*Starred Review* Rarely does boxing emerge from its noir shadows into the neon splendor of pay-per-view championship bouts. Boxers train and essentially live in gray, poorly lit cinderblock gyms, where they hone their skills in nondescript gray sweat gear. Fox, who for years was a photo editor with the Magnum photo agency, got his start in boxing photography almost by accident, when a fight provided a venue to try out a new camera. Something clicked in addition to the camera; these beautifully presented black-and-white photos, the highlights of a 25-year career as a boxing photographer, reveal the multiple shades of gray in the fighter's world. The 180 photos are divided into five sections: "The Making of a Prizefighter," "Training," "Before the Fight," "The Fight," and "After the Fight." Throughout, Fox's images capture not only the look of the boxing world but also its emotional reality. The viewer is struck by the similarity between fighters at all levels; the winner of the championship fight is no more ecstatic than the victor of the lowliest club bout, and the pain evident on the defeated fighters' faces is equally universal. In addition to the photos, an introduction by the photographer and an essay on French fighter Joel Bonnetaz, who danced at the edges of the big time, are appended. A beautiful, timeless work that functions both as a study of boxing and a testament to the art of black-and-white photography.
Wes LukowskyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
JAMES A. FOX is a Paris-based photo editor, preservationist, and photographer who has documented the boxing world for more than 25 years. The former editor-in-chief of the Magnum Agency, a prestigious international photo agency, he has published his work in Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Vogue Hommes, among other magazines, and exhibited it in New York, Los Angeles, and throughout Europe.