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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence > Boxing
Although dramatic head kicks and garrote-tight submissions may get
most of the airplay in highlight reels, the stats show that
punching combinations and knockouts reap more MMA victories than
any other fighting technique. This boxing primer not only covers
the basics, including stance, footwork, punches, and combinations,
it takes these boxing skills and views them through an MMA prism
that addresses the realities of the mixed martial arts game. While
there are some must-know fistic skills for MMA, there are also more
than a few boxing tactics that will get you smashed in MMA. "Boxing
for MMA" builds on the good and tosses the bad, discussing the
differences in strategy and tactics when it comes to facing likely
MMA scenarios. Matchups covered include Boxing vs. Wrestling,
Boxing vs. Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing vs. Muay Thai, Boxing vs. the Slugger,
Dirty Boxing Inside the Clinch, and Boxing off of the Fence. All
the techniques are illustrated in hundreds of action-sequence
images, making this guide the go-to resource for blending boxing
skills into your fighting arsenal.
Boxing is not just fighting," writes Carlo Rotella. "It is also
training and living right and preparing to go the distance in the
broadest sense of the phrase, a relentless managing of self that
anyone who gets truly old must learn." Rotella's "Cut Time"
chronicles his immersion in the fight world, from the brutal
classroom of the gym to the spectacle of fight night. An
award-winning writer and ringside veteran, Rotella unearths the
hidden wisdom in any kind of fight, from barroom brawl to HBO
extravaganza. Tracing the consequences of hurt and craft, the two
central facts of boxing, Rotella reveals moving resonances between
the worlds inside and outside the ropes. The brief, disastrous
fistic career of one of his students pinpoints the moment when
adulthood arrives; the hard-won insight of a fellow fan shows
Rotella how to reckon with a car crash. Mismatches, resilience,
pride, pain, and aging - Rotella's lessons from the ring extend far
beyond the sport. In "Cut Time", Rotella achieves the
near-impossible: he makes the fight world relevant to us, whether
we're fans or not.
The hard-hitting, personal stories shared by some of boxing's
biggest names are presented in a series of short, sharp features in
Tales from the Top Table. Seventeen world champions are among the
main attractions. Delve deep into the psyche of the famous fighting
men and relive their experiences in the ring - the good, the bad
and the ugly. There are many fresh and surprising stories included
here, as these memorable anecdotes about the fighters' lives and
times were originally intended only for the ears of those in
attendance at the Bar Sport in Cannock - and could easily have
stayed that way. The bar's upstairs Premier Suite holds just 300
people but countless sporting idols have passed through its doors,
helping to put the Staffordshire town on the map. Now Craig Birch's
exclusive notes on Bar Sport's after-dinner speakers put you right
in the room. Every chapter is packed with the unique stories and
inside information from boxing's beloved aficionados. Foreword by
Richie Woodhall, former WBC super-middleweight world champion.
Successful Boxing is the ultimate training manual for aspiring
boxers. This indispensable resource shares tips and suggestions on
how to improve skills and maximize performance. With inspiration
and advice from World Champions Sergio Martinez, Saul Alvarez,
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and a foreword by legendary World Champion
Juan Manuel Marquez, using the information presented in this book
will be just like receiving private sessions with a coach or top
performer. These tips and training methods allow you to master the
individual nuances of boxing to give you the winning edge. Whether
you are new to the sport or a serious competitor, this book will
help you reach the next level of skill development.
Has everything been said about Muhammad Ali, once the most famous
man in the world? No. There is one special bout that has, over
time, been largely overlooked, where both the fight and shenanigans
surrounding it have never been fully examined. In early 1970, a
fight involving Ali was avoided by just about every city in America
- until Atlanta in Georgia decided to take a chance. They proposed
an Ali fight with 'Great White Hope' Jerry Quarry. The comparison
of Ali's comeback bout with that of 'Great White Hope' Jim Jeffries
and his return against Jack Johnson in 1910 was unavoidable.
Atlanta, once fertile soil for the racism, was inundated with
objections when a prize fight involving Ali, a black Muslim draft
evader facing a possible five-year prison sentence, was planned.
When the 'Black Mecca' of the South eventually put on the fight it
attracted not only Ali's legion of die-hard fans but also every
echelon of African American society. They came together to witness
the return of their fighting hero, but for some unlucky ringside
spectators the party spirit was soon replaced by anger, empty
pockets and rumours of deadly retribution. An after-party became
the scene of perhaps one of the biggest and most brazen armed
robberies in Atlanta's history. Ali's life would be forever linked
to the city that reintroduced him to the ring. Twenty-six years
later, the same city and same fighter would come together in one of
the most memorable moments in sporting history, when Ali lit the
Olympic flame in front of the whole world.
The Olympic Club was established in New Orleans in mid-1883 as a
gentlemen's athletic club catering to the city's expanding
immigrant population in the Third District, known then as the
Faubourg Washington, just downriver from the Faubourg Marigny.
Between 1883 and 1893 the club's membership grew from twenty-three
to nearly eleven hundred gentlemen engaging in a wide variety of
athletic and leisure-time pursuits ranging from target-shooting and
gymnastics to billiards and boxing. Members included city
councilmen and other politicians, bartenders and businessmen,
attorneys, physicians, and represented a diverse cross-section of
New Orleans society. By 1889, boxing was the single most popular
sport in the city and professional boxing was prominently offered
by the athletic clubs across New Orleans. At that time in New
Orleans, as indeed throughout the United States, there were
prohibitions against boxing and prizefighting. But in 1889 a
revised city ordinance and an equally nebulous state statute were
frequently tested by the Olympic Club to allow boxing events
sponsored by chartered athletic clubs. Thus began a transformative
process at the Olympic Club that propelled the club and New Orleans
into the spotlight as the epicenter of boxing in America. In a
brief four-year span between 1890 and 1894 the Olympic Club's
massive 10,000 seat arena was the venue for six world championship
title fights and seven national or regional title bouts. The most
famous of these events was the Fistic Carnival-an event in 1892
that featured three successive world championship title matches
over three successive days, culminating in the heavyweight
championship fight between John L. Sullivan and James J. Corbett.
However, increased competition, legal challenges, and a dramatic
shift in the moral standards in New Orleans saw prizefighting fall
into a precipitous decline, hastened by several deaths in the ring,
most notably that of Andy Bowen, the "Louisiana Tornado." By early
1896 the club went into liquidation, experienced a brief revival in
1987, only to end in a fiery inferno that reduced the country's
most popular prizefighting venue of the 19th century to a pile of
rubble and ashes. The Olympic Club of New Orleans provides an
in-depth chronicle of boxing in New Orleans during the latter half
of the nineteenth century, interspersed with brief vignettes of New
Orleans' history that helped shape the prevailing attitudes
influencing the rise and fall of perhaps the most famous boxing
venue of its day-the Olympic Club.
What is it about boxing that charms and bewitches us? John Wight
looks for the answer as he delves into the world of beautiful
brutality. Showing that boxing is fundamentally tied to the human
condition, he pulls back the curtains of his own masculinity to
reveal the insecurities, life experiences and vulnerabilities that
first drew him to the sport and have informed his engagement with
it over a 20-year period. While relating his experiences in boxing
gyms on both sides of the Atlantic, Wight reflects on the sport's
origins, analysing some of its most memorable moments and
characters. Through Wight's compelling memoirs we encounter some of
modern boxing's most fascinating figures, among them Freddie Roach,
Manny Pacquiao, James Toney and Scotland's IBF junior-welterweight
world titlist Josh Taylor. Straddling the line between nobility and
barbarity, boxing operates on a different moral and spiritual plane
than other sports. This Boxing Game explores why and how.
Sugar Ray Robinson was boxing royalty. King of the world.
Personality with a punch. Over 25 years he ruled three divisions,
from lightweight to middleweight. As a kid he had danced for
pennies on the streets of Harlem, and he danced again in the ring
from New York and Vegas to Paris and back again. The greatest
pound-for-pound fighter in history. After a brilliant amateur
career he turned professional in 1940 and won his first 40 contests
before Jake LaMotta snapped his streak of 123 fights. He was
unbeaten over the next nine years and would beat LaMotta in five of
their six fights, taking his middleweight title in the process. One
of Ray's toughest fights was with Uncle Sam over his $4 million
fight earnings. He built and lost a Harlem business empire before
retiring from the ring and entering showbiz. The great fighter
proved a philandering husband and a redundant father before
settling down with his third wife, Millie, in California where he
set up the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation, teaching kids about
sports and life.
Beginning in the late 1970s, "Gentleman" Gerry Cooney's
professional boxing career was marked by exhilarating fights,
exciting wins, and a powerful left hook. In 1982, Cooney landed a
lucrative match against world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes on
one of the biggest stages in championship boxing. Yet Cooney's
bouts in the ring were nothing compared to the inner turmoil that
he dealt with and eventually overcame. Gentleman Gerry: A Contender
in the Ring, a Champion in Recovery chronicles the career of a
boxing legend, the challenges and triumphs of a trauma survivor,
and an alcoholic's journey to sustained recovery. Gerry Cooney and
John Grady provide a detailed account of how the former contender
went from an abused childhood to becoming a two-time Golden Gloves
champion. More than just a biography, this book explores the
challenges of surviving difficult moments and overcoming obstacles
such as alcohol addiction. The authors also provide historical
perspectives of the era and behind-the-scenes insight into the
world of professional boxing. Complete with photographs from
esteemed sports photographer Joe DiMaggio and stories directly from
Cooney himself, this book offers an unprecedented look into
Cooney's life and the lessons he learned. Fans of boxing, as well
as sports enthusiasts and others recovering from addiction, will
find Gentleman Gerry a must-read.
March 2016: following a brutal title fight with Chris Eubank Jr,
former British champion Nick Blackwell ended up fighting for his
life in a coma. That night, victory was no longer important; boxing
was no longer a sport. Elliot Worsell, journalist and lifelong
boxing fan, had been ringside and in the dressing rooms at Wembley,
and what he saw and heard would transform his view of the sport he
loves and force him to question his own complicity. In Dog Rounds,
Worsell goes in search of boxers who have killed in the ring.
Spending time with these pariahs and returning to the venues in
which tragedies occurred, Worsell reveals the extent of the
devastation left behind. In doing so, he uncovers an incredible
story of guilt, forgiveness, obsession and violence.
Joe Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship longer than any
other fighter and defended it a record 25 times. During the 1930s
and 1940s, the owner of the heavyweight title belt was the most
prominent sports competitor not aligned with a team sport. In
addition, Louis helped make breakthroughs for African American
athletes and bridge the gap of understanding between whites and
blacks. During World War II he not only raised money for Army and
Navy relief, entertained millions of troops as a morale officer,
but became a symbol of American hope and strength. In a famous
speech Louis pronounced that the United States would win the war
""Because we're on God's side."" The simple phrase helped energise
the populace and some said that Louis ""named the war."" The
biography of Louis outlines his rise from poverty in Alabama to
becoming the best-known African American of his times and describes
how an uneducated man, simple at his core, became so articulate and
always ended up on the side of right in the battles he fought, with
fist or voice.
This book is a generous presentation of all of the figures and
events of what most consider to be the greatest era in boxing
history. The first chapter compares the seventies to all of the
other eras from Jack Johnson (1908-1915) up to the present day
Klitcko brothers. Through an established set of criteria, the
contention is proven that the seventies stands above all other
eras. Chapter two covers the tumultuous 1960s and the circumstances
that led to the blossoming of unprecedented competition. The
remaining ten chapters cover the years 1970 through to 1979,
reliving the rivalries, animosities and stories of an era that
produced such household names as Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton and
Holmes. It was a time when even those with no interest in sports
knew the names of these legends.
What were the ten most fantastic knockouts in boxing history? Which
pugilist had the greatest jab of all time? What were the sport's
most intense rivalries? Who scored the biggest upsets in the
sport's annals? Which fighters have the best nicknames? These
questions and many others are answered in this bold collection of
ranked lists from two of boxing's most popular commentators. Each
list has an introductory paragraph followed by a number of ranked
entries, with each entry featuring a brief explanation of ranking
plus entertaining and enlightening background information.
Also included are original lists contributed exclusive to this
book by more than 25 top personalities from boxing and beyond,
including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Oscar De La
Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, and more.
IT WAS past three o'clock in the morning when Joe Calzaghe
experienced the sweetest validation of his professional life.
Victory over Jeff Lacy, a 28-year-old American compared to a young
Mike Tyson because of his power and "take-no-prisoners attitude",
left no one in doubt about the world super middleweight champion's
talent. For years, Calzaghe's virtuosity remained a legend of the
Welsh valleys. His defeat in 1997 of Chris Eubank brought him to
prominence, winning for him the World Boxing Organisation (WBO)
super middleweight title. But despite a record number of defences
of the belt, his career lacked a defining contest. A long line of
challengers and ex-titleholders were disposed of but the biggest
names in American boxing avoided the ultimate showdown he craved.
Hand injuries further obscured the true level of his aptitude for
an art he began to learn from his father, Enzo, at the age of eight
when - inspired by Sugar Ray Leonard - a rolled-up carpet in the
family home in Newbridge became a makeshift heavy bag. This is the
story of Calzaghe's extraordinary life, from his humble beginnings
in his hometown of Newbridge, to his ascent to personal greatness,
becoming the first super middleweight boxer to win the prized belt
awarded by The Ring, the bible of boxing, in the division's near
20-year history. One of Britain's foremost sporting champions, a
warrior and working-class hero, this is the story of the triumphs
and trials that made Calzaghe a legend.
From Salford to St Louis, former professional boxer Wayne Barker
fought every man who ever challenged him. In this brutally honest
account of his eventful life, Wayne recounts how his parents left
him in the care of the travelling community, where he learned to
fight and journeyed throughout Britain and Ireland to take on
opponents for cash. After being charged with attempting to murder a
child killer, Wayne fled to America, where he found work in the
gymnasiums of New York sparring with the likes of world champion
Wilfred Benitez. His ability in the ring was noticed by promoter
Bobby Gleason, whose gym had been graced by legendary boxers such
as Jake LaMotta. Gleason set up a fight in Caracas between Wayne
and former super middleweight world champion Fulgencio Obelmejias
('Fully Obel'). Wayne's past eventually caught up with him and he
was deported to Britain, where he served time in prison. He
returned to the streets to earn a living from bare-knuckle
fighting, before becoming a trainer and running a gym. Cancer
claimed his life in 2012.
When Carl Froch defeated George Groves in their Wembley Stadium
re-match in front of 80,000 fans, it went down as the biggest fight
in British boxing history, cementing Carl's place as our greatest
boxer - a pure warrior who has never accepted the easy way. Carl
grew up a tough kid on a Nottingham estate, where boxing helped to
keep him out of trouble. His incredible natural ability soon led to
a world amateur medal before he turned pro and embarked on a long
journey with his mentor and corner man Rob McCracken. Carl's career
has always been defined by taking on the odds with blisteringly
tough fights. He was never scared to fight in someone else's
backyard and always faced the hardest opponents to prove himself -
Jean Pascal, Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward, Lucien Bute and his
incredible last round knock-out of Jermain Taylor. But of course he
will always be remembered for his showdowns with the great Dane
Mikkel Kessler and then George Groves, avenging his initial points
defeat by Kessler and finishing Groves for a second time with one
of the greatest punches in British boxing history. Froch was first
a local and now a national hero and here he tells the story of how
he fought his way through sheer guts and determination to the
summit of the boxing world. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE COBRA - NOW
FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED
A long-overdue tribute to legendary African American sportswriter
and boxing cartoonist Ted Carroll. Ted Carroll was one of the
greatest American artists and sportswriters of the twentieth
century, most notably as a boxing cartoonist and journalist. As a
Black man working in an era when boxing was one of the few outlets
where Black athletes could achieve wealth, success, and
recognition, Carroll's commentary on the sport provides a profound
perspective on race and the history of boxing. In A Boxing Legacy:
The Life and Works of Writer and Cartoonist Ted Carroll, Ian
Phimister and David Patrick celebrate Carroll's extraordinary
achievements as a sports cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and
writer. Beginning with an introduction to Carroll's life and times,
Phimister and Patrick then dive into Carroll's work, reproducing 44
of his best articles contributed to The Ring magazine--the bible of
boxing. Arranged thematically, each section of articles includes an
overview discussing the selections and providing valuable
historical context. Included in the collection is the significant
series "The American Black Man in Boxing," which explores race,
sport, and society. Ted Carroll's insightful articles illuminate
the place of boxing in twentieth-century sport and society with
incredible skill and care. The first extended account of Ted
Carroll's life and works, and profusely illustrated with his
brilliant drawings, A Boxing Legacy finally provides the deserved
recognition to a remarkable artist and author who has been
overlooked for far too long.
California's "Glamour Boy" and world champion boxer was a movie
attraction for women and a money-making draw for promoters during
the Great Depression. The Prizefighter and the Lady, in 1933, gave
movie-goers a boxer who could sing and dance. The film, climaxing
with Baer's world title fight against Italian Primo Carnera, was
reprised in 1956 in The Harder They Fall, with Humphrey Bogart.
Many said the sport would have died in the 1930s were it not for
the colorful Max Baer. He was a contender for every heavyweight
championship from 1932 to 1941. In 1935, Baer brought back the
"million-dollar gate" not seen since the 1920s. His battle with Joe
Louis was the highest gate of the decade. The star's radio voice
sold razor blades by the thousands and made Gillette into the
formidable company forever identified with boxing. Contrary to the
depiction of the champion dethroned by James Braddock in the 2005
movie The Cinderella Man, Max was not the villain, and the fight
was much more controversial in 1935 than the movie portrayed. This
is the first complete biography to cover Max Baer's boxing record
(adding 70 new bouts); his early family life; his film, stage,
television, and radio careers; and his WW II Army service.
Hugh McIlvanney is a living legend in sports journalism. A regular
winner of the fiercely contested UK Sports Writer of the Year
award, he also has the unique distinction of being the only sports
writer to have been voted Journalist of the Year. He is respected
for his incisive commentaries and perceptive analyses of football
and racing, but this collection contains the best of his writing on
his first great passion, boxing. The book features in-depth
analysis of the build-up, climax and aftermath of over 25 showdowns
including: Muhammad Ali vs. Henry Cooper (1966) Joe Frazier vs.
Muhammad Ali (1971) George Foreman vs. Ken Norton (1974) Eusibio
Pedvoza vs. Barry McGuigan (1985) Lloyd Honeyghan vs. Marlon
Starling (1989) Mike Tyson vs. Frank Bruno (1989) An essential read
for boxing lovers of all ages with writing so vivid that readers
will feel like they have a ringside seat.
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