Boxing lost a true warrior and gentleman of the ring when the mayor of Managua, Nicaragua, Alexis Argüello, died in 2009. To millions in Nicaragua and around the world, Argüello was an iconic figure, a willing role model, and a shining light in a nation that places its sports figures on pedestals. Beloved Warrior explores the extraordinary rise, fall, and rebirth of this great fighter. With a career that began in 1968 in Managua, Argüello overcame early losses, including a knockout in his debut. He went on to win three world titles, relinquishing them only by moving up in weight class. While boxing until 1995 and reaping luxury and fame, Argüello never forgot his people. Using his skills and power, "El Flaco Explosivo" (The Explosive Thin Man) earned his lofty status as one of the most celebrated Latin American boxers ever. While Argüello's devotion to the sport cannot be challenged, questions about the man still remain. How did he rise from the streets of Managua to become one of the greatest fighters in the world? What happened to him after he fought Aaron Pryor, whom many considered the greatest 140-pounder in history? How was he affected by his time spent fighting against the Sandinistas? And finally, what is the story behind his mysterious death less than eight months after he won Managua's mayoral election? Despite Argüello’s notorious losses to Pryor, his remarkable career as an unforgettable fighter lives on in his fans’ memories. As Christian Giudice illustrates, Argüello’s status as a hero both in and out of the ring will forever remain intact.

A tribute to the life and words of 3 times World Heavyweight Champion boxer, Muhammad Ali. I Am The GreatestA" is a 48 page book of quotations attributed to one of the greatest sportsmen and biggest personalities of modern times, Muhammad Ali. From the moment he won the Gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, to beating Sonny Liston and becoming World Heavyweight Champion, through the epic fights with Joe Frazier, George Foreman and many more besides, Ali was never short of something to say. Often witty, sometimes profound, his hugely outspoken words carried as much punch as his actions in the ring.

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.

In its forty-year existence, the 5th Street Gym housed the training grounds for three of the greatest fighters the sport has ever known - Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and Sugar Ray Leonard - and became the locus for a grand total of fourteen world champions. The site was also a magnet for a wide range of international celebrities including Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, and Sylvester Stallone, who were all absorbed into the gym's legend. The 5th Street Gym's beginnings trace back to 1950, when Chris Dundee, along with his brother Angelo, began promoting big-time boxing at Miami Beach. ""Tales from The 5th Street Gym"" includes a wealth of never-before-seen photographs and is the first to chronicle the fascinating history of the 5th Street Gym from one of its insiders - Dr. Ferdie Pacheco - with crucial contributions from Tom Archdeacon, Angelo Dundee, Suzanne Dundee Bonner, Enrique Encinosa, Howard Kleinberg, Ramiro Ortiz, Edwin Pope, Bob Sheridan, and Budd Schulberg. Discover the secret history of one of boxing's most hallowed grounds, as Pacheco recalls the rise, heyday, and fall of the 'sweet science' at Miami Beach.

Boxing's greatest trainer reveals all

"The book is written in a highly conversational tone, and by the end the reader will know precisely what it is like to listen to the Bill Walsh of boxing hold court on the exotic art of the cornerman."
"--New York Times "Book Review

" H]ere's one for the fans: an as-close-up-as-you-can-get view of boxing's biggest, baddest personalities and poundings."
"-Men's Journal "

"The teaming of esteemed boxing trainer Angelo Dundee and Bert Randolph Sugar, perhaps the best boxing writer around, produces a lively and insightful look at professional boxing in the second half of the 20th century... His fascinating portraits of Ali, Leonard and Foreman make this a terrific read."
"--Library Journal"

"This book's appeal lies in Dundee's colorful and punchy personality, as he enlivens the prose with entertaining, Yogi Berra-like jokes, tautologies and euphemisms. It's no surprise that Dundee helped Ali develop his famous rhymes."
"--Publishers Weekly"

Angelo Dundee was named Manager of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association in 1968 and 1979. In 1994 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He continues to train boxers and has acted as ringside commentator for many televised fights.

Bert Randolph Sugar is the most recognized and well-known boxing writer in history. The former editor of Ring Magazine and Boxing Illustrated and publisher of Fight Game magazine, he has written dozens of books on boxing and is a regular ESPN sports analyst.

Born into a boxing family, the son of Mexican-born parents, Oscar "the Golden Boy" De La Hoya has lived the American Dream--achieving unparalleled success in everything from athletics to business, from the recording industry to numerous charitable ventures. The winner of six world titles and an Olympic gold medal, he has defeated more than a dozen world champions and has left a positive mark on the sport of boxing, inspiring many who had all but given up hope.

American Son is his story--a quintessentially American story--a frank, touching, and revealing memoir from one of the most celebrated fighters in the history of boxing. It is the thrilling tale of an immigrant's son--the chronicle of an amazing life's journey that offers new insight into the private world and remarkable career of a gentleman, an athlete, and a true national icon.

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) has always engendered an emotional reaction from the public. From his appearance as an Olympic champion to his iconic status as a national hero, his carefully constructed image and controversial persona have always been intensely scrutinized. In Muhammad Ali, Michael Ezra considers the boxer who calls himself "The Greatest" from a new perspective. He writes about Ali's pre-championship bouts, the management of his career and his current legacy, exploring the promotional aspects of Ali and how they were wrapped up in political, economic, and cultural "ownership." Ezra's incisive study examines the relationships between Ali's cultural appeal and its commercial manifestations. Citing examples of the boxer's relationship to the Vietnam War and the Nation of Islam-which serve as barometers of his "public moral authority"-Muhammad Ali analyzes the difficulties of creating and maintaining these cultural images, as well as the impact these themes have on Ali's meaning to the public.

"This compelling book forces us to rethink the history of cinema. Dan Streible's thought-provoking rediscovery of an entire lost genre of hundreds of early films reminds us how much we still do not know about the development of American movie culture. The fact that only a fraction of these forgotten films survive, and those mostly in fragments, makes this historical account of them all the more valuable."--Martin Scorsese
"Men in skimpy clothing engaged in the manly art of beating on each other became the cinema's very first movie stars. With masterful historical research in both film and sport history, Dan Streible's book provides the definitive account of the complex fascination these first films exerted, as prizefighting collided with early cinema and staged new battles over gender, race and class."--Tom Gunning, author of "D. W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film," and "The Films of Fritz Lang"
"'Sporting' men and curious women, slumming elites and working-class laborers, nativists and European immigrants, Great White Hopes and insurgent African Americans--Dan Streible's meticulous research brings to life the dynamic, overlapping, and often contentious public spheres that fight films pull into focus. Written in smart and straightforward prose, "Fight Pictures" combines new critical insights about early cinema's aesthetics of display and struggles for cultural legitimacy with the social histories of boxing and American modernity."--Jacqueline Stewart, author of "Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity"

Muhammad Ali memorably referred to Sugar Ray Robinson as the king, the master, my idol," and rarely a fight fan has chosen to argue too much with those words. With a career spanning three decades, multiple championships, over two hundred fights (without once taking a 10-count), and more victories than Joe Louis and Ali combined it was no surprise when RING magazine named Robinson pound for pound, the best boxer of all time." In Being Sugar Ray , acclaimed scholar Kenneth Shropshire contends that Sugar Ray Robinson's influence extends far beyond the ring. It was Robinson who introduced America to the athlete as entrepreneur and celebrity. From his business empire to his prized flamingo pink Cadillac, described as the Hope Diamond of Harlem, Sugar Ray was the trailblazer whom every athlete since has been trying, consciously or otherwise, to emulate.

Standing Eight is the stirring account of the life of current IBF Lightweight Champion of the world, Jesus Chavez. Born in 1972, Gabriel Sandoval, Jesus' real name, grew up in the impoverished city of Delicias, Mexico. At seven, he swam across the Rio Grande with his mother and younger sister to join his father, an illegal worker in Chicago. There Gabriel learned both English and boxing, eventually winning three Gold Glove championships. After serving jail time for robbery and being deported to Mexico twice as an illegal, he returned to the U.S. and now resides in Austin, Texas, where he plans to defend his title in November 2006.

Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell were must-see TV long before that phrase became ubiquitous. Individually interesting, together they were mesmerizing. They were profoundly different -- young and old, black and white, a Muslim and a Jew, Ali barely literate and Cosell an editor of his university's law review. Yet they had in common forces that made them unforgettable: Both were, above all, performers who covered up their deep personal insecurities by demanding -- loudly and often -- public acclaim. Theirs was an extraordinary alliance that produced drama, comedy, controversy, and a mutual respect that helped shape both men's lives.
Dave Kindred -- uniquely equipped to tell the Ali-Cosell story after a decades-long intimate working relationship with both men -- re-creates their unlikely connection in ways never before attempted. From their first meeting in 1962 through Ali's controversial conversion to Islam and refusal to be inducted into the U.S. Army (the right for him to do both was publicly defended by Cosell), Kindred explores both the heroics that created the men's upward trajectories and the demons that brought them to sadness in their later lives. Kindred draws on his experiences with Ali and Cosell, fresh reporting, and interviews with scores of key personalities -- including the families of both. In the process, Kindred breaks new ground in our understanding of these two unique men. The book presents Ali not as a mythological character but as a man in whole, and it shows Cosell not in caricature but in faithful scale. With vivid scenes, poignant dialogue, and new interpretations of historical events, this is a biography that is novelistically engrossing -- a richly evocative portrait of the friendship that shaped two giants and changed sports and television forever.