Sporting Blood

"This book may cement [Acevedo's] status as one of today's best boxing journalists."--Kirkus Reviews

Boxing has one of the richest literary traditions in sports. From A. J.

Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great

writing. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that distinguished

tradition.

In this expanded edition of Sporting Blood, Acevedo adds two new masterful

essays--one about the murder of Stanley Ketchel, the other about the gangland

slaying of Battling Siki--to those that made his debut collection an instant

classic. Other highlights include a moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; a

penetrating look at the enigmatic Charles "Sonny" Liston; and a vivid profile

of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King's late 1980s reign of

terror. Acevedo also offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing's dark

side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Jake

LaMotta, and more.

Sporting Blood is a poetic throwback, a singular book that evokes

journalism's golden age and places Acevedo among the best sportswriters of his

generation.

Contents Foreword: Thomas Hauser 1: A Ghost Orbiting Forever: Muhammad Ali 1942-2016 2: Fugitive Days: Jack Johnson in Exile 3: The Last Goodbye: Remembering the Rivalry Between Roberto Dur?n and Esteban De Jes?s 4: Right on for the Darkness: On Aaron Pryor 1955-2016 5: The Catastrophist: The Troubled World of Don Jordan 6: Dark Sun: Remembering Joe Frazier 7: Strange Days: The Johnny Saxton Story 8: The Hurting Kind: Wilfredo Gomez vs. Lupe Pintor 9: Yesterday Will Make You Cry: The Short, Tragic Career of Davey Moore 10: Under Saturn: Johnny Tapia 1967-2012 11: Total Everything Now: Mike Tyson, 1988 12: The Windfall Factor: The Night Bert Cooper Almost Beat Evander Holyfield for the Heavyweight Title 13: Red Arrow: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston 14: The Dark Corner: The Furious Life of Jake LaMotta 15: A Young Old Man: The Tragic Life of Ad Wolgast 16: The Lightning Within: Tony Ayala, Jr. 17: No Exit: Eddie Machen 18: One Long Season in Hell: On Michael Dokes 19: Lightning Express: The Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall of Al Singer 20: Live Forward, Learned Backward: Mike Quarry and the "Quarry Curse" 21: Leftover Life to Kill: Who Will Remember Carmelo Negron?



22. The Busy World: The Murder of Stanley Ketchel



23. Too Far from Home: Battling Siki Comes to America