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In This Corner…!: Book Review

Book CoverReview by Ian “The Boxing Historian” Murphy

It is a rare treat when boxing fans are able to get the inside scoop on a fighter’s life from the fighters themselves. Usually the information is from a secondary source at best, and this is particularly true with the fighters of many years ago. In In This Corner…!, Peter Heller profiles some of Boxing’s greatest and most celebrated champions and sheds light on the lives and times of over forty boxers via direct interview. The importance of this cannot be understated. There is little room for interpretation, as by and large these are the words of the interviewees themselves. They ranged from Olympic Champions like Fidel LaBarba, Jackie Fields, and Floyd Patterson to street kids Rocky Graziano and Jake LaMotta to the “Cinderella Man”, James J. Braddock.

The book is broken down by decade, starting in the 1910s with Willie Ritchie and (after a later edition) ending in 1974 with Alexis Arguello. In between, boxing immortals like Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Billy Conn, Willie Pep, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore and Roberto Duran all tell their stories and offer tremendous insight into the minds and hearts of fighters. Many other greats that may not be so well known (mostly due to a long passage of time) are included. Men like brainy Tommy Loughran, brilliant Ike Williams, and brutal Fritzie Zivic are also featured.

In This Corner…! gives us the fighter’s perspective as a combatant inside the ring and the details what most people often miss when they are just casual observers. The accounts of the fouls committed alone will make your eyes bulge! Some interviewees give blow by blow narratives of their greatest matches, while others blast the boxing establishment. The seedier side of the boxing business is covered in depth, and nearly every fighter in the book has their own cautionary tale about being ripped off, fighting on short notice, giving up massive weight, or being forced to fix fights to appease the underworld figures always lurking in the distance.

A common theme is the mutual respect for an opponent. 169lb Billy Conn was boxing the ears off of 204lb Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis in their epic 1941 title bout, only to lose via knockout in the 13th round. Conn did not slam Louis in defeat, but instead praised his perseverance and blamed the loss on his own hubris, or as he called it, “being Irish”.
Tommy Loughran shows his humility after he beats a great but aging George Carpentier, saying that he never would have beaten him when the Frenchman was at his best. Also, Rocky Graziano has nothing but nice things to say about Tony Zale, who knocked him into next week on two separate occasions.

While all of the fighter’s stories were entertaining and revealing, some stood out more than others. The chapters on Jack Dempsey, Billy Conn, Tommy Loughran, Rocky Graziano, Mickey Walker, Henry Armstrong and Jake LaMotta were particularly great. For example, when the 5’11, 180lb Loughran was to fight 6’5 265lb Primo Carnera for the Heavyweight title, Tommy was rightly concerned with the Ambling Alp’s size. However, it wasn’t Carnera’s power that worried Loughran, it was the the champion’s habit of hanging on his opponents, using his tremendous weight to tire them out. Loughran came up with a brilliant solution: terribly smelly hair grease placed on the crown of his head! From the man himself: “as soon as we’d clinch, I’d put my head right up under Carnera’s nose, and I still have pictures of him, in sheer disgust, trying to shove me off”. You can’t make this stuff up.

The style in which Heller gives his interviews is free-form. He allows the fighters to tell it in their own way, and in their own language. This is refreshing because the visceral reality of a boxer’s life is far from safe and polished. Some of the men not surprisingly sound rough and unrefined, but others come off the complete opposite. Tommy Loughran especially gives off an aura of cerebral professionalism, in the vein of Jim Corbett and Gene Tunney. Loughran became a successful businessman after his ring career, and there is little doubt that his defensive mastery contributed to his long term safety and success. However, for every Tunney or Loughran, there are dozens who took far too many beatings and hung on too long.

In showcasing the scary and negative side of the boxing business, many of the tales in this book can be looked at as cautionary, but in the face of the danger that accompanies a lengthy ring career, these men shine brightly as brave heroes who sacrifice so much to entertain us. In This Corner…! presents the lives of Boxing’s greatest, giving us the good, the bad, and the (sometimes very) ugly. Still, the negative is tempered by a steady stream of humor, showing the human side of these great ring warriors.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, highly recommended. This should be part of any boxing fan’s education.

Post Script: One fighter that I wish was a part of this piece (and was initially supposed to be) was Sonny Liston. Sonny had died during the time period when Heller was writing this book. I always had the inkling that Liston was misunderstood, and that hearing his story in his own words could have been very enlightening, and perhaps given the oft-maligned Sonny a chance at redemption. Another champion that did not make this list was Rocky Marciano, who also died while Heller was in the process of compiling his interviews.

Purchase In This Corner….!

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