Boxing Nostalgia

Alex Daley

Description

The champs and challengers, unsung heroes and eccentrics, tragedies and bizarre little-known tales from the history of boxing are all here. This unique assortment of articles comes from the popular Boxing News "Yesterday's Heroes" column. In this compilation, Alex Daley has delved deep into the archives and interviewed ex-fighters to uncover some of boxing's most intriguing stories. British legends like Jimmy Wilde, Jim Driscoll, Ted Kid Lewis, Jock McAvoy, Benny Lynch, Freddie Mills, Randolph Turpin, John Conteh, and Terry Downes all feature, as do American greats like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, Sonny Liston, and Jack Dempsey. Read about the world champion who was sold to a boxing booth by his father, the bareknuckle champ who became an MP, women's boxing pioneers, and the fighter who started a mutiny. Boxing Nostalgia takes you on a journey through British ring history, from the bareknuckle era to the late 20th century, with stories that are often sad, staggering, or downright bizarre.

Sujets

• Boxing
• Xian de Boxing

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785314957
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

By the same author
Born to Box: The Extraordinary Story of Nipper Pat Daly
A truly remarkable story, even by boxing s remarkable standards... It s a brilliant book, a sensational book. - Steve Bunce, Box Nation
A riveting and thought-provoking book. - Colin Hart, The Sun
A sad story of what might have been versus what was. Drawing on a manuscript written by his grandfather in the late 1970s and his own independent research, Daley has fashioned a moving cautionary tale. The writing is evocative. - Thomas Hauser, thesweetscience.com
Taking time to set the scene and provide historical context, [the author] skilfully revives a remarkable and forgotten chapter in boxing history... An important book, and highly recommended. - John Exshaw, Boxing Monthly
Born to Box is the best sports book I ve read for years. The story of Nipper Pat Daly is an astonishing one. It s one you must read. Even if you hate boxing. Even if you don t like sport. Read this book. - Craig Ellyard, OldnDazed.co.uk
Fighting Men of London: Voices from Inside the Ropes
Fighting Men of London is a captivating collection of seven very different tales. Delving deep into their individual stories, Alex Daley gets up close and personal with some of British boxing s unsung heroes and forgotten stars. You can almost feel the blood, sweat and tears. - Colin Hart, The Sun
To read Daley s book is to be taken back, very deliberately, to a London - to an England - just the other side of the memory of most of us... Daley s London is very much a working-class city: a city of Irish, Jewish and, later, of Caribbean immigrants; a city of poverty and its constant companion, crime; a city of community and togetherness; a city blighted by war; a city of evacuated children... this is a fascinating book... East End boxing history at its best. - Boxing Monthly
Daley s labour of love brilliantly transports you to a forgotten era. It brings to life a magical age in vivid colour through emotive memories with reflections on boxing booths, World War II, the Krays and many other personalities. The stories all provide superb insight, casting a much-needed light on an era that might have otherwise been forgotten. - Boxing News
Fighting Men of London is a book about a throwback era in boxing, when brave men fought in smoke-filled halls for small purses... Daley is to be congratulated on his book, bringing to life the stories of proud fighters of the past with stories to tell - warts and all. - Blackpool Gazette
Told through seven former fighters with an eye for detail that makes you think of Gerald Kersh... As a history of East End culture, it s illuminating. - Peter Watts, The Great Wen, a London blog

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Alex Daley, 2018
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-455-1 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-495-7
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Contents
Author s Note
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Incredible Mr Reeve
2. Indelible Echoes
3. The Lesser-Known Patterson
4. Smashing, Dashing, Crashing Kid
5. Empire King
6. Once Is Not Enough
7. The First Man to KO Cockell
8. Manchester Memories
9. Craftsman Cullen
10. When Foster Fought Finnegan
11. McAvoy puts Babe to Sleep
12. Terrible Terence s TV milestone
13. The English Carnera
14. The Spectacular Life of John Gully
15. Ten Years a Champion
16. How Winstone Got his Cauliflower
17. Like Mother, Like Son
18. Memorialised
19. Floored by Flames
20. Premierland
21. Glencross and the Mini-Ali
22. Unbeatable
23. Boxing Booth Memories
24. Rudkin and the Cold- eyed Killer
25. Gloved Dynamite
26. Schooled by a Cuban Legend
27. Sid Nathan, 1922-2016
28. Nicky s Trip to the Top
29. Panama Al Brown in Britain
30. Memories of a Fairground Legend
31. Happy 80th, Terry Downes
32. The NSC s Last Hurrah
33. The Tipton Slasher
34. Punching Pitman
35. The Last Brit to Face Ali
36. Caldwell Immortalised in Bronze
37. Pompey Boxing Heroes
38. Mystery Man Sam
39. Dangerous Dan
40. Gunboat and the Orchid Man
41. Richmond Unchained
42. Only the Brave
43. You Only Fight Twice
44. The Forgotten Weights
45. Farewell, Dai Dower
46. Genuine Sheffield Steel
47. Randolph s Castle
48. Mighty Middles
49. Catford s Welsh Dragon
50. Nippy Needham
51. Benny s Hardest Fight
52. KO d by Hitler
53. Miracle Man
54. Peerless Jim s Last Stand
55. Globetrotting Great
56. Graveyard of Champions
57. Smiling Sammy
58. Jimmy Tippett, 1932-2016
59. Lancaster s Toy Bulldog
60. Lonsdale s First Belt
61. Undervalued
62. Campaign for Newport s Rocky
63. The Chalton Ring
64. Inkredible Ike
65. Lennie the Lion Williams, RIP
66. Portsmouth Plaque
67. The Showbiz Collector Strikes Back
68. The Genius of Jimmy Wilde
69. Happy 75th, Vic Andreetti
70. Boxing Booths of the Swinging 60s
71. The Playwright and the Professor
72. Harold s History
73. Lagos Liverpudlian
74. Danny s US Invasion
75. Born Entertainer
76. Fighting Greb
77. Voice of Brighton Boxing
78. Greb in Great Britain
79. Gardner vs Sykes
80. Undercover Pro
81. Hughie Smith, 1923-2017
82. Teddy s 90-year Anniversary
83. Turpin in Bournemouth
84. Battling Barbara
85. The Promoter who Vanished
86. Winstone vs Carroll
87. Boy Done Good
88. Mountain Men
89. Len s Farewell Fight
90. Mauled by the Toy Bulldog
91. Tommy s Toon Bar
92. Crowd Rage
93. Ali in Ireland
94. One of a Kind
95. Cauliflower Famine
96. Fred s Gym
97. Light-fly Pioneer
98. A True Professional
99. Joe s Belt
100. Portsmouth Monument
101. The Two That Got Away
102. Peter Fallon, 1928-2017
103. From Boxing to Business
104. Monocled Mauler
105. A Belting Idea
106. Vintage Downes
107. Palace of Punch
108. Mile End Arena
109. Heavyweight Pioneer
110. Brown s Belt
111. Trailblazer
112. Corbett Remembered
113. Remember the Name
114. Famechon Honoured
115. The Champion and the Child
116. Digger s Sad Tale
117. A Remarkable Life
118. Liston in Newcastle
119. Conteh s Longest Round
120. The KO Queen
121. The Liverpool Dane
122. South Coast Mr Boxing
123. Miracle Men
124. Gangster Tales
125. Long Arm of the Law
126. A Tragic Tale
127. Ricky s Rocky Road
128. Porter s Second Act
129. The Tragic Champion
130. Hollywood Heavyweight
131. The Fighting Bus Conductor
132. Lost Traditions
The Sweet Science is joined onto the past like a man s arm to his shoulder.
A.J. Liebling
Author s Note
Unwittingly, I began writing this book in September 2015, after receiving an email from Boxing News editor Matt Christie. Matt wanted to reintroduce a regular boxing history column to the magazine, and wondered if I d like to be the author.
I had two boxing books to my name but no real journalistic experience, so Matt was taking a chance on me. For me, though, it was an offer too good to turn down, an opportunity to write for British boxing s trade magazine about a subject I love; a subject curiously overlooked by boxing scribes, yet one that provides a rich vein of stories and personalities.
The articles in this book, published in date order, appeared in the magazine s Yesterday s Heroes column between 2015 and 2018. For two years I penned the weekly column alone, after which my friend, boxing historian Miles Templeton, became a co-contributor, and he and I write for BN now on alternate weeks. You ll notice, therefore, that the pieces in this book are dated weekly from October 2015 to October 2017, and fortnightly thereafter.
The articles, like Boxing News itself, have a distinctly British flavour. There are certain pieces centred on overseas fighters, but invariably these focus on their British contests or British opponents. I can t claim this is a comprehensive history of British boxing - that would be impossible inside a single volume. It does, however, showcase some of the most colourful and intriguing tales you ll ever hear - involving well-known fighters, forgotten names and others whose stories warrant retelling even though they never made it big .
For consistency, Boxing (the pre-1940 version of BN ) is referred to as Boxing News . Boxing records are mentioned frequently. Prewar records, which were compiled through newspaper research, can seldom be considered entirely complete, though for most records the majority of the fighter s bouts are there.
For those unfamiliar with the shorthand, wins appear first, losses second and draws (if any) third. So a fighter with a 32-5-2 record had 32 wins, five defeats and two draws. In most cases, fight statistics were kindly supplied by Miles Templeton.
Alex Daley
Foreword
Upon taking over as editor at Boxing News in 2015, the first thing I wanted to do was find a writer who could bring the past to life every week. Someone who could do the rich history of boxing justice, a history decorated with epic characters and stories. That writer turned out to be Alex Daley.
The world of journalism is ever changing. The internet opened the gates for all manner of writers and broadcasters to emerge and the sport of boxing, adored by millions of people all over the world, now receives more coverage