Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. But—with travel, waiting for food, waiting for game to start, waiting for game to end, trying to avoid some family members, etc.—Thanksgiving also has a lot of down time. Books are great but sometimes, you don’t want to commit yourself to reading one from start to finish. Sometimes you just need, at most, a half-hour’s long read.
Here—free, readily available, and in no order—are 5 of my favorite boxing articles that you can read during the Thanksgiving holiday:
1.
https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/April-2017/Ed-Brown-Boxing/
This article, from 2017, is one of the best recent boxing articles. On Ed “Bad Boy” Brown, Chicago, and the city’s violence that ultimately claimed the young, promising boxer.
2.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-shot-not-heard-round-the-world/
Elmo Henderson claimed he knocked out Muhammad Ali during an exhibition in San Antonio. Did he? Who was Elmo Henderson? This is a great article trying to figure out just that.
3.
https://thestacks.deadspin.com/the-woeful-life-of-jake-lamotta-1818584674
In “Raging Bull,” Jake LaMotta was an asshole. In real life, LaMotta was far, far worse. Article recounts LaMotta’s life while noting Martin Scorsese’s struggle of trying to portray, in art, a person entirely unsympathetic.
4.
https://www.si.com/vault/1993/02/22/128103/bearing-the-burden-living-in-violence-plagued-culiacan-boxing-champ-julio-cesar-chavez-fights-to-keep-his-extended-family-secure
Gary Smith on Julio Cesar Chavez should be enough of an incentive to read. Smith on Chavez while in Culiacan, with a few references to Chalino Sanchez, makes this a must-read.
5.
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1964/3/1/the-loser
A lot of the old boxing stuff hasn’t aged well. This piece from Gay Talese largely holds up because it, through Floyd Patterson, deals with losing and what that does to a boxer’s identity.
Enjoy. Maybe I’ll post another list for Christmas.
Boxing and History