One Punch from the Promised Land

One Punch from the Promised Land

Author: John Florio

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-08-29

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 0762797681

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It was 1976 when Leon and Michael Spinks first punched their way into America’s living rooms. That year, they became the first brothers to win Olympic gold in the same Games. Shortly thereafter, they became the first brothers to win the heavyweight title: Leon toppled The Greatest, Muhammad Ali; Michael beat the unbeatable Larry Holmes. With a cast of characters that includes Ali, Holmes, Mike Tyson, Gerry Cooney, Dwight Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and dozens of friends, relatives, and boxing figures, ONE PUNCH FROM THE PROMISED LAND tells the unlikely story of the Spinks brothers. Their rise from the Pruitt-Igoe housing disaster. Their divergent paths of success. And their relationship with America. The book also uncovers stories never before made public: the big paydays, the high living, the backroom deals. It’s not afraid to tackle an issue rarely discussed: Does the heavyweight title deliver on its promise to young men in the inner city? This is the definitive story of Leon and Michael Spinks. And a cross-examination of heavyweight boxing in 20th century America.


Once There Were Giants

Once There Were Giants

Author: Jerry Izenberg

Publisher: Skyhorse

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781510759985

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**New edition updated with a foreword by Manny Pacquiao.** A celebration and memorial of the greatest era of heavyweight fighters from 1962 to 1997, as witnessed ringside by an International Boxing Hall of Fame sportswriter. Once upon a time, of all the memories made in ballparks and arenas from California to New York, there was nothing to rival that magic moment that could grab a heavyweight fight crowd by its collective jugular vein and trigger a tsunami of raw emotion before a single punch had even been thrown. That’s the way it was when the heavyweight giants danced in the boxing ring during the golden eras of the greats Ali, Frazier, Holmes, and Spinks, to name a few. There will never again be a heavyweight cycle like the one that began when Sonny Liston stopped Floyd Patterson and ended when Mike Tyson bit a slice out of Evander Holyfield’s ear; when no ersatz drama, smoke, mirrors, and noise followed a fighter’s entry into the ring; when the crowds knew that these men were not actors on a stage but rather giants in a ring with a single purpose—to fight other giants. By the ringside, acclaimed sportswriter Jerry Izenberg watched history as it was being made during those legendary days, witnessing fights like the Thrilla in Manila and the Rumble in the Jungle and preserving them in punchy yet tremendous prose. Delivering both his eyewitness accounts and revelatory back stories of this greatest era of heavyweight boxing, Izenberg invites readers to a place of recollection. Once There Were Giants is his memorial to this extraordinary time, the likes of which we shall never see again.


Boxing and Performance

Boxing and Performance

Author: Sarah Crews

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1000244768

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Boxing and Performance is the first substantial piece of work to place the lived experience of female and male boxers in dialogue with one another. Crews and Lennox critically reflect on their ethnographic experiences of boxing and their reading of the cultural representations of the sport. They conceive of the project as an extended sparring session. This book offers a unique perspective on boxing in/as performance and boxing in/as culture. It explores how the connections between boxing and performance address ideas about bodies, relationships, intimacy, and combat. It challenges and renegotiates oft-repeated narratives used to make meaning about boxing. This volume examines questions of visibility, voice, and agency and will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of performance and media, and sport and social studies.


The Arc of Boxing

The Arc of Boxing

Author: Mike Silver

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2012-09-21

Total Pages: 491

ISBN-13: 1476602182

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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.


Beatboxing

Beatboxing

Author: Todd D Snyder

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11-03

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781949590395

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From Mike Tyson to Tupac, from Roy Jones Jr. to J. Prince... Step into a world of rap moguls turned fight promoters, boxers turned rappers, and rappers turned boxers. Daryl McDonald of the iconic rap group Run-D.M.C once argued that Muhammad Ali's "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" was hip-hop's most famous lyric. Ali's poetic brilliance, ignited by cornerman and hype man Drew "Bundini" Brown, supplied the template for how hip-hop artists forged their identities and performed their art. Ali's influence on hip-hop culture is undeniable. Hip-hop's impact on boxing, on the other hand, has yet to be explored. Until Now. In Beatboxing: How Hip-Hop Changed the Fight Game, Todd Snyder uncovers the unique connection between hip-hop and the Sweet Science, tracing a grassroots cultural movement from its origins in the South Bronx to its explosion across the globe and ultimately into the charged environment of the prize ring. Presented thematically, the stories in this collection focus on the fighters and rappers who forever transformed both worlds. From Mike Tyson to Tupac, from Roy Jones Jr. to J. Prince, Snyder digs deep into the lyrics, personalities, and fights that drove these subcultures together. Step into a world of rap moguls turned fight promoters, boxers turned rappers, and rappers turned boxers. Explore how a cultural collision altered the relationship between popular music, race, sports, and politics. In Beatboxing, Snyder shows both how boxing has been shaped by hip-hop and how boxing continues to inspire hip-hop artists in the United States and abroad. Featuring interviews with champion fighters and music legends, Beatboxing serves as the definitive book about an unheralded yet enduring cultural bond. It's a must-read for boxing and hip-hop fans alike.


The Last Great Fight

The Last Great Fight

Author: Joe Layden

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2008-10-28

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780312353315

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It is considered by many to be the biggest upset in the history of boxing: James "Buster" Douglas knocked out then-undefeated and seemingly invincible Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson in the tenth round in 1990. The Last Great Fight takes readers not only behind the scenes of this epic battle, but inside the lives of two men, their ambitions, their dreams, the downfall of one and the rise of another. Using his exclusive interviews with both Tyson and Douglas, family members, the referee, the cutmen, trainers and managers, commentators and HBO staff covering the fight in Tokyo, Layden has crafted a human drama played out on a large stage. This is a compelling tale of shattered dreams and, ultimately, redemption.


A Round of Boxing

A Round of Boxing

Author: Ralph Oates

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13:

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A Round of Boxing is a journey through time looking at the many astonishing feats which have taken place inside the square ring over the years. From the first world heavyweight title fight which took place under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules in 1892 between John L. Sullivan and James J. Corbett to the present time. The Fascinating facts are presented in chronological order in an easy to read way .The features inside the book include not just the world champions but the many other fighters both male and female who have hence put on the gloves and graced the professional and amateur rings during their careers. The many facts include highlights from every weight division from the strawweight to the heavyweight poundage. Details of when the various fight organizations who thus control the sport came in to existence. The book is Illustrated by a number of photographs both action and portrait. A knockout read which the regular and casual follower's of boxing will find to be of great interest thus adding to their knowledge about the sport.


Smokin’ Joe

Smokin’ Joe

Author: Joe Frazier

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 2013-10-10

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1620642166

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When boxing was bold, bright, and glamorous and the fights were the hottest sporting events of the year, Joe Frazier was king as the Heavyweight Champion of the World. From 1970 to 1973 he reigned. With a career record of 32-4-1 with twenty-seven knockouts and an Olympic gold medal, Frazier leaves little question that he was one of the greatest fighters of all time. Well-known, loved, and revered as a gentleman and a fierce competitor in the ring, Joe Frazier speaks his mind in Smokin' Joe—about growing up poor and fighting in the first $2.5 million bout; about the early days of his friendship with Muhammad Ali and how their relationship changed; and about the often corrupt world of boxing and what really went on inside and outside the ring. Personable, good-natured, and funny, Frazier's story is a real delight.


The iPINIONS Journal

The iPINIONS Journal

Author: Anthony Livingston Hall

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2020-02-13

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1532092644

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ANTHONY L. HALL takes aim at the global events of 2019 with a unique and refreshing perspective. Some of the topics in this volume include: Republicans and Democrats aping Sunnis and Shias “Even if Democrats impeach Trump in Congress or defeat him at the polls, his presidency has already sown seeds of division and dysfunction that could harvest political thorns for a thousand years.” Social networks abolishing ‘Likes’ “They can’t quit likes. Because networks are as hooked on the money likes generate as users are on the high they stimulate.” Colin Kaepernick moving NFL tryout and making new demands “Kaepernick must think he’s Trump and the NFL the Republican Party. Because only delusions of grandeur on that scale explains him thinking he can play the NFL like this.” White evangelical Christians supporting Trump “The hypocrisy inherent in them showing abject loyalty to this two-legged golden calf is almost too contemptible for words. Suffice it to know that a skunk has more regard for a garden party than Trump has for a house of worship.” Hong Kongers protesting Chinese rule “These protests amount to nothing more than a self-hating, Stockholm Syndrome-like preference for the British over the Chinese. Hong Kongers don’t want democracy so much as a return to British colonial rule.” MTV trying to whitewash Michael Jackson’s name from VMAs “Frankly, his pedophile exploits were such that MTV paying any homage to him is tantamount to Jello paying homage to Bill Cosby.” Rich parents offering bribes to get their kids into elite colleges “The real indictment is that, despite all the resources at their disposal, these parents raised such dumb, lazy, and untalented kids.” Failure of latest US-North Korea nuclear summit “While Trump flew off to take a cold shower back in America, Kim was smoking a cigarette and planning sightseeing tours around Vietnam. So who do you think is zooming who in their “brokeback” bromance...?”