New York Fight Nights

Tom Myler

Description

No city in the world is more associated with boxing than New York. So take a ringside seat on the city's greatest ever fight nights. Join the roaring crowds at iconic venues including Madison Square Garden, the Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds and the Long Island Bowl - in the company of boxing historian Thomas Myler. Soak up the atmosphere and enjoy all the inside stories, including the riot following the Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota farce, and the human buzzsaw that was Henry Armstrong against Barney Ross. James J Braddock shocked the boxing world to become boxing's 'Cinderella Man' by taming Max Baer, while Tommy Farr upset all predictions by staying 15 rounds with the feared Joe Louis. New York Fight Nights is a wide-ranging, exciting trip through boxing history which enables you to follow Floyd Patterson's historic battle with Ingmar Johansson, to witness Randolph Turpin's tragic downfall against Carl Bobo Olson - and the Harry Greb-Mickey Walker slugfest that continued outside on the sidewalk.

Sujets

• Nueva York
• Boxing
• Xian de Boxing
• New York

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785313431
• Langue: English

Extrait

What they said about Thomas Myler s previous books
Boxing s Hall of Shame
Well written and thoroughly researched by one of the best boxing writers in these islands. Myler has a keen eye for the story behind the story. A must read for all fight fans.
Yorkshire Post
Boxing scribe Thomas Myler shares with the reader a ringside seat for the sport s most controversial fights. It s an engaging read, one that feeds our fascination with the darker side of the sport.
Bert Sugar, author and broadcaster
Ringside with the Celtic Warriors
The latest offering from this highly respected boxing writer is well up to the standard we expect from him.
Boxing News
Thomas Myler has come up with another gem. His credentials and easy, readable style make this a must book for fight fans.
The Sun
As a ring historian, Thomas Myler has few peers.
Belfast Telegraph
Close Encoun ters with the Gloves Off
Reading like a beautiful love letter to the fight game s glorious past, there s not a better boxing book on the shelves - anywhere.
Irish Independent
Admired and respected around the world, Thomas Myler has surpassed himself with this latest offering.
Dublin Herald
Sugar Ray Robinson: The Inside Story
It s all here, from Robinson s impoverished upbringing in Detroit and New York, through his rise to fame and fortune - and his eventual decline and death. A must read.
Boxing News
Thomas Myler has written a gripping account of the life and colourful times of the original Sugar Ray in a lively, page-turning style.
Dublin Herald
A must for any student of the sweet science. Robinson s story by the author is a fascinating read. Don t miss it.
Daily Star
Boxing s Greatest Upsets: Fights That Shook The World
A respected writer, Myler has compiled a worthy volume on the most sensational and talked-about upsets of the gloved era, drawing on interviews, archive footage and worldwide contacts.
Yorkshire Evening Post
Fight fans will glory in this offbeat history of boxing s biggest shocks, from Gentleman Jim s knockout of John L Sullivan in 1892 to the modern era. A must for your bookshelf.
Hull Daily Mail
Book of the Month
Lonsdale Sports
Myler s ability to dig deep, gather plenty of background information, coupled with his easy-flowing style of writing, paints a fascinating scene building up to the contests. We urge you to add this book to your collection.
Boxing News
Myler doesn t just deal with what happened inside the ropes but also provides a balanced overview of the controversies, personalities and historical contexts that make these fights worth reading about.
Ring

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2017
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Thomas Myler, 2017
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-299-1 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-343-1
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Scorched scalps and a cauliflower ear
2. Madison mayhem on a night of shame
3. Atom drops on the flys
4. The Man Mountain and the Mob
5. Tale of the Unexpected
6. Blondes, brunettes and bruises
7. Gritty Welsh miner who dug in with the best
8. Drama at the Graveyard
9. Somebody up there liked Rocky
10. From triumph to tragedy
11. Going for the impossible dream
12. Quiet man in a business of violence
13. Ring war that ended on the sidewalk
14. Night of the record breakers
Bibliography
Photographs
Thomas Myler is a well-known boxing historian, journalist, author and broadcaster. This is his eighth book. His most recent was Close Encounters with the Gloves Off , also published by Pitch, which includes interviews with famous boxing champions recalling the highs and lows of their careers. Thomas has spent a lifetime around boxers and boxing, and his work has appeared in many publications including Boxing News, Boxing Illustrated, Boxing Digest and Fighting Fit , plus Irish newspapers and magazines. He lives in Dublin.
Dedication
To Betty, the undisputed champion
Acknowledgements
T HIS book would not have been possible without the help of so many people too numerous to mention. But special note must be made of Boxing News and Independent News and Media for their always helpful assistance, as well as fine writers like Bob Mee and John Jarrett, two very good friends and true experts in the noble art. What they don t know about boxing is not worth knowing. My family, too, were always by my side, Jacqueline, Sinead, Ciaran, Colin and Vivian. Sadly, my wife Betty passed away after a short illness before I started writing this book, but she would have given it her full approval.
Many of the photographs are by kind permission of Associated Press, Press Association , Boxing News, Ring, Irish Independent and Evening Herald . The remainder are from the Thomas Myler Collection . Last but certainly not least, full credit must go to Pitch Publishing for having the foresight, dedication and care to get the book into print. Credit here must go to publishing executives Paul and Jane Camillin and their excellent team.
Thank you all.
Introduction
B OXING was first established in New York on 17 July 1882, when the newly opened Madison Square Garden at East 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan featured its first world champion, heavyweight John L Sullivan. Of Irish parentage, Sullivan was the man who used to walk into a bar in his native Boston, slam his huge right fist on the counter and declare, before ordering a large beer: My name is John L Sullivan and I can lick any sonofabitch in the house. Not surprisingly, there were never any takers.
Sullivan had won the title five months earlier, when he knocked out Paddy Ryan in nine rounds in Mississippi. Boxing was at the time fought under London Prize Ring Rules with tight, unpadded gloves. Essentially, it was bare-knuckle fighting. For John L s Garden appearance, the occasion would be an exhibition over four rounds with an Englishman, Tug Wilson from Leicestershire, with no title at stake.
Wilson had begun his ring career in fairgrounds and built up a reputation as a tough, rugged battler. He expressed the view that he would return to England as Sullivan s conqueror and new champion. Wilson was managed by the publisher Richard K Fox, who had backed a succession of fighters to beat the Boston Strong Boy with no success. This time, Wilson could well be the man to pull it off. A crowd of 12,000 witnessed a farce. Fox accepted John L s boast that if an opponent was still on his feet after four rounds, he could take the $1,000 forfeit as well as half the gate receipts. It didn t matter to Wilson that he was effectively an overgrown middleweight, having started his career as a featherweight. He was also 35 years of age while John L was in his prime, with his 24th birthday coming up.
All through the scheduled four rounds, with sweat rolling down his bulging torso, Sullivan relentlessly pursued his quarry in the stifling arena - and every time he came within striking distance, Wilson went down, usually before a blow was landed. In the opening round, the Leicester fighter hit the canvas seven times, each time staying down for a count of nine, which effectively meant he spent slightly more than a third of the round on the floor.
Grabbing, holding, wrestling and running at every opportunity, Wilson continued to drop regularly at the approach of the tiring champion and he was still technically on his feet when the final bell sounded. Sullivan was wild with rage, and he had reason to be, for not only had he failed, mainly through his own slowness and general lack of fitness, to knock out a third-rate opponent but he had lost the $1,000 forfeit and half the gate takings. You re a cheat, he bellowed across the ring at Wilson. That was no fight. It was a farce. You disgraced my name in front of all these people, people who came to watch a fair fight and didn t get it. We ll have to fight again.
They never did. Deep down, Wilson knew in his own heart he would stand little if any chance with Sullivan in a real fight, no matter how long it lasted. Returning to England he continued his career, trading on his newly acquired fame that he was still on his feet after taking on the great John L - and calling himself champion of the world. Nobody took him seriously. There was only one man entitled to that claim - Sullivan himself.
John L was back at the Garden on 14 May 1883, when he stopped Birmingham s Charlie Mitchell, the British Empire champion, in three rounds. Prizefighting was illegal in New York but the organisers would get around what they called that little problem by listing the fights as sparring matches or exhibitions in the manly art of self defence . For the Sullivan-Mitchell fight, there were two local policemen at ringside to keep a sharp eye on proceedings. US sources list the result as a KO in the third round but it was officially stopped on orders from the cops, who motioned to Sullivan s corner that they bring the affair to a close. At this stage, the Englishman was hanging helpless and almost motionless on the ropes, with John L about to charge in and apply the finisher.
Just one more crack at him, pleaded Sullivan to his cornermen. Let me hit him just once more. Do you want to kill him, John? responded one