Jersey Joe Walcott

Author : James Curl
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 239 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-01-10
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780786489633

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Jersey Joe Walcott by James Curl Pdf

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, without proper training and with little to show for his efforts beyond some frightful beatings, Walcott quit the ring. A chance meeting with a 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 the oldest man ever to win the coveted title. Along the way, he battled some of the most feared champions 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.

Author : William Dettloff
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2015-05-23
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476619477

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Ezzard Charles by William Dettloff Pdf

Greatness is often overlooked in its own time. For Ezzard Charles—one of boxing’s most skilled practitioners, with a record of 93–25–1 (52 KO)—recognition took decades. Named by The Ring magazine as the greatest light heavyweight of all time, Charles was frustrated in his attempts to get a shot at the 175–pound title, and as World Heavyweight Champion (1949–1951) struggled to win the respect of boxing fans captivated by Joe Louis’ power and charisma. This first-ever biography of “The Cincinnati Cobra” covers his early life in a small country town and his career in the glamorously dirty business of prizefighting in the 1950s, one of the sport’s Golden Ages. Charles’ fights with Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky Marciano and his three wins over the legendary Archie Moore are detailed.

Author : William Gildea
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-06-19
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781429942805

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The Longest Fight by William Gildea Pdf

Many people came to Goldfield, Nevada, America's last gold-rush town, to seek their fortune. However, on a searing summer day in September 1906, they came not to strike it rich but to watch what would become the longest boxing match of the twentieth century—between Joe Gans, the first African American boxing champion, and "Battling" Nelson, a vicious and dirty brawler. It was a match billed as the battle of the races. In The Longest Fight, the longtime Washington Post sports correspondent William Gildea tells the story of this epic match, which would stretch to forty-two rounds and last two hours and forty-eight minutes. A new rail line brought spectators from around the country, dozens of reporters came to file blow-by-blow accounts, and an entrepreneurial crew's film of the fight, shown in theaters shortly afterward, endures to this day. The Longest Fight also recounts something much greater—the longer battle that Gans fought against prejudice as the premier black athlete of his time. It is a portrait of life in black America at the turn of the twentieth century, of what it was like to be the first black athlete to successfully cross the nation's gaping racial divide. Gans was smart, witty, trim, and handsome—with one-punch knockout power and groundbreaking defensive skills—and his courage despite discrimination prefigured the strife faced by many of America's finest athletes, including Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. Inside the ring and out, Gans took the first steps for the African American athletes who would follow, and yet his role in history was largely forgotten until now. The Longest Fight is a reminder of the damage caused by the bigotry that long outlived Gans, and the strength, courage, and will of those who fought to rise above.

Author : Ruby Goldstein,Frank Graham
Publisher : New York : Funk & Wagnalls
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 1959
Category : Boxers (Sports)
ISBN : UCAL:$B712696

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Third Man in the Ring by Ruby Goldstein,Frank Graham Pdf

Author : William F. McNeil
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2014-09-15
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780786496488

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The Rise of Mike Tyson, Heavyweight by William F. McNeil Pdf

Covering Mike Tyson's rise through the amateur and professional boxing ranks, this book follows the Brooklyn native from his early years as a young criminal in Brownsville to his 1988 heavyweight unification match with Michael Spinks. The book focuses on the Catskill Boxing Club--where boxing guru Cus D'Amato trained the 210-pound teenager in the finer points of the sport and developed his impregnable defense--and on his home life with D'Amato and surrogate mother Camille Ewald and the other young fighters who lived with them. Tyson's boxing education began in the unauthorized "smokers" held every week in the Bronx, matching his skills against older, more experienced fighters. He won the 1981 Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Championship in Colorado Springs at the age of 14 and repeated the amazing feat the following year. By 1985, finding no other challenging amateur competition, he was forced to join the professional ranks where, in November 1986, he became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history. Less than two years later, he unified the crown, establishing himself as one of the most dominant heavyweight fighters the sport had ever seen.

Author : Colleen Aycock,Mark Scott
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2014-11-21
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9780786493364

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Joe Gans by Colleen Aycock,Mark Scott Pdf

Joe Gans captured the world lightweight title in 1902, becoming the first black American world title holder in any sport. Gans was a master strategist and tactician, and one of the earliest practitioners of “scientific” boxing. As a black champion reigning during the Jim Crow era, he endured physical assaults, a stolen title, bankruptcy, and numerous attempts to destroy his reputation. Four short years after successfully defending his title in the 42-round “Greatest Fight of the Century,” Joe Gans was dead of tuberculosis. This biography features original round-by-round ringside telegraph reports of his most famous and controversial fights, a complete fight history, photographs, and early newspaper drawings and cartoons.

Author : Don Dunphy
Publisher : Henry Holt
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1988-01-01
Category : Boxing
ISBN : 0805005307

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Don Dunphy at Ringside by Don Dunphy Pdf

The author's recollections of his fifty-year career in sports broadcasting also offers a definitive yet personal account of boxing's "golden age" and a chronicle of the evolution of radio and television broadcasting

Author : Howard Sackler
Publisher : Samuel French, Inc.
Page : 140 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1968
Category : Drama
ISBN : 0573609608

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The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler Pdf

"[The dramatist] has used his hero, a fighter based on the first Black heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson ... as a symbol in part of Black aspiration"--Back cover.

Author : W.c. Heinz
Publisher : Da Capo Press
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2009-06-16
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780786748426

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The Professional by W.c. Heinz Pdf

Originally published in 1958, The Professional is the story of boxer Eddie Brown's quest for the middleweight championship of the world. But it is so much more. W. C. Heinz not only serves up a realistic depiction of the circus-like atmosphere around boxing with its assorted hangers-on, crooked promoters, and jaded journalists, but he gives us two memorable characters in Eddie Brown and in Brown's crusty trainer, Doc Carroll. They are at the heart of this poignant story as they bond together with their eye on the only prize that matters—the middleweight championship. The Professional is W. C. Heinz at the top of his game—the writer who covered the fights better than anyone else of his era, whose lean sentences, rough-and-ready dialogue, dry wit, and you-are-there style helped lay the foundation for the New Journalism of Jimmy Breslin, Gay Talese, and Tom Wolfe. And all the trademark qualities of W. C. Heinz are on ample display in this novel that Pete Hamill described as "one of the five best sports novels ever written."

Author : Paul Beston
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2017-09-08
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781442272903

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The Boxing Kings by Paul Beston Pdf

For much of the twentieth century, boxing was one of America’s most popular sports, and the heavyweight champions were figures known to all. Their exploits were reported regularly in the newspapers—often outside the sports pages—and their fame and wealth dwarfed those of other athletes. Long after their heyday, these icons continue to be synonymous with the “sweet science.” In The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring, Paul Beston profiles these larger-than-life men who held a central place in American culture. Among the figures covered are John L. Sullivan, who made the heavyweight championship a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who became the first black man to claim the title; Jack Dempsey, a sporting symbol of the Roaring Twenties; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; Rocky Marciano, who became an embodiment of the American Dream; Muhammad Ali, who took on the U.S. government and revolutionized professional sports with his showmanship; and Mike Tyson, a hard-punching dynamo who typified the modern celebrity. This gallery of flawed but sympathetic men also includes comics, dandies, bookworms, divas, ex-cons, workingmen, and even a tough-guy-turned-preacher. As the heavyweight title passed from one claimant to another, their stories opened a window into the larger history of the United States. Boxing fans, sports historians, and those interested in U.S. race relations as it intersects with sports will find this book a fascinating exploration into how engrained boxing once was in America’s social and cultural fabric.

Author : Floyd Patterson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1962
Category : African American boxers
ISBN : UOM:39015066016281

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Victory Over Myself by Floyd Patterson Pdf

The autobiography of a man, unable to read or write at the age of ten, who became the heavyweight champion of the world.

Author : Tracy Callis,Chuck Hasson,Mike DeLisa,Michael Delisa
Publisher : Arcadia Publishing
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : History
ISBN : 073851134X

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Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage 1876-1976 by Tracy Callis,Chuck Hasson,Mike DeLisa,Michael Delisa Pdf

Philadelphia has long been called the number one fight town in the world. The relentless fighting style of its boxers has thrilled fans over the years. Twenty-seven champions have come from the city over the course of more than a century. Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage: 1876-1976 retraces the legacy of determined battlers such as Joe Frazier, Benny Bass, Gil Turner, Bob Montgomery, and Bennie Briscoe. Philadelphia has also produced legions of highly skilled craftsmen such as Tommy Loughran, Jack O'Brien, Midget Wolgast, Harold Johnson, and Joey Giardello. In 1926, the Gene Tunney-Jack Dempsy heavyweight championship bout was witnessed by more than one hundred thousand fans. In 1956, Rocky Marciano brought his guns to town and won the heavyweight title from Jersey Joe Walcott. In 1971, Philadelphia-trained Joe Frazier won the "Fight of the Century" from Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York. Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage: 1876-1976 showcases these legends and retraces their championship bouts through more than two hundred dazzling photographs.

Author : Jerry Fitch,John J. Raspanti
Publisher : Win by Ko Publications
Page : 154 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2020-10
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 1949783049

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A Few More Rounds by Jerry Fitch,John J. Raspanti Pdf

Jerry Fitch and John J. Raspanti examine the sights, sounds, and assorted types that populate the fistic landscape. The 20 chapters include unique stories from Fitch, who writes lovingly of his lifetime friendships with legendary fighters of the past, and Raspanti, whose prose includes instances of racism, hate, retribution, and loyalty.

Author : Russell Sullivan
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2002-08-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780252098192

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Rocky Marciano by Russell Sullivan Pdf

In this captivating and complex portrait of an American sports legend, Russell Sullivan confirms Rocky Marciano's place as a symbol and cultural icon of his era. As much as he embodied the wholesome, rags-to-riches patriotism of a true American hero, he also reflected the racial and ethnic tensions festering behind the country's benevolent facade. Spirited, fast-paced, and rich in detail, Rocky Marciano is the first book to place the boxer in the context of his times. Capturing his athletic accomplishments against the colorful backdrop of the 1950s fight scene, Sullivan examines how Marciano's career reflected the glamour and scandal of boxing as well as tenor of his times.

Author : Adam J. Pollack
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2015-02-28
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781476618340

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John L. Sullivan by Adam J. Pollack Pdf

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 championship fight in 1892, 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 and fights 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 “color line.” A complete record of Sullivan’s career is also included.