The World Heavyweight Boxing Championship PDF Download

Author: John Dennis McCallum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801959516
Category : African American athletes
Languages : en
Pages : 393

View

Book Description
Paints an unvarnished picture of the 24 greats who have ruled the sport's most glamorous division - the Heavyweight Champions of the World. Tells all the inside stories of the great ring bouts, the men who fought those grueling rounds, and the men who made and managed the champs.

Author: Mark Allen Baker
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476677654
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 261

View

Book Description
For six decades the World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a useful tool of racial oppression--the existence of the title far more important to the white public than its succession of champions. It took some extraordinary individuals, most notably Jack Johnson, to challenge "the color line" in the ring, although the title and the black fighters who contended for it continued until the reign of Joe Louis a generation later. This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the 28 professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring.

Author: John Florio
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0762797681
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 309

View

Book Description
It was 1976 when Leon and Michael Spinks first punched their way into America’s living rooms. That year, they became the first brothers to win Olympic gold in the same Games. Shortly thereafter, they became the first brothers to win the heavyweight title: Leon toppled The Greatest, Muhammad Ali; Michael beat the unbeatable Larry Holmes. With a cast of characters that includes Ali, Holmes, Mike Tyson, Gerry Cooney, Dwight Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and dozens of friends, relatives, and boxing figures, ONE PUNCH FROM THE PROMISED LAND tells the unlikely story of the Spinks brothers. Their rise from the Pruitt-Igoe housing disaster. Their divergent paths of success. And their relationship with America. The book also uncovers stories never before made public: the big paydays, the high living, the backroom deals. It’s not afraid to tackle an issue rarely discussed: Does the heavyweight title deliver on its promise to young men in the inner city? This is the definitive story of Leon and Michael Spinks. And a cross-examination of heavyweight boxing in 20th century America.

Author: Paul Beston
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442272902
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 374

View

Book Description
For much of the twentieth century, boxing was one of America’s most popular sports, and the heavyweight champions were figures known to all. Their exploits were reported regularly in the newspapers—often outside the sports pages—and their fame and wealth dwarfed those of other athletes. Long after their heyday, these icons continue to be synonymous with the “sweet science.” In The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring, Paul Beston profiles these larger-than-life men who held a central place in American culture. Among the figures covered are John L. Sullivan, who made the heavyweight championship a commercial property; Jack Johnson, who became the first black man to claim the title; Jack Dempsey, a sporting symbol of the Roaring Twenties; Joe Louis, whose contributions to racial tolerance and social progress transcended even his greatness in the ring; Rocky Marciano, who became an embodiment of the American Dream; Muhammad Ali, who took on the U.S. government and revolutionized professional sports with his showmanship; and Mike Tyson, a hard-punching dynamo who typified the modern celebrity. This gallery of flawed but sympathetic men also includes comics, dandies, bookworms, divas, ex-cons, workingmen, and even a tough-guy-turned-preacher. As the heavyweight title passed from one claimant to another, their stories opened a window into the larger history of the United States. Boxing fans, sports historians, and those interested in U.S. race relations as it intersects with sports will find this book a fascinating exploration into how engrained boxing once was in America’s social and cultural fabric.

Author: Terry Middleton
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1665522038
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 273

View

Book Description
This book is dedicated to my grandfather, Clarence Middleton, who boxed while in the United States Army during WWI, and my Father, Dennis Middleton, who boxed while in the United States Navy during WWII. My first memories were watching my Dad workout when I was a young kid. He used Boxing and weight training routines as a way to exercise after the war.

Author: Gavin Evans
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Limited
ISBN: 9780297844204
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 227

View

Book Description
Discusses the origins and evolution of the sport of boxing, as well as memorable events and key personalities in the game's history.

Author: James B. Roberts
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781590131213
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 782

View

Book Description
A fully illustrated and researched update to a classic reference guide includes entries for all of the inductees in the Boxing Hall of Fame through 2006, in an official record book that lists key facts and figures while providing numerous action photographs. Original.

Author: Adam J. Pollack
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476618348
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 255

View

Book Description
Essentially the last of the bare-knuckle heavyweight champions, John L. Sullivan was instrumental in the acceptance of gloved fighting. His charisma and popular appeal during this transitional period contributed greatly to making boxing a nationally popular, "legitimate" sport. Sullivan became boxing's first superstar and arguably the first of any sport. From his first match in the late 1870s through his final championship fight in 1892, this biography contains a thoroughly researched, detailed accounting of John L. Sullivan's boxing career. With special attention to the 1880s, the decade during which Sullivan came to prominence, it follows Sullivan's skill development and discusses his opponents and fights in detail, providing various viewpoints of a single event. Beginning with a discussion of early boxing practices, the sport itself is placed within sociological, legal and historical contexts including anti-prize fighting laws and the so-called "color line." A complete record of Sullivan's career is also included.

Author: Ken Brooks
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476620237
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 271

View

Book Description
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 Goteborg 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.

Author: Dan McCaffery
Publisher: Miles Kelly Publishing
ISBN: 9781550286977
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 298

View

Book Description
"I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world not the white, or the Canadian or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don't want the title." In an era of pervasive racism, Tommy Burns had the courage to embrace bouts with African-Americans, including the great Jack Johnson. When Johnson won, the American South exploded with racial violence and Burns' reputation was widely smeared. But Burns was a terrific fighter who still holds many records after almost a century: he's the only World Heavyweight Champion to have defended his title twice in one night; his eight consecutive knockouts while champ have never been bettered; and at 5'7" he was the shortest titleholder in history. Award-winning journalist Dan McCaffery at last tells Burns' astonishing story: his humble beginnings and hard-won success, as well as his personal tragedies and virtually unmourned death. Here is a heroic Canadian who beat the odds, defied world opinion, and came out swinging.