Title/Author:
“Sporting Blood: Tales
from the Dark Side of Boxing” by Carlos Acevedo
Tags:
Boxing, professional,
history, essays
Publish date:
March 31, 2020
Length:
256 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (outstanding)
Review:
Anyone who follows the sport of
boxing knows that for every success story, there are many others that have a
darker side. Even for those fighters
that have enjoyed tremendous success during their careers, many of them had
other tales of woe. These can range from
financial problems, drug abuse, crime, even an untimely death. This book by boxing writer Carlos Acevedo tells
some of these stories on many different boxers from different weight classes
and eras.
The variety of the stories and the
boxers portrayed is the biggest strength of this book. Not only are legendary
fighters portrayed such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, but there are some very
interesting tales about other fighters who may not be as familiar to readers
such as Ad Wolgast, Carmelo Negron and Eddie Machen. There are several sad
stories on fighters whose career either ended too soon after a defeat (Davey
Moore), fighters who seemed to always be on a path to destroying themselves
(Tyson, Aaron Pryor, Tony Ayala Jr.) and even one who became known to even
non-boxing fans, Jake LaMotta. While his
story of sinking to very low depths and rising about them is familiar to movie
goers who saw “Raging Bull”, Acevedo’s account of LaMotta does much more
justice than the movie does in only a few pages.
That is pretty much the theme across the entire book as Acevedo writes essays about these pugilists that are complex yet very easy to read and comprehend. Some of his prose is pure bliss to read. Here are just a sample of some excellent quotes from the book:
- - When talking about the legendary third
fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, the brutality of that match led
Acevedo to state that “The ‘Thrilla in Manilla’ was a CliffNotes for sadism.”
- - He states that boxing “lends itself
far too often to an intellectual clam chowder (common ingredients: social Darwinism,
atavism, gladiatorial analogies, talk of warriors and so on)”
- - Describing promoter Don King when he
dropped Davey Moore from his band of boxers: “Even Don King, a man who would
rush into a burning oil tanker to rescue a crumpled dollar bill, cut him loose”
This is just a small sample of the
excellent writing and research that was put into this great collection of
stories on a wide selection of boxers. Any reader who has any interest in the “sweet
science” will want to pick up this book – but be warned, once one starts, this
is very hard to put down.
I wish to thank Hamlicar
Publications for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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