Boxing in the American Century

I posted a book review for the book, The Boxing Kings by Paul Beston on Goodreads. Sometimes I copy book reviews to the blog but this time, I had some different thoughts after reading the book that didn't really fit into the book review.

Paul Beston makes a connection to boxing and the American century of the 1900s. It’s true, most of that century was dominated by American heavyweights. The lower weight classes had champions from around the world. The first recognized heavyweight boxing champ was Boston bred, John L. Sullivan. Heavyweight boxing losses the public imagination in this country with the end of Evander Holyfield around 2000. The Klitchkos ruled the heavyweights for the past decade and no one pays attention. 

I watched boxing in the 1980s through the Holyfield years because HBO made a lot of matches accessible. Larry Holmes was the big champ through most of the 1980s and he wasn’t charismatic so middleweights took more attention. Beston makes that point too. I wrote blogs about Marvelous Marvin Hagler who was a middleweight. Sugar Ray Leonard was a middleweight. Roberto Duran was huge in the 1980s and not a heavyweight boxer. History is kinder to Holmes because he fought a lot of challengers, but he took on some fighters before they were ready and that diminished him in the public eye also. 

Beston didn’t think highly of Mike Tyson. I may write a blog about Tyson later. When he hit the scene, he was exciting. The guy was a tornado. He won by knockout in early rounds. He ended the careers of boxers that hung around too long or were hyped up too high. Tyson took the championship quick and with a lot of people watching. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the author's assessment, but he makes a point that was repeated by other authors. Tyson lost big fights. When the initial fear of him subsided, he didn’t offer much. He lost to Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, and some fighters that never made the big time. He relied on fear and a powerful punch. The bobbing and weaving and footwork stopped. He just ran in like a bull. Throw in Tyson's outside the ring life and he is diminished in the public eye. 

YouTube has a lot of great boxing clips. I saw multiple James Corbett fight clips from 1892. This one clip was terrible because there are times it’s just outlines of a person and black dots for gloves. I never thought I would see a Corbett so that bit was very exciting to me. There are other clips that have been restored. There are plenty of Jack Johnson clips. I plan on looking up more as time goes on. Gene Tunney clips! 

If you’re a boxing fan, you’ll like this book. You can also see a lot of great clips with a little research.