Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing - Expanded Edition

"This book may cement [Acevedo's] status as one of today’s best boxing journalists."—Kirkus Reviews\nBoxing has one of the richest literary traditions in sports. From A. J. Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great writing. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that distinguished tradition.
In this expanded edition of Sporting Blood, Acevedo adds two new masterful essays—one about the murder of Stanley Ketchel, the other about the gangland slaying of Battling Siki—to those that made his debut collection an instant classic. Other highlights include a moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; a penetrating look at the enigmatic Charles “Sonny” Liston; and a vivid profile of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King’s late 1980s reign of terror. Acevedo also offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing’s dark side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Jake LaMotta, and more.
Sporting Blood is a poetic throwback, a singular book that evokes journalism’s golden age and places Acevedo among the best sportswriters of his generation.
Contents\nForeword: Thomas Hauser\n1: A Ghost Orbiting Forever: Muhammad Ali 1942–2016\n2: Fugitive Days: Jack Johnson in Exile\n3: The Last Goodbye: Remembering the Rivalry Between Roberto Durán and Esteban De Jesús\n4: Right on for the Darkness: On Aaron Pryor 1955–2016\n5: The Catastrophist: The Troubled World of Don Jordan\n6: Dark Sun: Remembering Joe Frazier\n7: Strange Days: The Johnny Saxton Story\n8: The Hurting Kind: Wilfredo Gomez vs. Lupe Pintor\n9: Yesterday Will Make You Cry: The Short, Tragic Career of Davey Moore\n10: Under Saturn: Johnny Tapia 1967–2012\n11: Total Everything Now: Mike Tyson, 1988\n12: The Windfall Factor: The Night Bert Cooper Almost Beat Evander Holyfield for the Heavyweight Title\n13: Red Arrow: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston\n14: The Dark Corner: The Furious Life of Jake LaMotta\n15: A Young Old Man: The Tragic Life of Ad Wolgast\n16: The Lightning Within: Tony Ayala, Jr.\n17: No Exit: Eddie Machen\n18: One Long Season in Hell: On Michael Dokes\n19: Lightning Express: The Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall of Al Singer\n20: Live Forward, Learned Backward: Mike Quarry and the “Quarry Curse”\n21: Leftover Life to Kill: Who Will Remember Carmelo Negron?\n22. The Busy World: The Murder of Stanley Ketchel\n23. Too Far from Home: Battling Siki Comes to America