Ringside A Treasury of Boxing Reportage

by Schulberg, Budd

• ISBN13: 9781566637077
• ISBN10: 1566637074
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-12
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee

Summary

In this bountiful collection of his best boxing writing of a lifetime, Mr. Schulberg takes his fans all the way back to an epic bare-knuckle contest in England two hundred years ago; draws a revealing portrait of Uncle Mike Jacobs, the impresario of boxing in its Golden Age; expertly places Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali in the social history of their times; brings fans up to date in the careers of the great names of recent decades-Tyson, Holyfield, DeLaHoya, Hopkins, Chico Corrales; and much more. His writing sparkles with authority and insight. Here is great prose on great fighters, laced with a realistic sense of boxing's wrongs as well as its rights. Publication of Ringside is an event in the world of sports reportage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction by Hugh McIlvanney	xv
1 Tom Cribb vs. Tom Molineaux: The First International Championship Fight	3	(14)
2 Charles Freeman: The Primo Camera of the Nineteenth Century vs. The Tipton Slasher	17	(11)
3 When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport	28	(5)
4 Good Night, Sweet Princes	33	(5)
5 Confessions of an Ex-Fight Manager	38	(12)
6 Joe Louis and Social History	50	(13)
7 Archie Moore: All-Time Senior Citizen Champ	63	(8)
I. PAYNIGHT FOR OLD ARCHIE	63	(3)
II. THE CHAMPION OF COMMUNICATIONS	66	(5)
8 Muhammad Ali	71	(15)
I. KING OF THE WORLD	71	(5)
II. MY VERY OWN ALI MOVIE	76	(10)
9 Arturo Gatti: The Manly Art of No Defense	86	(4)
10 Oscar De La Hoya: The Two-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man	90	(37)
I. RETURN TO THE MECCA	90	(3)
II. THE GUESSING GAME: DE LA HOYA-WHITAKER	93	(3)
III. THE OSCAR EXPRESS ROLLS ON	96	(7)
IV. THE WELTERS ARE COMING! THE WELTERS ARE COMING!	103	(3)
V. DE LA HOYA-TRINIDAD: A TALE OF TWO CHAMPIONS	106	(4)
VI. MOSLEY-DE LA HOYA: MY HOMETOWN	110	(9)
VII. MOSLEY-DE LA HOYA, ACT II	119	(4)
VIII. THE REAL MAIN EVENT: ARUM VS. KING	123	(4)
11 Lennox Lewis: The Reluctant Dragon	127	(13)
I. LEWIS-GOLOTA: THE BIGGER THEY ARE...	127	(5)
II. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES	132	(3)
III. LENNOX LEWIS: A WANT OF PASSION	135	(5)
12 Roy Jones, Jr.: The Pensacola Pinwheel	140	(20)
I. GENIUS AT WORK	140	(4)
II. JONES VS. GRIFFIN: PRETTY BOY LOSES UGLY	144	(3)
III. THE MOUTHPIECE HAMLET	147	(4)
IV. A FOR ABILITY, B FOR BORED	151	(3)
V. MOVE OVER, RUBY BOB-HERE COMES ROY JONES!	154	(6)
13 Evander Holyfield: From the Real Deal to the Sad Deal	160	(16)
I. HOLYFIELD-BOWE: ACT III (THE RUBBER MATCH)	160	(3)
II. REENTER EVANDER: A BIG NIGHT FOR HIM AND HIM	163	(5)
III. EVANDER THE HOLY: THE ONCE AND FUTURE UNDISPUTED KING	168	(3)
IV. EVANDER'S HOMECOMING AND GOING	171	(5)
14 Mike Tyson: From Wonderboy to Has-Been	176	(21)
I. THE SOFTER THEY FALL	176	(4)
II. TYSON REDUX: ACT I	180	(4)
III. REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT	184	(7)
IV. LEWIS TAKES TYSON TO FINISHING SCHOOL	191	(6)
15 The Little Prince: Good Hit, No Field	197	(4)
16 The Night of the Undisputed	201	(6)
17 The "Heavyweight Championship of the World" or, Four for the Price of One	207	(6)
18 Ricky Hatton and Kostya Tszyu: The British Are Coming!	213	(4)
19 Requiem for a Middleweight	217	(5)
20 Felix Trinidad	222	(9)
I. TRINIDAD VS. MAYORGA: BRAIN VS. BRAWN	222	(4)
II. WINKY WRIGHT VS. FELIX TRINIDAD: THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!	226	(5)
21 No. 1 Pound-for-Pound: Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather, Jr.	231	(5)
22 Weightgate, and on to World War III: Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo II	236	(9)
23 Boxing Movies 101	245	(4)
24 Fighters and Writers: At the Boxing Hall of Fame	249	(7)
25 Machiavelli on Eighth Avenue	256	(91)
Index	347