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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Combat sports & self-defence
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.
FINALIST - Autobiography / Memoirs, 2016 Best Books Award "A
British karateka" offers a bone-crushing, lip-splitting, and often
elegant memoir of a tough guy searching for higher meaning through
the study of martial arts." Kirkus Reviews "In this memoir
describing how karate turned his life around, Clarke displays
passion and grit in spades." Foreword Reviews Michael Clarke was an
angry, vicious kid, a street fighter. He grew up in the late
sixties and early seventies in Manchester, England, in a tough
neighborhood where, he writes, Prostitutes worked the pavement
opposite my home, illegal bookmakers took bets in back alley
cellars, and street brawls were commonplace." He left school at
fifteenand began his education as a pugilist on the streets. He
fought in bars andclubs, at football matches, in parks, and in bus
stationsand he was good. He reveledin the victories and the
admiration they brought. It was a life of knucklesand teeth, of
broken bones and torn fleshand the arrests that followed. Clarkewas
seventeen when a judge sentenced him to two years in Strangeways
Prison, aninfamous place also known as psychopath central." In
prison he resolved tochange his life and stay out of trouble, but
trouble was everywhere. Hediscovered a world of violent gangs,
abusive guards, and inmates engaged in anendless struggle for
dominance. Strangeways was a place where a person couldget stabbed
to death for taking the bigger piece of toast. In time Clarke was
released,but the transition was difficult and he almost fought his
way back to prison. Thenone night he entered a karate dojo and his
life changed forever. He began alifetime pursuit of budo, the
martial way. He sought knowledge, studied withmasters, and traveled
to Okinawa, the birthplace of karate. Redemption: A Street
Fighter's Path toPeace is a true account of youthwasted and life
reclaimed. Michael Clarke reminds us that martial arts are
notsimply about punching and kicking. They forge the spirit, temper
the will, and revealour true nature.
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.
Master the wooden weapons used in Aikido with this comprehensive
martial arts training manual. Although aikido is often thought of
as a nonviolent, noncompetitive martial art, the use of weapons was
introduced by the art's founder O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. In fact,
aikido techniques that use wooden weapons can enrich all aspects of
your practice, helping you to understand both basic and advanced
aikido technical tactics as well as conceptual strategies and
skills. Building on the authors' belief that no empty-hand system
is complete without weapons training, Aikido Weapons Techniques:
The Wooden Sword, Stick, and Knife of Aikido demonstrates weapon
use both as a training tool to better illustrate aikido principles,
and as a self-defense against weapon attacks. It focuses on the
three primary weapons used in aikido: Ken--the wooden sword Jo--the
wooden staff Tanto--the wooden knife A complete discussion of each
armament is included, with descriptions of the stances, grips,
techniques, forms, defenses, and training appropriate for each.
With over 200 step-by-step photographs and detailed instructions,
this aikido book provides an in-depth exploration of weapons use in
aikido--from its spiritual implications to technical theory and
practical application.
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.
Neil Leifer is the best-known sports photographer of the past half
century. Beginning in 1960, his pictures have regularly appeared in
every major national magazine, including the Saturday Evening Post,
Look, LIFE, Newsweek, and, most often, Sports Illustrated and Time,
and his photographs have run on over two hundred Sports
Illustrated, Time, and People covers. Leifer has photographed
sixteen Olympic Games, fifteen Kentucky Derbies, countless World
Series, the first twelve Super Bowls, four FIFA World Cups, and
every important heavyweight title fight since Ingemar Johansson
beat Floyd Patterson in 1959. He has photographed his favorite
subject, Muhammad Ali, at thirty-five of his fights, including all
the big ones. Now, in Relentless, Leifer takes us behind the scenes
of some fifty of his most iconic pictures. Starting with his shot
of Baltimore Colt Alan Ameche scoring the game-winning touchdown
against the New York Giants during sudden death overtime in the
1958 NFL Championship game at Yankee Stadium-taken on Leifer's
sixteenth birthday-he tells enthralling, often hilarious stories of
getting to the right place at the right time to capture many of the
legendary athletes of the twentieth century, including Mickey
Mantle, Arthur Ashe, Willie Mays, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Namath,
and Arnold Palmer, as well as shooting presidential and celebrity
portraits and covering a variety of subjects for Time. Recapping
both an incredibly successful career and the transformation of
photojournalism since the era of the great photo magazines,
Relentless effectively chronicles fifty years of American popular
culture..
Taekwondo Basics teaches you all the fundamentals of this martial
art form in a clear and easy-to-understand manner! This basic
introductory survey contains the following vital information: The
origins of Taekwondo its philosophy, history, and different skills;
How to find a teacher and a class that are right for you; Getting
ready for your first class what happens in a Taekwondo class?; The
essential elements stances, blocks, hand and arm strikes and kicks;
How to complement your Taekwondo training with other conditioning
exercises, such as running and biking; Powerful ways to improve
your technique through target training, partner training,
competitive training, free-sparring, and more; Resources that can
help you further develop your Taekwondo training. Whether you're
just getting started, or you've already been training for a year or
two, Taekwondo Basics offers an easy to read, and yet comprehensive
introduction to the sport.
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.
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