The Heavyweight Championship

Author : Mark Allen Baker
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476677654
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.51/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The World Colored Heavyweight Championship, 1876-1937 written by Mark Allen Baker and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 : Paul Beston
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442272902
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.03/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Boxing Kings written by Paul Beston and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 : Arly Allen
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476664447
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Jess Willard written by Arly Allen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-12-19 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jess Willard, the "Pottawatomie Giant," won the heavyweight title in 1915 with his defeat of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. At 6 feet, 6 inches and 240 pounds, Willard was considered unbeatable in his day. He nonetheless lost to Jack Dempsey in 1919 in one of the most brutally one-sided contests in fistic history. Willard later made an initially successful comeback but was defeated by Luis Firpo in 1923 and retired from the ring. He died in 1968, largely forgotten by the boxing public. Featuring photographs from the Willard family archives, this first full-length biography provides a detailed portrait of one of America's boxing greats.

Author : Nat Fleischer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Heavyweight Championship written by Nat Fleischer and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Adam J. Pollack
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476618348
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book John L. Sullivan written by Adam J. Pollack and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-02-28 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 : Nathaniel S Fleischer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Heavyweight Championship written by Nathaniel S Fleischer and published by . This book was released on 1954 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : John G. Robertson
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476637318
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book When the Heavyweight Title Mattered written by John G. Robertson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-05-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world heavyweight boxing championship once transcended the sport, conferring global renown. This book gives detailed coverage to five legendary championship bouts that captivated audiences worldwide. Coaxed out of retirement by the press, former champ James J. Jeffries challenged black titleholder Jack Johnson--universally despised by white audiences--in 1910, in hopes of returning the title to the white race. In 1921, dapper World War I hero and light-heavyweight champion Georges Carpentier hoped to upset heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey, widely considered a draft-dodger, in a fight that garnered the first "million dollar gate." In perhaps the most politically charged bout ever, "Brown Bomber" Joe Louis, popular with both white and black America, faced Nazi Germany's Max Schmeling--the first ever to win the title by disqualification--at a sold-out Yankee stadium in 1938. A relentless brawler, undefeated Rocky Marciano in 1952 sought to bludgeon the title away from the more experienced and savvier Joe Walcott, at 38 the oldest heavyweight champ in history. In a monumental clash of two undefeated world champions, Muhammad Ali--on the comeback trail after his title was stripped from him for refusing to be drafted during the Vietnam War--squared off with titleholder Joe Frazier in 1971.

Author : Joseph S. Page
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786457864
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Primo Carnera written by Joseph S. Page and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At over six and a half feet tall and nearly 300 pounds, heavyweight champion Primo Carnera was a giant for his times, but today "the Ambling Alp" is too often written off as an unskilled oaf and a product of the mob dealings that plagued boxing during the 1930s. He may not have been a natural in the ring, but he worked as hard as any boxer to learn his craft, to be in top condition, and he repeatedly showed that he was tougher than nails. This biography details Carnera's early life and boxing career, his success as a fighter as well as accusations of fight fixing, his strengths and limitations in the ring, and his later career as a wrestler.

Author : John Durant
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Heavyweight Champions written by John Durant and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Nat Fleischer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 303 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Heavyweight Championship written by Nat Fleischer and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: