The Arc of Boxing


Book Description

Are today's boxers better than their predecessors, or is modern boxing a shadow of its former self? Boxing historians discuss the socioeconomic and demographic changes that have affected the quality, prominence and popularity of the sport over the past century. Among the interviewees are world-renowned scholars, some of the sport's premier trainers, and former amateur and professional world champions. Chapters cover such topics as the ongoing deterioration of boxers' skills, their endurance, the decline in the number of fights and the psychological readiness of championship-caliber boxers. The strengths and weaknesses of today's superstars are analyzed and compared to those of such past greats as Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jack Dempsey and Jake LaMotta.




Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing


Book Description

For more than sixty years—from the 1890s to the 1950s—boxing was an integral part of American popular culture and a major spectator sport rivaling baseball in popularity. More Jewish athletes have competed as boxers than all other professional sports combined; in the period from 1901 to 1939, 29 Jewish boxers were recognized as world champions and more than 160 Jewish boxers ranked among the top contenders in their respective weight divisions. Stars in the Ring,by renowned boxing historian Mike Silver, presents this vibrant social history in the first illustrated encyclopedic compendium of its kind.




Boxing


Book Description

Throughout history, potters, sculptors, painters, poets, novelists, cartoonists, song-writers, photographers, and filmmakers have recorded and tried to make sense of boxing. From Daniel Mendoza to Mike Tyson, boxers have embodied and enacted our anxieties about race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. In her encyclopedic investigation of the shifting social, political, and cultural resonances of this most visceral of sports, Kasia Boddy throws new light on an elemental struggle for dominance whose weapons are nothing more than fists. Looking afresh at everything from neoclassical sculpture to hip-hop lyrics, Boddy explores the ways in which the history of boxing has intersected with the history of mass media. Boddy pulls no punches, looking to the work of such diverse figures as Henry Fielding and Spike Lee, Charlie Chaplin and Philip Roth, James Joyce and Mae West, Bertolt Brecht and Charles Dickens in an all-encompassing study that tells us just how and why boxing has mattered so much to so many.




The Night the Referee Hit Back


Book Description

This collection of award-winning boxing journalist Mike Silver’s best articles from the past 40 years features a colorful mix of hard-hitting exposes and light-hearted stories that include legendary boxers such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, and more. The boxing world has witnessed some spectacular and iconic moments, from the “Thrilla in Manila” to the last encounter between Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta. In The Night the Referee Hit Back: Memorable Moments from the World of Boxing, award-winning boxing journalist Mike Silver looks back at some of boxing’s most legendary fights, talks with Hall of Famers Archie Moore, Carlos Ortiz, Emile Griffith and Curtis Cokes, and analyzes the changes that have taken place in boxing since the Golden Age. This collection, drawn from the author’s best articles from the past 40 years, are a colorful mix of hard-hitting exposes, interviews, and light-hearted stories featuring boxers such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joe Frazier, Oscar De La Hoya, and Muhammad Ali. Mike Silver captures the essence, charisma, tragedy, and romance of boxing like no one else. Featuring numerous historical and iconic photographs, The Night the Referee Hit Back is a fascinating and valuable collection for boxing fans and sports historians alike.




Fight Pictures


Book Description

In 1897 a filmed prize-fight became one of cinema's first major attractions, and such films continued to enjoy great popularity for many years to come. This work chronicles the story of how legitimate bouts, fake fights, comic sparring matches, and other forms of boxing came to dominate the screens of the silent-era.




No Way but to Fight


Book Description

Olympic gold medalist. Two-time world heavyweight champion. Hall of Famer. Infomercial and reality TV star. George Foreman’s fighting ability is matched only by his acumen for selling. Yet the complete story of Foreman’s rise from urban poverty to global celebrity has never been told until now. Raised in Houston’s “Bloody Fifth” Ward, battling against scarcity in housing and food, young Foreman fought sometimes for survival and other times just for fun. But when a government program rescued him from poverty and introduced him to the sport of boxing, his life changed forever. In No Way but to Fight, Andrew R. M. Smith traces Foreman’s life and career from the Great Migration to the Great Society, through the Cold War and culture wars, out of urban Houston and onto the world stage where he discovered that fame brought new challenges. Drawing on new interviews with George Foreman and declassified government documents, as well as more than fifty domestic and international newspapers and magazines, Smith brings to life the exhilarating story of a true American icon. No Way but to Fight is an epic worthy of a champion.




Boxer's Book of Conditioning & Drilling


Book Description

Going beyond the standard workout for boxers, this innovative manual introduces a diverse set of training methods, integrating them into drill sets that build the athletic attributes for which past and present fighters are known. From Leroy Jones sparring with chickens and Ken Norton’s 15 combined rounds of shadow boxing, sparring, and bag work to Ricky Hatton’s staggering 12-round sparring bouts with a body belt and Kosta Tszyu’s creative tennis-ball and head-strap punching apparatus, this guide highlights a wide vocabulary of exercises, all incorporating boxing-specific equipment. The drills can be performed solo or with a partner, and each piece of equipment is approached individually with detailed descriptions of routines, including floor exercises and drills with the heavy bag, medicine ball, horizontal rope, and jump rope. With two workout menus for weight training, this guide guarantees a regime to suit any individual need—be it professional or simply a desire to train like some of the best athletes in the world.




Boxer's Bible of Counterpunching


Book Description

Boxing is more about what you do in resonse to punches than punching prowess itself. This guide is an encyclopedia of counter boxing and includes every effective defense, response and follow-up combination to every attack.--Publisher.




A History of Women's Boxing


Book Description

Records of modern female boxing date back to the early eighteenth century in London, and in the 1904 Olympics an exhibition bout between women was held. Yet it was not until the 2012 Olympics—more than 100 years later—that women’s boxing was officially added to the Games. Throughout boxing’s history, women have fought in and out of the ring to gain respect in a sport traditionally considered for men alone. The stories of these women are told for the first time in this comprehensive work dedicated to women’s boxing. A History of Women’s Boxing traces the sport back to the 1700s, through the 2012 Olympic Games, and up to the present. Inside-the-ring action is brought to life through photographs, newspaper clippings, and anecdotes, as are the stories of the women who played important roles outside the ring, from spectators and judges to managers and trainers. This book includes extensive profiles of the sport’s pioneers, including Barbara Buttrick whose plucky carnival shows launched her professional boxing career in the 1950s; sixteen-year-old Dallas Malloy who single-handedly overturned the strictures against female amateur boxing in 1993; the famous “boxing daughters” Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde; and teenager Claressa Shields, the first American woman to win a boxing gold medal at the Olympics. Rich in detail and exhaustively researched, this book illuminates the struggles, obstacles, and successes of the women who fought—and continue to fight—for respect in their sport. A History of Women’s Boxing is a must-read for boxing fans, sports historians, and for those interested in the history of women in sports.




The Berlin Boxing Club


Book Description

Sydney Taylor Award-winning novel Berlin Boxing Club is loosely inspired by the true story of boxer Max Schmeling's experiences following Kristallnacht. Publishers Weekly called it "a masterful historical novel" in a starred review. Karl Stern has never thought of himself as a Jew; after all, he's never even been in a synagogue. But the bullies at his school in Nazi-era Berlin don't care that Karl's family doesn't practice religion. Demoralized by their attacks against a heritage he doesn't accept as his own, Karl longs to prove his worth. Then Max Schmeling, champion boxer and German hero, makes a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons. A skilled cartoonist, Karl has never had an interest in boxing, but now it seems like the perfect chance to reinvent himself. But when Nazi violence against Jews escalates, Karl must take on a new role: family protector. And as Max's fame forces him to associate with Nazi elites, Karl begins to wonder where his hero's sympathies truly lie. Can Karl balance his boxing dreams with his obligation to keep his family out of harm's way? Includes an author's note and sources page detailing the factual inspirations behind the novel.




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