Download or read book Hard Luck written by Steve Springer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of boxing legend Jerry Quarry has it all: rags to riches, thrilling fights against the giants of the Golden Age of Heavyweights (Ali—twice, Frazier—twice, Patterson, Norton), a racially and politically electric sports era, the thrills and excesses of fame, celebrities, love, hate, joy, and pain. And tragedy. Like the man he fought during two highly controversial fight cards in 1970 and ’72—Muhammad Ali—boxing great Jerry Quarry was to suffer gravely. He died at age fifty-three, mind and body ravaged by Dementia Pugilistica. In Hard Luck, “Irish” Jerry Quarry comes to life—from his Grapes of Wrath days as the child of an abusive father in the California migrant camps to those as the undersized heavyweight slaying giants on his way to multiple title bouts and the honor of being the World’s Most Popular Fighter in ’68, ’69, ’70, and ’71. The story of Jerry Quarry is one of the richest in the annals of boxing, and through painstaking research and exclusive access to the Quarry family and its archives, Steve Springer and Blake Chavez have captured it all.

Download or read book The Gods of War written by Springs Toledo and published by Exposure Publishing. This book was released on 2014-04 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his long-awaited masterwork The Gods of War, award-winning essayist and boxing historian Springs Toledo tells the world that "the greatest of all time" is neither Muhammad Ali nor Sugar Ray Robinson. The greatest - the 'god of war' - is someone beyond their reach, a true anomaly of the ring. The evidence is compelling. See it and decide for yourself. This countdown of the top-ten fighters of the modern era is a literary experience like no other, and it isn't all readers will find in this book. Toledo's writing has been described as "warrior poetry"; he goes beyond the usual factoids, dry text, and threadbare yarns to conjure up legendary fighters as they were. Some of them will punch holes through the pages; others will touch your heart. Reading enthusiasts, sports fans, and boxing's critics are invited to take a new look at the sweet science. It's worth the price of admission.

Download or read book Fat City written by Leonard Gardner and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fat City is a vivid novel of allegiance and defeat, of the potent promise of the good life and the desperation and drink that waylay those whom it eludes. Stockton, California is the setting: the Lido Gym, the Hotel Coma, Main Street lunchrooms and dingy bars, days like long twilights in houses obscured by untrimmed shrubs and black walnut trees. When two men meet in the ring -- the retired boxer Billy Tully and the newcomer Ernie Munger - their brief bout sets into motion their hidden fates, initiating young Ernie into the company of men and luring Tully back into training. In a dispassionate and composed voice, Gardner narrates their swings of fortune, and the plodding optimism of their manager Ruben Luna, as he watches the most promising boys one by one succumb to some undefined weakness; still, "There was always someone who wanted to fight."

Download or read book Going Down Home with Daddy written by Kelly Starling Lyons and published by Holiday House. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set at one young boy's annual family reunion, this Caldecott Honor-winning picture book is a rich and moving celebration of Black history, culture, and the power of family traditions. "On reunion morning, we rise before the sun. Daddy hums as he packs our car with suitcases and a cooler full of snacks. He says there's nothing like going down home" Down home is Granny's house. Down home is where Lil Alan and his parents and sister will gather with great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Down home is where Lil Alan will hear stories of the ancestors and visit the land that has meant so much to all of them. And down home is where all of the children will find their special way to pay tribute to their family history. All the kids have to decide what they'll share, but what will Lil Alan do? Kelly Starling Lyons' eloquent text explores the power of history and family traditions, and stunning illustrations by Coretta Scott King Honor- and Caldecott Honor-winner Daniel Minter reveal the motion and connections in a large, multi-generational family.

Download or read book At Home with Muhammad Ali written by Hana Ali and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Muhammad Ali’s daughter captures the legendary heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic Gold medalist, activist, and philanthropist as never before in this candid and intimate family memoir, based on personal recordings he kept throughout his adult life. Athlete. Activist. Champion. Ambassador. Icon. Father. The greatest, Muhammad Ali, is all of these things. In this candid family memoir, Hana Ali illuminates this momentous figure as only a daughter can. As Ali approached the end of his astonishing boxing career, he embraced a new purpose and role, turning his focus to his family and friends. In that role, he took center stage as an ambassador for peace and friendship. Dedicated to preserving his family’s unique history, Ali began recording a series of audio diaries in the 1970s, which his daughter later inherited. Through these private tapes, as well as personal journals, love letters, cherished memories, and many never-before-seen photographs, she reveals a complex man devoted to keeping all nine of his children united, and to helping others. Hana gives us a privileged glimpse inside the Ali home, sharing the everyday adventures her family experienced—all so “normal,” with visitors such as Clint Eastwood and John Travolta dropping by. She shares the joy and laughter, the hardship and pain, and, most importantly, the dedication and love that has bonded them. “It’s been said that my father is one of the most written-about people in the world,” Hana writes. “As the chronicles continue to grow, the deepest and most essential essence of his spirit is still largely unknown.” A moving and poignant love letter from a daughter to a father, At Home with Muhammad Ali is the untold story of Ali’s family legacy—a gift both eternal and priceless.

Download or read book Muhammad Ali His Life and Times written by Thomas Hauser and published by Anova Books. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most recognisable, respected and inspirational men on earth, Muhammad Ali is the world's most famous boxing hero. Ali brought unprecedented speed and grace to the sport, and his charm and wit changed forever what the world expects of a champion athlete. In the words of over two hundred of Ali's family members, associates, opponents, friends and enemies, this comprehensive and honest portrait relates his legendary sporting accomplishments, as well as the high drama of life outside the boxing ring. From Olympic gold in Rome, to stunning victory over George Foreman in Zaire, every historic victory and defeat of Ali's career is covered. His controversial embrace of the Nation of Islam - with the renunciation of his 'slave name', Cassius Clay - and the historic refusal to be inducted into the US Army makes for compelling reading. Ali became America's first national conscientious objector, and with a willingness to stage his fights in Third World locales, he continued his advocacy for people in need which was honoured in 2000 when he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Charismatic, dedicated and a skilful self-publicist, Ali is the living embodiment of the American Dream. This is the biography to match his achievements.

Download or read book The Fredia Gibbs Story written by Fredia Gibbs and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fredia Gibbs Story is about a young black girl from the Fairground Projects, in Chester, Pennsylvania. This is the story of how she became billed as "the Most Dangerous Woman in the World" leading up to her last kickboxing championship fight. Read how she was given guidance during her youth to overcome the odds with her mother dealing with infidelity, growing up in the Fairgrounds Projects, being bullied, how sports were her best outlet, and how her uncle took her under his wing and introduced her to Quiet Storm Karate & Aikido School. Fredia talks all about her private life, coming out, the struggles of being a black female in Mixed Martial Arts, a male dominated sport, breaking color barriers, and being #1 in the World!

Download or read book Larry Holmes written by Larry Holmes and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Larry Holmes, the reader will experience the uplifting odyssey that took Larry Holmes from a boxing nobody to a world champion. Holmes is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight champions of our time and held the title for more than seven years. But his rise to the top was hardly an easy one. He began his life as one of twelve children raised by a single mother in Cuthbert, Georgia, and had to struggle in poverty for the first sixteen years of his life. His road to champion-from which he would net $40 million-was one requiring doggedness and extreme courage, qualities that led people to dub Holmes "The People's Champion." Also featured in the book is an insider's look at Holmes relationship with Muhammad Ali, his views on the state of boxing in the 1990s-including the Mike Tyson situation, his fights with Don King, and his ratings of the top boxers today. Larry Holmes is a champion in every sense of the word. He has risen to every challenge he faced-from poverty to ridicule to naysayers-and his life story is both inspiring and moving.

Download or read book The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told written by Jeff Silverman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Every once in a while, a book publisher comes up with a great concept for a series of books that deserve more than superficial recognition. Such a series is The Greatest (fill in the blank) Stories Ever Told, anthologies that should win places on many bedside tables. On the long winter nights that lie ahead, such stories make great reading." -The Lexington County Chronicle "THE GREATEST BOXING STORIES EVER TOLD assembles some of the best writing available on the sweet science and illuminates boxing in all its literal and symbolic glory. Each piece in this varied collection connects with the sort of powerful punch one can only expect from the world's greatest writers." -Boxing Digest In THE GREATEST BOXING STORIES EVER TOLD, editor Jeff Silverman delivers a knockout collection of not only the best writing ever penned on the subject of "the sweet science," but also stories that relate to the larger human issues the brutal sport has come to embody. Whether the story be about the triumph of a heroic champion, a tragic death in the ring, the shady tactics of fight promoters, or victories against seemingly impossible odds, each story in this varied collection connects powerfully with the reader. THE GREATEST BOXING STORIES EVER TOLD is the perfect gift for fight fans and non-fight fans alike, and with its allstar lineup of "contenders" throwing "haymakers" and "uppercuts" in every round, it stands as the definitive volume of short stories on this enduring pugilistic pastime.

Download or read book Gatekeeper written by Gary Goodridge and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2012-02 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biography of a pioneer in the mixed martial arts (MMA) scene, this work takes readers through Gary Big Daddy Goodridge's entire career - from his rollercoaster formative years and his emergence as a world champion athlete to his role as a loving father struggling to find work. With humble beginnings as an immigrant in a small city in Canada, Goodridge endured bullying as a child and honed his natural strength, athleticism, work ethic, and charisma while fighting on the streets and as a bouncer in clubs. Eventually learning to channel his rage into more productive outlets, Goodridge soon became a world-champion arm wrestler, a boxing champion, a lethal Ultimate Fighting Championship contender, and a renowned MMA warrior. Early in his career, Goodridge used his incredible strength to become the National Amateur Heavyweight Boxing Champ of Canada after only ten months of training. In 1996, he entered the Ultimate Fighting Championships; after knocking out his opponent in under a

Download or read book Victory Over Myself written by Floyd Patterson and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The autobiography of a man, unable to read or write at the age of ten, who became the heavyweight champion of the world.

Download or read book I Love My Daddy written by Sebastien Braun and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2004-04-13 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes daddies are loud and playful. Other times they are quiet and compassionate. And they are always loving. Sebastien Braun's appealing text and charming illustrations follow a day in the life of a bear and his bear cub in this celebration of the bond between father and child.

Download or read book Giants on My Shoulders the Untold Story Behind the Greatest Upset in Boxing History written by Ben Clement and published by Strategic Book Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary account of the life of unknown club boxer, Frank Steele, who sparred with legendary boxing greats like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Ernie Shavers. Impoverished from birth and poorly educated, Frank did the best he could to parlay his boxing prowess and brute strength into fame and fortune. Hired as Foreman's chief sparring partner to help prepare the champ for the Ali "Rumble in the Jungle" fight in Africa, he was fired after doing his job too well -- beating up Foreman and knocking his headgear into the audience. When Ali heard about the incident, he paid Frank $3,000 for the secret to defeating the unbeaten and seemingly invincible champion. This is the untold story of what lead to the greatest upset in boxing history.

Download or read book Boxing s Greatest Fighters written by Bert Randolph Sugar and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Easily the most enduring of all sports questions is "Who was/is the best . . . ?" Perhaps in no sport is the question more asked and argued over than in boxing. And in boxing perhaps none is more qualified to answer the question than Bert Randolph Sugar. In Boxing's Greatest Fighters, not only does the former publisher of Ring Magazine tell us who the best fighters were, he lists them in order. Could Sugar Ray Robinson have beaten Muhammad Ali? Could Sugar Ray Leonard have beaten Sonny Liston? The answer, most experts agree, would be "no." But what if, as Bert Sugar has done here, one were to take all the boxers and reduce them in the mind's eye to the same height, the same weight, and the same ring conditions? The answers would be quite different. And while some fans may express outrage that Rocky Marciano barely makes the top twenty, and Marvin Hagler staggers into the top seventy-five, others will nod eagerly when they read that Harry Greb and Benny Leonard were better than just about anybody. So whether you read Boxing's Greatest Fighters cover to cover, pick your favorites at random, or simply browse through the many rare photographs, "at the bell, come out arguing."

Download or read book The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China written by David J. Silbey and published by Hill and Wang. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise history of an uprising that took down a three-hundred-year-old dynasty and united the great powers. The year is 1900, and Western empires are locked in entanglements across the globe. The British are losing a bitter war against the Boers while the German kaiser is busy building a vast new navy. The United States is struggling to put down an insurgency in the South Pacific while the upstart imperialist Japan begins to make clear to neighboring Russia its territorial ambition. In China, a perennial pawn in the Great Game, a mysterious group of superstitious peasants is launching attacks on the Western powers they fear are corrupting their country. These ordinary Chinese—called Boxers by the West because of their martial arts showmanship—rise up seemingly out of nowhere. Foreshadowing the insurgencies of our recent past, they lack a centralized leadership and instead tap into latent nationalism and deep economic frustration to build their army. Many scholars brush off the Boxer Rebellion as an ill-conceived and easily defeated revolt, but in The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China, the military historian David J. Silbey shows just how close the Boxers came to beating back the combined might of the imperial powers. Drawing on the diaries and letters of allied soldiers and diplomats, he paints a vivid portrait of the war. Although their cause ended just as quickly as it began, the Boxers would inspire Chinese nationalists—including a young Mao Zedong—for decades to come.

Download or read book Ali written by Jonathan Eig and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2017 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on more than 500 interviews, including Muhammad Ali's closest associates, and enhanced by access to thousands of pages of newly released FBI records, this is a thrilling story of a man who became one of the great figures of the twentieth century.​

Download or read book Beatboxing written by Todd D Snyder and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-03 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.