Oscar Battling Matthew Nelson was without question the toughest and most durable professional boxer ever to enter a ring. Obscure, although he was selected by the Hall of Fame as part of their third induction class, unheard of yet often appropriately called the most hardwearing boxer in ring history, overlooked, yet many boxing historians rank him among the 100 greatest boxers ever. From the moment he set foot in the ring, he presented himself as a man's man, a Danish immigrant of integrity who never smoked, drank or took a dive, and in both his pugilistic exploits and his often very public behavior established a heroic image of himself as an athlete-a world lightweight champion-and sportsman, reporter, entertainer, real estate mogul, businessman and lady's man. As the first champion in his division to ever mount a comeback, he broke new ground, even if it wasn't always pretty, or ultimately successful. In the years since his death in 1954, there has been little disagreement over the significance of his life: A bona fide ring champion, whose endurance was second to none, and whose trilogy with Joe Gans was one of the greatest in sports history.

From the author of Paper Lion Stepping into the ring against light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore, George Plimpton pauses to wonder what ever induced him to become a participatory journalist. Bloodied but unbowed, he holds his own in the bout - and brings back this timeless book on boxing and its devotees, among them Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, and Norman Mailer. Shadow Box is one of Plimpton's most engaging portraits of professional sport seen through the eyes of an inquisitive and astute hopeful. From the gym, the locker room, the ringside, and even in the harsh glare of the ring itself, Plimpton documents what it truly means to be a boxer in some of the finest writing of his career.

Muhammad Ali was not only a champion athlete, but a cultural icon. While his skill as a boxer made him famous, his strong personality and his identity as a black man in a country in the midst of the struggle for civil rights made him an enduring symbol. From his youth in segregated Louisville, Kentucky, to his victory in the 1960 Olympics, to the controversy that surrounded his conversion to Islam and refusal of the draft during the Vietnam War, Ali's life was closely linked to the major social and political struggles of the 1960s and 70s. The story of his struggles, failures, and triumphs sheds light on issues of race, class, religion, dissent, and the role of sports in American society that affected all Americans. In this lively, concise biography, Barbara L. Tischler introduces students to Ali's life in social and political context, and explores his enduring significance as a symbol of resistance. Muhammad Ali: A Many of Many Voices offers the perfect introduction to this extraordinary American and his times.

Thomas Hauser's recording of the contemporary boxing scene has become the sport's most eagerly anticipated written work. Here's what readers are saying about And the New . . .

"Masterful, as always . . . Awesome writing."

"On a scale of one to ten, Hauser rates one hundred."

"The most accurate, honest, and insightful writing about boxing that I've ever read."

"Thomas Hauser is in a league of his own."

"It doesn't get any better than this. Another five-star article from Hauser."

"Brilliant, enlightening, and wonderful. This is what boxing writing should be."

"Another great article from a truly great writer."

"Booklist" says that Thomas Hauser is "the most respected boxing journalist working today and perhaps the best ever." Robert Lipsyte calls him "the best boxing writer of our time."

"And the New . . . "is the latest compilation of Hauser's classic writing. It brings readers into the dressing room with fighters like Manny Pacquiao and Sergio Martinez in the moments before the year's biggest fights. Hauser's award-winning investigative journalism exposes the inner workings of HBO Sports and the economic realities that drive boxing today. There's a look back in time at the incomparable Henry Armstrong, and much more.

Thomas Hauser is best known as Muhammad Ali's biographer and for his recording of the contemporary boxing scene. "Booklist" called Hauser "the most respected boxing journalist working today and perhaps the best ever." Robert Lipsyte said Hauser is "the best boxing writer of our time." Still, Hauser's love of sports began not with boxing but with baseball.
Long before he turned to the sweet science, America's national pastime had captured his heart. His childhood allegiance was to the New York Yankees. Growing up in the suburbs of New York, he cheered for the Giants in football and Knicks in basketball. In college, the often-hapless Columbia Lions became his cause.

"Thomas Hauser on Sports" brings together Hauser's articles on sports other than boxing. It combines personal memories with issue-oriented commentary and an intimate look at some of the most remarkable athletes of modern times.

Hauser has dealt one-on-one with Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Arnold Palmer, Pete Rose, Arthur Ashe, Wilt Chamberlain, and other giants of sports. He has crossed swords with the likes of Marvin Miller and Howard Cosell. "Thomas Hauser on Sports" is a remarkable journey that begins in the days of Hauser's youth and follows the games we play into the era of steroids and multi-billion-dollar television contracts.

This is a cradle-to-grave biography of Mickey Walker, former welterweight (1922-1926) and middleweight champion (1926-1931) of the world, one of the greatest fighters in ring history. He fought at a time when boxing was a major sport with only eight championships, and he held two of them over a nine-year period. He fought at a time when each weight division was jammed with good fighters, and he fought them all from welterweight up to heavyweight, frequently being outweighed 20 to 30 pounds, himself only five-seven and never weighing more than 170 pounds. Walker was not only a great fighter, he was a great personality who loved life and lived it to the full. He went through seven marriages with four different women, he cavorted with movie stars and mobsters from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone. When his boxing career ended in 1935, Walker ran saloons in various locations, was often his own best customer, finally quit drinking and became an artist of some standing, several of his paintings hanging in some of America's top galleries. Walker died in 1981, aged 79.

Whether opening saloons, raising cattle, or promoting sporting events, George Lewis ""Tex"" Rickard (1870-1929) possessed a drive to be the best. After an early career as a cowboy and Texas sheriff, Rickard pioneered the largest ranch in South America, built a series of profitable saloons in the Klondike and Nevada gold rushes, and turned boxing into a million-dollar sport. As ""the Father of Madison Square Garden,"" he promoted over 200 fights, including some of the most notable of the 20th century: the ""Longest Fight,"" the ""Great White Hope,"" fight, and the famous ""Long Count"" fight. Along the way, he rubbed shoulders with some of history's most renowned figures, including Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, John Ringling, Jack Dempsey, and Gene Tunney. This detailed biography chronicles Rickard's colorful life and his critical role in the evolution of boxing from a minor sport into a modern spectacle.

Without Ray Arcel (1899-1994), the world of boxing during the 20th century would have been markedly different. Indeed, the credibility professional boxing as a sport would have been greatly lessened. Arcel's prominence is all the more interesting because he made his mark not as a fighter, promoter, or manager, but as a trainer. From Benny Leonard to Roberto Duran and Larry Holmes, Arcel stood in the corner for champions of every weight division that existed in his lifetime, a record that remains unprecedented. This biography chronicles Arcel's life inside the ring, and out--where he remained a highly secretive man and maintained ambiguous relationships with some of the chief mob figures of his day. Through a wealth of information from Arcel's unpublished memoir, this work offers an extraordinary portrait of one of boxing's most influential and enigmatic figures.

Born into extreme poverty in 1914, Jersey Joe Walcott began boxing at the age of 16 to help feed his hungry family. After ten years' boxing, without proper training and with little to show for his efforts beyond some frightful beatings, Walcott quit the ring. A chance meeting with a local fight promoter who recognized the potential in his iron chin and hard punch turned Walcott's fortunes around, launching one of the greatest comebacks in boxing history. This biography details Walcott's youth, his dismal early career, and his legendary climb to become the heavyweight champion of the world at age 37, at the time making him the oldest man to ever win the coveted title. Along the way, he battled some of the most feared contenders of his day, including Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, and Rocky Marciano. With numerous period photographs and a foreword from Walcott's grandson, this work provides an intimate look at one of the grittiest, most determined boxers of the 20th century.

PacMan is "a one-of-a-kind ride into the one-of-a-kind life of Manny Pacquiao."- Robert Cassidy, Newsday With his shellacking of Antonio Margarito in November 2010, Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao became the only boxer ever to win eight world championships in eight different weight classes. Proclaimed the "fighter of the decade" by ESPN and elected Congressman in the Philippines, he is an inspiration to his countrymen. But to many, he remains an enigma. In PacMan - named one of the best sports books of 2010 by the Guardian - Gary Andrew Poole pulls back the curtain in an "amazing tale of how a reed-thin Filipino, who left his home in the poorest pocket of the Philippines ("The City of Dust") at the age of 15 . . . became one of the most recognizable names and faces in the world" ( Dallas Morning News ). "Excellent."- Sports Illustrated

At nearly six and a half feet tall and 300 pounds, heavyweight champion Primo Carnera was a giant for his times, but today ""the Ambling Alp"" is too often written off as an unskilled oaf and a product of the mob dealings that plagued boxing during the 1930s. He may not have been a natural in the ring, but he worked as hard as any boxer to learn his craft, to be in top condition, and he repeatedly showed that he was tougher than nails. This biography details Carnera's early life and boxing career, his success as a fighter as well as accusations of fight fixing, his strengths and limitations in the ring, and his later career as a wrestler.

Covering the years 1890 to 1910, this volume profiles the boxers who were acting during boxing's ""Golden Age,"" focusing primarily on George ""Kid"" Lavigne, Bob Fitzsimmons, Barbados Joe Walcott, Joe Gans, Terry McGovern, Sam Langford, and Stanley Ketchel. The accomplishments of these competitors in and out of the ring, as well as their standing in boxing history, are examined in detail. Each boxer is presented in his historical context, and detailed information about many of their opponents, also key figures in this critical era of the sport, is also provided, as are comparisons to recent fighters.

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.

This work captures a remarkable year in boxing - 2008. Thomas Hauser has become 'must reading' in the boxing community, and his latest book demonstrates why. "An Unforgiving Sport" brings together Hauser's 2008 articles from secondsout.com and espn.com, in which he exposes the inner workings of HBO sports, goes behind the scenes at boxing's biggest fights, revisits historical figures like John L. Sullivan, and offers revealing portraits of Don King, Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, Bernard Hopkins, and a host of others. "Booklist" praised an earlier collection of Hauser's articles as 'one more testament to [Hauser's] talent and passion for the most elemental of our sports'. "An Unforgiving Sport" adds to Hauser's definitive record of the contemporary boxing scene.

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 first nationwide study of boxing regulations in the United States offers an historical overview of the subject, from the earliest attempts at regulating the sport to present-day legislation that may create a national boxing commission. It examines the disparity of regulations among states, as well as the reasons for some of these differences. The work features interviews with boxing officials, analysts and boxers, and includes the results of a national survey of state athletic commission personnel.

In-depth case studies of boxing regulations in Nevada and Kansas provide a close look at different states' methods, and Argentina's centralized system of regulation is presented as a comparison to the U.S. approach.

This is the first biography of the controversial and misunderstood African boxer, now in paper. Battling Siki (1887-1925) was once one of the four or five most recognizable black men in the world and was written about by a host of great writers, including George Bernard Shaw, Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon, Janet Flanner, and Ernest Hemingway. Peter Benson's lively biography of the first African to win a world championship in boxing delves into the complex world of sports, race, colonialism, and the cult of personality in the early twentieth century.

Inside stories of some of the greatest prizefights of all time, including Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson II, Joe Frazier-George Foreman I, and The Fight of the Century: Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier I. Referee and elder statesman of boxing Arthur Mercante gives behind-the-scenes glimpses into his world and into the lives and careers of the greatest boxers of all time. Mercante has officiated more championship fights than any other referee, and his blow-by-blow accounts are peppered with grit and telling details.

This is the third book in Adam Pollack's series on the heavyweight champions of the gloved era. Bob Fitzsimmons was boxing's first pound for pound great, winning the world middleweight title before becoming the world heavyweight champion (and later lightheavyweight champ). Combining both crafty skill and crushing power, Fitzsimmons was able to knock out heavyweights when he only weighed 158 pounds! This meticulous and tremendously researched book uses multiple local primary sources from New Zealand, Australia, and America to chronicle Fitzsimmons' boxing career. It contains detailed fight descriptions never before revealed, round by round reports, pre- and post-fight analysis, daily training regimens, critical analysis of opponents' careers, discussion of skills, techniques, strategies, strengths, and weaknesses, and explains how legal, political, social, and economic issues affected and impeded fights. The book also includes stories of fixed fights, conspiracies, legal battles, trials, threats of violence and imprisonment made by governors, judges, and militiamen, and verbal jousting, taunting, boasting, and even physical confrontations between Bob Fitzsimmons and James J. Corbett. 464 pages, 63 photos and illustrations, 969 footnotes, bibliography, index, and appendix (containing a complete Fitzsimmons career record). Adam J. Pollack is the author of John L. Sullivan: The Career of the First Gloved Heavyweight Champion, and In the Ring With James J. Corbett. He is a staff writer for Cyberboxingzone.com, chair of USA Boxing's Rules and Regulations Committee, a boxing coach and attorney living in Iowa City, Iowa.

Essentially the last of the bare-knuckle heavyweight champions, John L. Sullivan was instrumental in the acceptance of gloved fighting. His charisma and popular appeal during this transitional period contributed greatly to making boxing a nationally popular, ""legitimate"" sport. Sullivan became boxing's first superstar and arguably the first of any sport. From his first match in the late 1870s through his final fight in 1905, this biography contains a thoroughly researched, detailed accounting of John L. Sullivan's boxing career. With special attention to the 1880s, the decade during which Sullivan came to prominence, it follows Sullivan's skill development and discusses his opponents in detail, providing various viewpoints of a single event. Beginning with a discussion of early boxing practices, the sport itself is placed within sociological, legal and historical contexts including anti - prize fighting laws and the so-called ""colour line."" Ironically, Sullivan's personal adherence to this final concept with his refusal to fight a coloured opponent remains the one blemish on a phenomenal career. A complete record of Sullivan's career is also included.

Battling Siki (1887-1925) was once one of the four or five most recognizable black men in the world, and was written about in detail by such figures as Ring Lardner and his son John, Damon Runyon, and Westbrook Pegler...On the evening of December 15, 1925, at the age of twenty-eight, he was shot and killed in Hell's Kitchen in what some claimed was a gangland execution.

Includes a one-hour interview from 1970 with boxing legend James Braddock!
Lost in the annals of boxing is the sport's true Cinderella story. James J. Braddock, dubbed "Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon, was a once promising light heavyweight for whom a string of losses in the ring and a broken right hand happened to correspond with the Great Crash. With one good hand, Braddock was forced to labor on the docks of Hoboken. Only his manager, Joe Gould, still believed in him, finding fights for Braddock to help feed his wife and children. The diminutive, loquacious Jew and the burly, quiet Irishman made one of boxing's oddest couples, but together they staged the greatest comeback in boxing history. In less than twelve months Braddock went from the relief rolls to face heavyweight champion Max Baer, the Livermore Butcher Boy, renowned for having allegedly killed two men in the ring. A charismatic, natural talent and in every way Braddock's foil, Baer was a towering opponent, a Jew from the West Coast who was famously brash and made great copy both in and out of the ring. A ten-to-one underdog, Braddock carried the hopes and dreams of the working class on his shoulders. And when boxing was the biggest sport in the world, when the heavyweight champion was the biggest star in the world, his unlikely upset made him the most popular champion boxing had ever seen.
Against the gritty backdrop of the Depression, Cinderella Man brings this dramatic all-American story to life, evoking a time when the sport of boxing resonated with a country trying desperately to get back on its feet. Rich in anecdote and color, steeped in history, and full of human interest, Cinderella Man is a classic Davidand Goliath tale that transcends the sport.

"From the Compact Disc edition.

"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.

Professional sports in America offer numerous examples of equal opportunity and broken down racial barriers. These developments call for pride and celebration. Yet skin color continues to have an influence in how Americans experience sport. From Al Campanis statement about the under-representation of blacks in baseball front offices to the almost exclusively white ownership of professional teams, one sees that sports, though admirably more equitable than other societal institutions, are hardly a colorblind American pursuit.

Choosing the racially charged sport of boxing for investigation, the author has compiled dozens of statistics measuring whether or not Americas racial majority still yearns for a white championa Great White Hope. Drawing upon data from The Ring Magazine and its annual record books, this study endeavors to bolster or refute the popular perception in boxing circles that white fighters of lesser ability are helped along to their sports elite level, as a result of being promotional gold in the eyes of the public.