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In This Corner . . . !: Forty-two World Champions Tell Their Stories
Here is Jake LaMotta discussing his career as a hoodlum; Floyd Patterson on growing up in the ghetto; Gunboat Smith on the Jack Johnson era; Jack Dempsey on the Willard fight and the Tunney ”long count”; Rocky Graziano on showbiz; and dozens of others—including Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pastrano, José Torres, Carmen Basilio, Joe Louis, Willie Pep, and Archie Moore—on boxers, racketeers, drugs, payoffs, managers. Including two never-before-published interviews with Roberto Durán and Alexis Argüello, this newly expanded and updated edition of In This Corner. . . ! is undoubtedly the best one-volume history of boxing ever written.
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Peter Heller
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 16, 2007
This is one of the best book's I've read. Surprising its about champion prize fighters. It inspired trips to Madsion Square Garden, a brief encounter with Angelo Dundee and is the only book I've ever stolen. Stolen from the author because the original 1973 Simon and Schuster copy is superb, complete with jacket illustrations by Pryer(?) Hane, designed by Jack Jaget. Peter forgave me long ago. This book was so good Sly Stallone lifted excerpts to write the script for Rocky.
January 24, 2020
This one comes with a superlative recommendation from none other than "Iron" Mike Tyson, who mentioned in his book "Iron Ambition" how this book was almost a holy relic for him during his formative years when Cus D'Amato was molding him into a champ up in Catskill, New York.
The book's premise is straightforward and its chronology is equally clear. We hear from none of the great scribes of boxing, nor from the great promoters with their multi-syllabic spiels and hokum in "In this Corner." This time out we hear only from the fighters themselves, their thoughts on the sweet science, life, the changes they've viewed in the world around them as they grew from hungry young boys to old men left with some great memories but unfortunately not much money.
In the early going of the book, old salts from the 20s and thirties with names like "Gunboat" or "Red" tell tales about riding rail cars and fighting bare knuckle in mining camps. This part of the book is a real treasury of voices captured from a bygone era, men whose way of speaking we usually only encounter secondhand through folk songs or Steinbeck novels, here telling their own stories of battling their way through dire poverty or racism merely to get the chance to fight for money (also not an easy life).
The fighters who were active from the 40's to the 60s are probably the most colorful characters, men who, like their forebears, came from hardscrabble backgrounds but unlike them at least had the chance to enjoy some of the money and fame that came when boxing was in every living room thanks to the wonders of the boob tube and postwar prosperity made it harder to be pessimistic.
If you're already familiar with the idols of Fistiana, you don't need me to tell you who had the gift of gab or the sharpest mind, and therefore produced some of the best oral accounts of the way it was. Henry Armstrong is as graceful and indefatigable in print as he was in the ring or as he looked in that old sepia-scarred photo by Carl Van Vechten. Archie "the Old Mongoose" Moore was a true renaissance man and a brilliant raconteur in any context, so naturally he shines here, too.
Even the most die-hard fan, will be surprised by who punches well above their weight in this collection, though, where the choicest insights crop up and how smart a lot of supposedly dumb or punch-drunk pugs can be, and the kind of native wisdom and raw poetry a man who had sixth grade education can conjure up, if only someone is there to shut up and listen.
I've heard Peter Heller is a great writer, and that may be true, but thank god he didn't try to prove it in this book. He gets out of the way of his subjects and it's a hell of a thing to behold. I've read hundreds, maybe thousands of books about boxing. This one is way up there on the list. Highest recommendation. RIP also to Alex Arguello, whose contribution to the book provides a chilling coda to the proceedings, since, in the course of the interview when talking about everything from Sandinista's to God, he mentions his desire to commit suicide. This book was written well before he did it, obviously, but that last interview does create quite an echo when you finally close the book, which clocks in at well over four-hundred pages.
The book's premise is straightforward and its chronology is equally clear. We hear from none of the great scribes of boxing, nor from the great promoters with their multi-syllabic spiels and hokum in "In this Corner." This time out we hear only from the fighters themselves, their thoughts on the sweet science, life, the changes they've viewed in the world around them as they grew from hungry young boys to old men left with some great memories but unfortunately not much money.
In the early going of the book, old salts from the 20s and thirties with names like "Gunboat" or "Red" tell tales about riding rail cars and fighting bare knuckle in mining camps. This part of the book is a real treasury of voices captured from a bygone era, men whose way of speaking we usually only encounter secondhand through folk songs or Steinbeck novels, here telling their own stories of battling their way through dire poverty or racism merely to get the chance to fight for money (also not an easy life).
The fighters who were active from the 40's to the 60s are probably the most colorful characters, men who, like their forebears, came from hardscrabble backgrounds but unlike them at least had the chance to enjoy some of the money and fame that came when boxing was in every living room thanks to the wonders of the boob tube and postwar prosperity made it harder to be pessimistic.
If you're already familiar with the idols of Fistiana, you don't need me to tell you who had the gift of gab or the sharpest mind, and therefore produced some of the best oral accounts of the way it was. Henry Armstrong is as graceful and indefatigable in print as he was in the ring or as he looked in that old sepia-scarred photo by Carl Van Vechten. Archie "the Old Mongoose" Moore was a true renaissance man and a brilliant raconteur in any context, so naturally he shines here, too.
Even the most die-hard fan, will be surprised by who punches well above their weight in this collection, though, where the choicest insights crop up and how smart a lot of supposedly dumb or punch-drunk pugs can be, and the kind of native wisdom and raw poetry a man who had sixth grade education can conjure up, if only someone is there to shut up and listen.
I've heard Peter Heller is a great writer, and that may be true, but thank god he didn't try to prove it in this book. He gets out of the way of his subjects and it's a hell of a thing to behold. I've read hundreds, maybe thousands of books about boxing. This one is way up there on the list. Highest recommendation. RIP also to Alex Arguello, whose contribution to the book provides a chilling coda to the proceedings, since, in the course of the interview when talking about everything from Sandinista's to God, he mentions his desire to commit suicide. This book was written well before he did it, obviously, but that last interview does create quite an echo when you finally close the book, which clocks in at well over four-hundred pages.
March 4, 2010
Brilliant book- favorite chapters were Gunboat Smith, Jack Dempsey, Johnny Wilson, Fidel LaBarba, Tommy Loughran, Battling Battalino (great name), Jack Sharkey, Lou Ambers, Lew Jenkins (constantly drunk when he fought!), Fritzie Zivic, Rocky Graziano, Sandy Saddler, Jake LaMotta, Carmen Basillio, Gene Fuillmer, and Don Jordon. Oh man they're all good though... and this is an incredible document of boxing's personalities- you have to read this!!!
December 12, 2008
One of my favorite boxing books ever. Put out in the 1970's, In This Corner is a collection of interviews done by Peter Heller with retired former world champion prizefighters who were champions anywhere from the 1910's to the 1960's. I count a lot of the old time prize fighters among my heroes.
March 31, 2011
sparkling. boxers are the closest things to writers, i think, and the same sense of individualistic competitiveness that they describe here i'm sure that any writer will be able to recognize.
May 26, 2020
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the young author profiled dozens of fighters from every era, and even more significantly, turned on his tape recorder and let them tell their own stories. I'm glad this project was realized because many of the old champs died soon after being interviewed (many for the first and only time), and of course at this late date nearly all of the men profiled in the book are gone. It is a priceless piece of boxing history.
September 15, 2021
Through the pages of this book I got to know better some fighters I was already aquainted with and also some fighters that I've never heard of. The reminiscences are very outspoken and even poignant sometimes.
November 17, 2020
Boxers have never been known for their quickness with words (Mohammed Ali being the exception), so this book has its highs and lows. But the highs are really high.
September 21, 2021
Essential boxing lit, but it could've been better with more biography and less record keeping. Floyd Patterson gave what I thought was the most inspiring account.
November 3, 2021
Truly a very good book and it was great to read the interviews of all these fighters especially the ones from the 1910's and 20's.
December 22, 2020
Man! I loved this book. A lot of these champs are dead now, but their stories are great. This book is a goldmine for any boxing fan.
September 25, 2015
good book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews