Overview

Boxing is one of the oldest sports in the world, reaching back to the Ancient Greeks, although it has become popular only in the past century or so. But, in some ways, it is a rather complicated sport since – to avoid unnecessary harm – it has been endowed with rules to keep it clean, referees to see the rules are obeyed, and organizations to regulate the sport. Boxing was once largely amateur, although the professional bouts attracted the most attention, but now it is also an Olympic sport. And, over the years, there has been one champion after another who symbolized what boxing was all about, such Joe Louis, Mohammad Ali and Cassius Clay. Naturally, these champions are the focus of the Historical Dictionary of Boxing as well, and they have the biggest entries in the dictionary section, but they had to fight against someone and there are dozens and dozens of other boxers with smaller entries. More of these boxers come from the United States than elsewhere, but there are others from Europe, Asia and Latin America, and there are also entries on the major boxing countries as well. Plus entries on the rules, on the organizations, and on the technical terminology and jargon you have to know just to follow the bouts. The introduction provides a broad view of boxing’s history while the chronology traces events from 688 B.C. to 2012 A.D. Not all that much has been written on boxing that is not ephemeral, but much of that literature can be found in the bibliography. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the sport of boxing.

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9780810868007

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Reviews

Boxing is one of the world's oldest sports, dating back at least as far the ancient Greeks. Although its popularity has ebbed in recent years, its long history provides fertile ground for a reference source such as this one. Similar to other works in the Historical Dictionary series, this one-volume source provides brief entries on topics throughout the history of the sport. More than half of the entries are for people primarily boxers but also promoters, trainers, and media personnel. Other entries cover boxing terminology, descriptions of weight classes, and details of notable matches. The time period covered by the book ranges primarily from the late nineteenth century through 2012. The lengthy introduction provides a strong overview of the sport, and a chronology highlights key events from throughout its history. Appendixes cover topics such as the various rules of the sport, lists of Olympic and heavyweight champions, and International Boxing Hall of Fame members. The volume contains a substantial bibliography of books on the sport as well as a list of boxing films. This work will provide a good introduction to boxing and serve as a source for biographical information on lesser-known fighters. In addition, the bibliography will lead interested readers to the best writing on the sport. Booklist

Author Information

John Grasso is a leading sports writer, who has written on other sports than boxing, although he got started there. He is the co-author of The 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time and 505 Boxing Questions Your Friends Can’t Answer and also wrote columns for Ring magazine and Boxing Illustrated. In addition, he has authored three other books in the Scarecrow Press sports series: Historical Dictionary of Tennis, Historical Dictionary of Basketball and Historical Dictionary of Football.

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