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The Gods of War
" The Gods of War is filled with beautifully-written essays about a sport that is considered anything but beautiful." --Jeremy Hobson, NPR. Award-winning essayist and boxing historian Springs Toledo tells the world that "the greatest of all time" is neither Muhammad Ali nor Sugar Ray Robinson. The greatest - the 'god of war' - is someone beyond their reach, a true anomaly of the ring. The evidence is compelling. See it and decide for yourself. This countdown of the top-ten fighters of the modern era is a literary experience like no other, and it isn't all readers will find in this book. Toledo's writing has been described as "warrior poetry"; he goes beyond the usual factoids, dry text, and threadbare yarns to conjure up legendary fighters as they were. Some of them will punch holes through the pages; others will touch your heart. Reading enthusiasts, sports fans, and boxing's critics are invited to take a new look at the sweet science. It's worth the price of admission.
- GenresSportsNonfiction
218 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 12, 2018
An absolutely mesmerizing read...Springs Toledo is far and away today's best boxing writer...'The Gods of War' will transport you to another time and era when men were men and prizefighters were indeed societal gods...Toledo surely would have been one of 'the' greatest boxing journalists and authors back in the golden age of the 20's-40's, and is without a doubt, the A.J. Liebling of our generation.
March 23, 2022
What a cracking book!
I love the way Toledo ranks his greatest fighters on a points system rather than a list of his favourites, or from popular opinion.
He gives a considered, comprehensive analysis of why they are truly the gods of war.
My first book by the author. But certainly not my last.
I love the way Toledo ranks his greatest fighters on a points system rather than a list of his favourites, or from popular opinion.
He gives a considered, comprehensive analysis of why they are truly the gods of war.
My first book by the author. But certainly not my last.
March 29, 2022
This might just be the best piece of boxing writing that I have ever read. The way Toledo is able to create a picture in the way that he does makes you feel as if you are there ringside watching these Gods of War, these Immortals in action!
“Without really being conscious of it, we boxing fans are on sabbatical from a modern culture gone mad with political correctness. We lose ourselves in a celebration of ancient virtues, of masculinity. Need evidence? Watch the crowd as the bell rings to end a blazing round and you’ll see graying men jumping up and down like pogo sticks.”
“Without really being conscious of it, we boxing fans are on sabbatical from a modern culture gone mad with political correctness. We lose ourselves in a celebration of ancient virtues, of masculinity. Need evidence? Watch the crowd as the bell rings to end a blazing round and you’ll see graying men jumping up and down like pogo sticks.”
April 2, 2022
Excellent. Spring has a unique style of writing. He makes such a brilliant case for all his choices ( 10 gods of war / best boxers) there no point even questioning it . A excellent read
July 22, 2019
Toledo is the modern-day master of boxing writers, and this is his masterpiece. From his essays on Liston to his evidence of who he rates as the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all-time, even the most avid boxing buffs will learn from this book.
December 27, 2021
I have just read this book in two days and feel an urgent need to sit in a pub for an evening, drinking and arguing about who was, indeed, the greatest fighter ever to lace on boxing gloves.
December 16, 2025
Toledo finds a way to make the legends of the sport of boxing, somehow even more cinematic. This is defintely a book that someone with a deep knowledge of boxing history will surely get a kick out of. Toledo manages to condense the legend of these fighters within a chapter while still being detailed enough to cover their feats and what made them some of the greatest to ever step into the squared circle.
September 24, 2018
Good boxing essays, especially the Liston ones, even if the style can be a bit overwrought.
February 23, 2019
Another great boxing read. Boxers are all too human even if there profession is violent.
April 9, 2017
Tilting at the Pittsburgh Windmill:
This is my second foray into the whirlpool of Mr. Toledo's dizzying prose. The guy is, simply put, a beast in a class of his own (at least among living boxing scribes). I started with his book "In the Cheap Seats," which I consider superior to this one, and then read backwards in-reverse chronological order to arrive at this, his first major work.
The essays that bookend the central piece are really peerless. After reading a couple of essays about Sonny Liston, I felt as if I'd read a couple of novels about "the Bear" (or the "Ugly Bear" as Muhammad Ali might call him). Liston is perhaps the most tragic figure in a sport littered with tragedies, and Toledo makes the most of the grist that was the mysterious life and death of "the champ that no one wanted" (as another book would have it). As with "Cheap Seats," the writing is top-notch, and Toledo's insight into the technical aspects of the sport of boxing is matched by a keen understanding of the history of Fistiana, as well as what its brutality reveals about class, race, and masculinity in America and worldwide.
My only quibble with this book is that Toledo is such a good historian that he fails to place the greats of the past in a wider context (as he did in "Cheap Seats"), succumbing to the old-timer's tendency to put the ghosts of the pasts on an unrealistically high pedestal. Giving Harry Greb pride of place as the greatest fighter of the modern era is one of the cardinal sins made by Toledo, a man who should know better, especially considering he is a man with his hand in the doings of a contemporary rankings organization. To be blunt, you just don't rank a guy at the top of a list who has little to no known extant footage of him fighting. Some say Ray Robinson wasn't filmed enough in his prime, but he was at least filmed enough for one to make a credible case that he was the greatest of all time. The same can't be said for Harry Greb, no matter what your grandpa tells you.
I've showed Toledo's list (condensed from ten separate essays in the book) to fellow hardcore heads, and none of them were all that impressed. A few were pissed enough for me to believe Toledo could get bounced from a bar or two if he were to plead the case he pleads in this book, in any watering hole outside of his native Boston.
That said, the writing is so good that what would have been a deal-breaker in almost any other instance is downgraded to a minor quibble. Recommended.
This is my second foray into the whirlpool of Mr. Toledo's dizzying prose. The guy is, simply put, a beast in a class of his own (at least among living boxing scribes). I started with his book "In the Cheap Seats," which I consider superior to this one, and then read backwards in-reverse chronological order to arrive at this, his first major work.
The essays that bookend the central piece are really peerless. After reading a couple of essays about Sonny Liston, I felt as if I'd read a couple of novels about "the Bear" (or the "Ugly Bear" as Muhammad Ali might call him). Liston is perhaps the most tragic figure in a sport littered with tragedies, and Toledo makes the most of the grist that was the mysterious life and death of "the champ that no one wanted" (as another book would have it). As with "Cheap Seats," the writing is top-notch, and Toledo's insight into the technical aspects of the sport of boxing is matched by a keen understanding of the history of Fistiana, as well as what its brutality reveals about class, race, and masculinity in America and worldwide.
My only quibble with this book is that Toledo is such a good historian that he fails to place the greats of the past in a wider context (as he did in "Cheap Seats"), succumbing to the old-timer's tendency to put the ghosts of the pasts on an unrealistically high pedestal. Giving Harry Greb pride of place as the greatest fighter of the modern era is one of the cardinal sins made by Toledo, a man who should know better, especially considering he is a man with his hand in the doings of a contemporary rankings organization. To be blunt, you just don't rank a guy at the top of a list who has little to no known extant footage of him fighting. Some say Ray Robinson wasn't filmed enough in his prime, but he was at least filmed enough for one to make a credible case that he was the greatest of all time. The same can't be said for Harry Greb, no matter what your grandpa tells you.
I've showed Toledo's list (condensed from ten separate essays in the book) to fellow hardcore heads, and none of them were all that impressed. A few were pissed enough for me to believe Toledo could get bounced from a bar or two if he were to plead the case he pleads in this book, in any watering hole outside of his native Boston.
That said, the writing is so good that what would have been a deal-breaker in almost any other instance is downgraded to a minor quibble. Recommended.
July 9, 2015
This was a really good book of essays on boxing and various boxers. Springs Toledo is a very eloquent writer, who put a lot thought and effort of compiling a list of who he thought were the 10 greatest boxer ever. This is a excellent and short read that any fan of boxing and/or (general)sports history will enjoy.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews