is often lacking in the work of many others. The book makes for a good reader on the subject of boxing with short and easy to read essays that serve to whet the appetite of a boxing fan. Tracy Callis

"Lords of the Ring "revives the exciting era--now largely forgotten--when college boxing attracted huge crowds and flashy headlines, outdrawing the professional bouts. On the same night in 1940 when Joe Louis defended his heavyweight crown before 11,000 fans in New York's Madison Square Garden, collegiate boxers battled before 15,000 fans in Madison . . . Wisconsin.
Under legendary and beloved coach John Walsh, the most successful coach in the history of American collegiate boxing, University of Wisconsin boxers won eight NCAA team championships and thirty-eight individual titles from 1933 to 1960. Badger boxers included heroes like Woody Swancutt, who later helped initiate the Strategic Air Command, and rogues like Sidney Korshak, later the most feared mob attorney in the United States. A young fighter from Louisville named Cassius Clay also boxed in the Wisconsin Field House during this dazzling era.
But in April 1960, collegiate boxing was forever changed when Charlie Mohr-- Wisconsin's finest and most popular boxer, an Olympic team prospect--slipped into a coma after an NCAA tournament bout in Madison. Suddenly, not just Mohr's life but the entire sport of college boxing was in peril. It was to be the last NCAA boxing tournament ever held. "Lords of the Ring" tells the whole extraordinary story of boxing at the University of Wisconsin, based on dozens of interviews and extensive examination of newspaper microfilm, boxing records and memorabilia.

Based on the proven training methods of championship fighters and martial arts masters, such as Bruce Lee, this advanced guide will help you develop superior speed and reflexes. Regardless of your martial arts style or method...you cannot apply it successfully unless you can react quickly and respond instantly. Speed is critical for success in competition and self-defense. Razor-sharp reflexes are often the sole difference between winning and losing. J. Barnes, a mixed martial artist with more than 20 years experience, details how to use the innovative Speed Loop[ training system to breakdown and master the 7 keys to martial arts speed for self-defense and mixed martial arts fighting. You can double or triple your speed by using world-class training drills to isolate, transform, and integrate every component of Speed Loop[, including: [Visual Reflexes Improve your ability to spot openings and track movements. Exceptional visual reflexes allow you to recognize, track, distinguish, adapt to, and counter movements with precision and confidence. [Tactile Reflexes - Learn to instantly feel what the opponent is attempting to do by quickly interpreting the direction of his body force. Ninety-five percent of all fights end up in close range. Be prepared! [Auditory Reflexes - It is important to react quickly to what you hear. You can improve your auditory reflexes by enhancing your perceptive listening skills. [Adaptation Speed Learn to instantaneously select the perfect action in response to an attack or opening. Highly developed adaptation speed will allow your reflexes to carry out the movement selection process automatically. [Initiation Speed - It's not how fast you move, but how soon youget there that really counts! Train yourself to make your movements felt before they are seen by developing a flawless poker face and the ability to relax at will. [Movement Speed - Dont be concerned with demonstration speed. Your training should focus on developing the applied speed that will help you overwhelm and subdue an opponent in seconds. [Alteration Speed - Alteration speed involves the ability to quickly change directions in the midst of movement. Through mastery of body mechanics, you can develop the ability to stop your movement instantly]just in case you initiate a wrong move. [Hampering Speed - Speed Hampering is the ability to effectively slow down the opponents reaction time to your attacks. Skill in speed hampering can help compensate for what you may lack in movement speed. By focusing on the maximum development of each individual speed component, your training will be more efficient and effective. This will help you develop superior speed and reflexes in the shortest possible time. Use the proven Speed Loop[ training system found in this acclaimed guide and you will see a significant improvement in your total speed and reflexes.

Big city boy grabs scholarship to escape L.A. insanity to small-town America. Meets, wins, loses ?

Iron Mike collects the best writing on the tumultuous fifteen-year career of the most reviled and idolized athlete in the world, Michael Gerard Tyson. Since becoming, at age nineteen, the youngest heavyweight champion in history, Tyson's dramatic rise, fall, and continuing struggle has provoked more passionate writing, both in and out of the sports pages, than that of any other boxer since Muhammad Ali. Iron Mike is about more than boxing. Like no other athlete, Mike Tyson is at the nexus of America's cultural anxieties about race, class, masculinity, violence, and celebrity; like no other athlete his story of high drama and low comedy inspires writers to wrestle with these themes, with Tyson often no more than the occasion for the writer's own preoccupations. And Tyson has provided many such occasions: his rise to the Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship at age twenty-one; his rocky marriage to Robin Givens; his controversial conviction for the rape of Desiree Washington; his return to boxing and reclamation of the WBC and WBA belts; his biting of Evander Holyfield. Iron Mike is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a man who, for better and worse, is one of the most recognizable, popular, and defining icons of our time. The book includes selections from Joyce Carol Oates, Pete Hamill, Jose Torres, Pete Dexter, Phil Berger, Christopher Hitchens, Robert Lipsyte, Dave Anderson, Jonathan Yardley, Richard Rodriguez, Katherine Dunn, Budd Schulberg, William Plummer, David Remnick, Keith Botsworth, and others.

"Personally, I've got a lot invested in reaching my stunning current age, and I'm damned if I'm going to hang on to that youthful crap. (I liked the idea of being a sixty-year-old so much I started claiming that age before I turned fifty-nine.) Parts of it, I don't like--the loss of energy that seems its inevitable accompaniment, for example--but when I consider how I used to boil that energy away as a younger man, and the things I boiled it away on, I am happy to accept a shorter tether and a more reflective way of going at things."


John Jerome, author of such beloved books as Truck and Stone Work, entered his sixty-fifth year with a number of goals in mind: to battle the debilities of age, to master them through understanding when he could not physically defeat them, and to keep a journal of these efforts. As he puts it, "It was time to start planning an endgame."

The result is a warm, compassionate, and honest look at the twelve months that led him to the gateway of old age--a survey of this time of life which ranges from strict physiology to expansive philosophy, from delicate neurosurgery to rough weather on a Canadian canoeing trip, from the despair and isolation of illness to the love and comfort of a sound marriage. The writing, in its clarity, grace, and humor, matches its author's spirit. "The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our time," Jerome reminds us. Reading this wise and funny chronicle of one man's--and everyman's--journey toward citizenship, senior division, will be time well spent, for young and old alike. It is that rare kind of book which comes to life as a companion, and even a friend.


From the Hardcover edition.

"This is a surprising book, a terrific book. It's not about boxing, but about an odd, demanding world in which boxing is the thread, the key to existence. Wiley deftly broadens the delineation of this world and its people. Perceptive reporting is the foundation and perceptive reporting is rare enough. Wiley enhances it with clear, quick writing laced with humor and with a sensitivity that lends brilliance to this impressive work."-Robert W. Creamer, author of Baseball and Other Matters in 1941. "Ralph Wiley, with Serenity, has produced an original book about the ring. . . . He can dig beneath the surface and show us what really happened in a bout: why Thomas Hearns, with too much faith in his powerful right hand, lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in their first match. . . . Or why Roberto Durn was acting out of prudence, not cowardice, when he quit in his second fight against Leonard. . . . Yet the book is not really about boxing. Boxing in Serenity is what T. S. Eliot, speaking of plot, called the meat a burglar brings to distract the watchdog. The book is really about growing up in a world where you had to defend yourself physically to survive."-New York Times. "Wiley's rapport with boxers is profound."-Publisher's Weekly. "Wiley is one writer who really knows his way around a boxing ring. . . . He writes] with passion and understanding about complex, violent men and their oddly redemptive sport."-Booklist. Ralph Wiley is the author or coauthor of several works, most recently Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story.

*FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE BIGGEST FIGHTS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS* 'Essential reading for anyone with even a fleeting interest in boxing' Boxing Monthly 'Nobody knows British fighters and their stories better than Steve Bunce' Daily Telegraph Boxing is Steve Bunce's game. He has filed thousands and thousands of fight reports from ringside. He has written millions and millions of words for national newspapers previewing boxing, profiling boxers and proselytising on the business. He has been the voice of British boxing on the airwaves, both radio and television, with an army of loyal fans. And now it's time to put those many years of experience into penning his history of the sport of kings on these isles. It's Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing. Starting in 1970, the beginning of modern boxing in Britain, Bunce takes us from Joe Bugner beating Henry Cooper to an explosion then in the sport's exposure to the wider British public, with 22 million watching Barry McGuigan win his world title on the BBC. All boxing royalty is here - Frank Bruno taking on Mike Tyson in Las Vegas; Benn, Watson, Eubank and Naseem; Ricky Hatton, Lennox Lewis and Calzaghe; Froch and Haye - through to a modern day situation where with fighters as diverse as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, we have more world champions than ever before. And besides the fighters, there are the fixers, the managers, the trainers, the duckers and divers... Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing will have every high and impossible low, tragic deaths and fairy tales. It is a record of British boxing, British boxing people and fifty years of glory, heartache and drama. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ***** A fantastic history and a top collectors prize already... this book knocked me out in the first pages. ***** Must read book for boxing fans. ***** Been reading boxing books all my life, don't think I've enjoyed one more than this. ***** An absolute must for any British boxing fan.

Fifteen previously unpublished boxing pieces written between 1952 and 1963.
Demonstrating A.J. Liebling’s abiding passion for the “sweet science” of boxing, "A Neutral Corner" brings together fifteen previously unpublished pieces written between 1952 and 1963. Antic, clear-eyed, and wildly entertaining, these essays showcase a" The New Yorker" journalist at the top of his form. Here one relives the high drama of the classic Patterson-Johansson championship bout of 1959, and Liebling’s early prescient portrayal of Cassius Clay’s style as a boxer and a poet is not to be missed.
Liebling always finds the human story that makes these essays appealing to aficionados of boxing and prose alike. Alive with a true fan’s reverence for the sport, yet balanced by a true skeptic’s disdain for sentiment, "A Neutral Corner "is an American treasure.

'To be legendary you got to have heart... Ray's heart was bigger than all the rest' Muhammad Ali SUGAR RAY LEONARD was one of the greatest boxers ever. An artist and a showman he was always willing to take the difficult fight: his gruelling encounters with Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler have become legendary. Ray's autobiography takes you into the ring - with the mind games, brutality and euphroia. But, outside of the ring, Ray's biggest opponent was himself. From early domestic violence and sexual abuse to a blur of fame, sex, greed, drink and drug addiction at the height of his career that cost him so much, The Big Fight is a remarkable portrait of the rise, fall and final redeption of a true fighter in every sense.

WINNER OF THE AN POST SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022 The bestselling memoir of an Olympic champion is a knockout gift this Christmas! After Kellie Harrington won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the Irish public recognized her as not merely a sporting hero, but a deeply inspirational human being. Now, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely journey to the top, and of the many obstacles and setbacks she overcame along the way. Growing up in Dublin's north inner city, Kellie was in danger of going down the wrong path in life before she discovered boxing. The local boxing club was all-male and initially wouldn't let her join, but she persisted. She was not an overnight success. For years she struggled in international competition. At times she felt unsupported by the national boxing set-up. More than once she considered giving up the sport. But some spark of ambition and love for boxing kept her going, and gradually she made herself world class. Writing with Roddy Doyle, the award-winning author of The Commitments, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely rise to greatness and her continuing dedication to living a normal life - which has involved remaining an amateur boxer and keeping the job she loves, at a Dublin psychiatric hospital. She shares vivid and revealing details about being a woman in a historically male sport, and about how she manages her body and her mind. It is a vastly inspiring look inside the life and psychology of a woman who is both brilliantly ordinary and utterly exceptional. 'Her voice is so radiant' Sunday Independent 'The full Kellie experience, all heart and laughs and a mouth like a sailor' Malachy Clerkin 'A terrific collaboration' Books of the Year, Irish Times

Questions of class and gender in Appalachia have, in the wake of the 2016 presidential election and the runaway success of Hillbilly Elegy, moved to the forefront of national conversations about politics and culture. From Todd Snyder, a first generation college student turned college professor, comes a passionate commentary on these themes in a family memoir set in West Virginia coal country. 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym is the story of the author's father, Mike ""Lo"" Snyder, a fifth generation West Virginia coal miner who opened a series of makeshift boxing gyms with the goal of providing local at-risk youth with the opportunities that eluded his adolescence. Taking these hardscrabble stories as his starting point, Snyder interweaves a history of the region, offering a smart analysis of the costs - both financial and cultural - of an economy built around extractive industries. Part love letter to Appalachia, part rigorous social critique, readers may find 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym - and its narrative of individual and community strength in the face of globalism's headwinds - a welcome corrective to popular narratives that blame those in the region for their troubles.

Every Sunday for almost a century John Cann's family ran the famous snake show in a pit at La Perouse in Sydney - an area once alive with tiger, brown and black snakes. After growing up with over 300 'pet' snakes in their backyard, John and his brother George took over the snake show from their parents in 1965. By the time John retired in 2010, he'd survived five venomous snake bites. Many of those familiar with John and his shows wouldn't know that he was also an Olympic athlete, a top state rugby league player who played alongside some of the legends of the game, a state champion boxer, an adventurer and a world authority on turtles. The Last Snake Man chronicles John's extraordinary life and times. From wrangling snakes to chasing turtles, from remote country towns to the impenetrable jungles of New Guinea, this is the story of an amazing Australian and his never-ending search for fascinating animals and adventure.

Seven young women, all murdered in the most disgusting manner imaginable. Unimaginable, in fact: a first of its kind, and never before explicitly revealed. All the victims were prostitutes. All were dumped naked after having been stored by their killer as sex toys. Some of them were mothers. Each was someone's daughter. And for more than fifty years the author has lived with the haunting secret that he was once suspected by Scotland Yard of being a serial killer more depraved and dangerous than Jack the Ripper. In the killing-spree that lasted more than a year, the author had a mole deep inside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, similar to "Deep Throat" of Watergate scandal, who was drip-feeding him the step-by-step ploys to snare the monster who brought terror to the streets of West London. Hundreds of police women, posing as prostitutes, flooded the red-light districts, hoping to be selected by the killer - more hopeful, though, that the back-up would swoop to the rescue in time. At one point, Scotland Yard feared that a prostitute, missing for more than a fortnight, had become the eighth victim and appealed to the public for help. It took the author just eleven hours to track her down and hand her alive and well to the Murder Squad. When the killings stopped, the most senior member of the Murder Squad claimed that the serial killer had committed suicide and an innocent man was named in a deceitful cover-up. The author fingers the real serial killer, a celebrity and national treasure who died in circumstances arguably even more bizarre than the manner in which he murdered his victims.

"Hookers. Murder. Boxing. Author Patrick Connor lays out the promise of all three right there in the title of his first book, 'Shot at a Brothel'...delivering on the promise...Readers who want to see the Ali era from a less explored angle, with a story that stands on its own, are well served with this read."-Cliff Rold, Managing Editor, Boxingscene Oscar Bonavena remains a god in Argentina. Fighting as a heavyweight during the 1970s, the division's greatest era, "Ringo" battled titans like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. To resurrect his career, he moved to Reno, Nevada, and hooked up with a local pimp and gangster, Joe Conforte, who ran the infamous Mustang Ranch with his madam wife, Sally. Bonavena had some of boxing's best handlers, but none - from famous trainers to rich syndicates to the sport's top minds-could tame him. And no one could get Conforte and his whorehouse and ex-con goons out of Reno. Ultimately, Ringo plunged into a maelstrom of sex and mayhem-and he wouldn't get out alive. In Shot at a Brothel, Patrick Connor examines in riveting detail Bonavena's fast, turbulent life as well as Conforte's sordid past. Long overdue, here's the real story of how gangsterism, greed, and prostitution destroyed Argentina's greatest heavyweight. Shot at a Brothel: The Spectacular Demise of Oscar "Ringo" Bonavena is the sixth in the Hamilcar Noir True Crime series. Hamilcar Noir is "Hard-Hitting True Crime" that blends boxing and true crime, featuring riveting stories captured in high-quality prose, with cover art inspired by classic pulp novels.

The story of the relationship between the most devastating heavyweight boxer in history and the mentor who made him. When legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato saw thirteen-year-old Mike Tyson spar in the ring, he proclaimed 'That's the heavyweight champion of the world'. D'Amato played a huge role in Tyson's formative years, legally adopting him at age sixteen, and shaping him both physically and mentally after years of living in poverty. He would train the young boxer for several years, dying just months before Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. In Iron Ambition, Tyson shares the life lessons that D'Amato passed down to him and reflects on how the trainer's words of wisdom continue to resonate with him outside the ring. The book also chronicles Cus's courageous fight against the mobsters who controlled boxing, revealing more than we've ever know about this singular cultural figure.