Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #399631 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Brunt provides penetrating and honest profiles of 15 fighters from around the world who faced Muhammad Ali, and he produces a book that should become one of the essential works for understanding the legendary fighter. Brunt's subjects range in chronological order from Tunney Hunsaker, the first man to fight Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) as a professional, to Larry Holmes, whose crushing victory in Ali's fourth comeback showed that the champion's career was truly finished. In between, Brunt (columnist for Toronto's Globe and Mail) offers bracing new looks at Ali's well-known opponents, including Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman. Some of Brunt's best portraits, however, bring to life those "extremely unlikely tales, longshots, no-hopers, fighters lifted out of obscurity for their date with the most famous man on earth," such as Germany's Jurgen Blin, who fought Ali and the next day "was back at work at the sausage factory." Although each story varies, Brunt is amazingly sensitive to and respectful of each fighter's own words, no matter how factually wrong or self-serving they might be. He deftly illustrates how all the fighters to some degree believe that, as Jean Pierre Coopman says, "The Ali fight was the defining moment of my career," although this feeling is ironic for some, such as George Chuvalo, who despite his winning record became better known in his native Canada for going the distance with Ali and losing. Others are bitter, such as Joe Frazier, who views Ali's current Parkinson's disease unsympathetically; as Brunt cannily observes, "on the cosmic scale, [Frazier's] getting even..
- getting even."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Muhammad Ali has been written about ad nauseum, but here we have a fresh approach: examine Ali the boxer through the eyes of his opponents. From the champs (Foreman), to the contenders (George Chuvalo), to the hopelessly overmatched (Jean-Pierre Coopman), the lives of Ali's opponents were profoundly shaped by facing (and, usually, getting pummeled by) an international icon. While Ali transcended boxing, his opponents didn't, and most of these fighters spent their lives getting beat up in the ring and out of it. That makes for fascinating reading, but for those who care more about Ali than, say, Earnie Shavers, the book is also chock-full of anecdotes and opinions about Ali as seen by his opponents. From each fighter's story, a different Ali emerges. To Frazier, Ali is a cruel bully. To Chuck Wepner, Ali is Apollo Creed to Wepner's Rocky Balboa. To Joe Bugner, Ali is just a brilliant businessman who knew how to put butts in seats. Between the perspectives on Ali and the witty, elegant retelling of 15 fighters' lives, this is a must for boxing fans. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
A Sports Illustrated Book-of-the-Year Pick

"This book should become one of the essential works for understanding the legendary fighter."
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"These are men of substance, worth getting to know. Brunt does them justice, but the author has done something even more impressive: He has found something new to report about Muhammad Ali." Sports Illustrated

"Brunt does an excellent job of bringing his subjects out of the shadow of The Greatest, recounting their often poignant tales of life before and after their dates with the champ. In the end, of course, we learn more about Ali."
Library Journal
"Makes it clear that boxing sure could use an Ali today--or any day."
Kirkus Reviews
"Between the perspectives on Ali and the witty, elegant retelling of fifteen fighters' lives, this is a must for boxing fans."
Booklist








"Brunt knows the sport of boxing cold and has given a voice to those whose customary mode of expression is their fists."--Quill & Quire, Canada's Magazine of Book News and Reviews

Customer Reviews

How Ali's Opponents Felt About Him (Then and Now)
This is one of the more fascinating studies of Ali's life because the stories are told from the perspective of those who faced him. Some harbor hostility (Joe Frazier), some admire him tremendously (Norton, Foreman, Coopman, Dunn), some attempt to demythologize him and show him to be a man with flaws (Holmes).

Any Ali fan is going to want to have this book! Stephen Blunt does a good job of tracking down the fighters (some, like Jurgen Blin and Karl Mildenberger, are more anonymous and are remembered primarily for facing Ali and were not as easy to locate).

Highly recommended.

A Split Decision
To be completely honest, it feels a little bad giving this book only a lukewarm review. It is, after all, a great idea for a book and a great find for anyone who became a fight fan in the era of Ali, Frazier, Norton, Foreman and the rest. But somehow, this manages to be a boxing book without much of anything to say about boxing. Instead of an up-close look at the characters as they rise or fall to their moment with Ali, we get a series of mini biographies about men who aren't necessarily all that interesting. Sure, Jurgen Blin and Joe Bugner may be nice enough men, but do their uninspired performances against Muhammad Ali make them worth spending any time with? Actually, considering the merciless and unforgiving nature of their chosen sport, the story of even the dullest mismatch could be interesting. But the author gives us too much back story on his subjects' lives, not enough on the euphoria, hope, sense of dread or foolish confidence that must have come with getting a crack at 'The Greatest.'

This is not to say, though, that there aren't some bright spots. Foreman, Frazier and Norton are all solid components of the legend, and their storied careers pretty much ensure more interesting chapters than the career of, say, Jean-Pierre Coopman. Even chapters on a few of the second and third-tier challengers (Chuvalo, Wepner) make for some good reading. But what we never learn, really, is what it was like for a Chuck Wepner to be picked from obscurity to fight for the title. We find out that Chuck got to train full time (for the first time in his life) at a resort in the Catskills. But did his shot at the title make his life better...worse? Did sudden fame lead to the end of his marriage and involvement, for a time, with drugs? Did he understand that he was a bit player in a very big show? He certainly seems to be a good guy, but was Wepner actually closer to being a 'goodfella' in those days?

This certainly isn't a bad book, and real fight fans will find it interesting, at least in places. But it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Tales of shady powerbrokers who control the fight game are hinted at here and there, but never mined as they might have been...we're often not given a clear picture of how most of these men are living these days, save for most of the British and European fighters who seem to have fared well. There are also a few factual errors which are a bit offputting. (in regard to Wepner, for instance, the author wonders whether the fighter will be remembered as the man who scored a questionable knockdown against the champ....or the man who was stopped by Ali in the 11th round. In truth, Wepner quite famously came within seconds of going the full 15 rounds.) Again, not a bad book, but one that feels like it could have been better.

More enjoyable than informative, nothing really technical, well-written portraits
I've been reading a lot of boxing books lately despite not being a big fan, mainly because it seems like the people who are involved in it are some of the most interesting people in any sport. This book is another one which strongly reiterates that. Like many of the other reviews say, you really do feel like you get to know something about these guys, about what they're like as people and nobody comes across as two dimensional.