Jersey Joe Walcott

Jersey Joe Walcott PDF

Author: James Curl

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0786489634

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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.

Ezzard Charles

Ezzard Charles PDF

Author: William Dettloff

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-05-23

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1476619476

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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.

The Longest Fight

The Longest Fight PDF

Author: William Gildea

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2012-06-19

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0374280975

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The dramatic, little-known story of Joe Gans, an early African-American sports hero and the welterweight champion of the world. Though he is largely unknown today, this book will change that with its emphasis on one key fight in 1906.

Don Dunphy at Ringside

Don Dunphy at Ringside PDF

Author: Don Dunphy

Publisher: Henry Holt

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 9780805005301

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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

The Professional

The Professional PDF

Author: W.c. Heinz

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2009-06-16

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0786748427

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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."

Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage 1876-1976

Philadelphia's Boxing Heritage 1876-1976 PDF

Author: Tracy Callis

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738511344

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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.

50 Years At Ringside

50 Years At Ringside PDF

Author: Nat Fleischer

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2017-06-28

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1787204766

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Originally published in 1958, this is the autobiography of renowned U.S. boxing writer and collector, Nat Fleischer. It not only tells the fascinating story of the author himself, but crucially allows the reader a firsthand glimpse into the ring scene of the first half of the 20th century. “This is a story which nobody has produced in the past, and certainly is not going to duplicate in the future. “It is the life story of a man who lived through increasingly exciting eras of the nation’s history, and the nation’s sports annals. The conditions which obtained through those eventful decades will not come again. The man who banged his typewriter through these crowding years will not come again upon a similar sequence in the sports kaleidoscope. “Here are behind-the-scenes pictures, the inside stories of so many developments which have waited, until now, for my lifetime friend Nat Fleischer to reveal them. “Here are pathos, comedy, and intrigue; the seamy, sombre stories, and the funny ones as well. Ring heroes of the past come to life in these pages to reveal themselves in the full panoply of their championship stature, or in the meaner habiliments of the character on the fringe. “It is a fine book, and I thank Nat for having written it.” —Dan Daniel, Foreword

Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano PDF

Author: Russell Sullivan

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2002-08-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0252098196

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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.

Ingemar Johansson

Ingemar Johansson PDF

Author: Ken Brooks

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-01-28

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1476620237

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Ingemar Johansson’s right hand—dubbed “The Hammer of Thor”—was the most fearsome in boxing, and Johansson’s three fights with Floyd Patterson rank among the sport’s classic rivalries. Yet most fans know little about the Swedish playboy who won the world heavyweight championship with a shocking third round knockout of Patterson and held it for six days short of a year (1959–1960). During his reign, the raffish “Ingo” hit fashionable nightspots on two continents, romanced Elizabeth Taylor, and refused to kowtow to the mobsters who controlled boxing. This first-ever biography of Johansson chronicles his fistic triumphs as a Göteborg teen prodigy, his humiliating disqualification for “cowardice” at the 1952 Olympics, his storybook romances with Birgit Lundgren and Edna Alsterlund and his post-career life and tragic early dementia.