Praise for Sporting Blood
“Stringing seemingly disparate boxing stories together as intimate vignettes that document the sorrow and heartache of the most decorated—and forgotten— fighters of every generation, Acevedo strikes the reader early with a quick jab and refuses to let up.”
—Christian Giudice, author of Hands of Stone: The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran and Macho Time: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of Hector Camacho
“A collection of twenty brilliant essays, Carlos Acevedo's Sporting Blood represents the highest level of boxing writing. Poetic and evocative, Acevedo sends readers into the darkest corners of professional boxing. These are the untold stories of some of boxing's most tragic and enigmatic figures and will appeal to fight fans and historians alike.”
—Todd Snyder, author of 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia and Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
“As someone who makes a living writing about the sport and business of boxing, there is no one that educates and entertains me more about its state of affairs—past and present—than Carlos Acevedo. He's insightful, witty, enlightened, and his words often cut like a knife. I find him to be the most compelling read in our sport.”
—Steve Kim, ESPN.com
“It's rare to find in one writer a restless historian, a penetrating boxing observer, and a poet who never loses sight of how ‘yesterday will make you cry.’ Whether he's considering an iconic figure such as Mike Tyson or a forgotten warrior like Carmelo Negron, Carlos Acevedo pursues a theme that extends far beyond boxing: the desperate quests some human beings undertake and the loneliness that runs beneath it all. Sporting Blood shows him working at top form.”
—Paul Beston, author of The Boxing Kings: When American Heavyweights Ruled the Ring
Copyright © 2020 Carlos Acevedo
Foreword copyright © 2020 Thomas Hauser
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-949590-07-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Acevedo, Carlos, 1972–, author. | Hauser, Thomas, foreword author.
Title: Sporting blood / Carlos Acevedo ; foreword by Thomas Hauser.
Description: Includes bibliographical references. | Boston, MA: Hamilcar Publications
Identifiers: LCCN 2019953179 | ISBN 978-1949590074
Subjects: LCSH Boxing. | Boxing—History. | Boxers (Sports). | BISAC SPORTS & RECREATION / Boxing.
Classification: LCC GV1121.A34 2020 | DDC 796.83/09—dc23
Hamilcar Publications
An imprint of Hannibal Boxing Media
Ten Post Office Square, 8th Floor South
Boston, MA 02109
Printed in the United Kingdom
On the jacket: Johnny Saxton loses to Carmen Basilio when the referee waves off their welterweight fight in the second round at the Cleveland Arena on February 22,1957.
Frontispiece: Jake LaMotta knocks out Bob Satterfield in the seventh round of their light-heavyweight fight at Wrigley Field in Chicago on September 12, 1946.
Photo of Carmelo Negron on page 202 copyright © Geoffrey Biddle.
All other photos supplied by Getty Images and the Associated Press.
To the fallen
Contents
2 A Ghost Orbiting Forever MUHAMMAD ALI, 1942–2016
3 Fugitive Days JACK JOHNSON IN EXILE
4 The Last Goodbye THE RIVALRY BETWEEN ROBERTO DURÁN AND ESTEBAN DEJESÚS
5 Right on for the Darkness ON AARON PRYOR, 1955–2016
6 The Catastrophist THE TROUBLED WORLD OF DON JORDAN
7 Dark Sun REMEMBERING JOE FRAZIER
8 Strange Days THE JOHNNY SAXTON STORY
9 The Hurting Kind WILFREDO GOMEZ VS. LUPE PINTOR
10 Yesterday Will Make You Cry THE SHORT, TRAGIC CAREER OF DAVEY MOORE
11 Under Saturn JOHNNY TAPIA, 1967–2012
12 Total Everything Now MIKE TYSON, 1988
13 The Windfall Factor THE NIGHT BERT COOPER ALMOST BEAT EVANDER HOLYFIELD FOR THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
14 Red Arrow THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF SONNY LISTON
15 The Dark Corner JAKE LAMOTTA, SURVIVOR
16 A Young Old Man AD WOLGAST AND THE REJUVENATOR
17 The Lightning Within TONY AYALA JR.