Customer Reviews

In This Corner . . . !: Forty-two World Champions Tell Their Stories

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although the edition I have is pretty old and the most recent interviews were taken in the 1970s this book is still a fantastic look at the lifes of many of the 20th centuries top boxers. Each boxers story is told in a single chapter and in their OWN words. Its brilliant reading about how these champions grew up, what led them to boxing and how they have survived. As well as the Jack Dempsey's, Jake LaMotta's many other 'lesser known' boxers are featured but their stories are just, if not more interesting. A great insight into 20th century american life from those whose lifes have often been the hardest.

Great reading!!!

This is a wonderful book. It is the type of book one savours as one might enjoy a good glass of wine or an extrordinary meal. As a history teacher I've used it in the classroom to explain historical periods and sports. You buy this one! You will not be disappointed.

As author Peter Heller writes in his preface, "It's my hope that this book will show (the) human side (of the fighters whose interviews appear within), their private thoughts, recollections, triumphs, and disappointments ... (t)his is simply a volume of thoughts and recollections, tempered by time and circumstance, as these men remember it, or wish to remember it." Although some of the boxers, such as Johnny Wilson and Tommy Loughran, had still clearly retained their pride (in the worst sense of the word), arrogance, and conceit over the years, most are honest, open, and matter-of-fact in their descriptions of their ring battles and some, like Fidel LaBarba and Jimmy McLarnin, are very modest about their accomplishments and gracious toward their former adversaries and this is what makes this book so enjoyable a read.

I must note, though, that the reason I gave this volume "only" four stars was because the author did not ask his interviewees many of the questions that one would figure he ought to have asked, such as whom the fighter believed to have been his best opponent, whom he believed to have been the best fighter in his division's history, etc, etc. Although the recollections of the champs, as they appear in the book, seem to be spontaneous, free-flowing "soliloquies" about their lives and careers, Heller, as he states in his preface, had, in fact, edited their statements, at least insofar as to "eliminat[e] the irrelevant or the uninteresting, EDIT OUT MY QUESTIONS, and restructure them for a sense of time and place. But the basic material is unaltered" [my emphasis].)

Nevertheless, the recollections of the fighters interviewed are, as a whole, quite compelling. I don't want to spoil it for readers who approach the book anew, but to give you an idea as to how interesting these recollections are, I'll give some examples of what you can expect:

- Sugar Ray Robinson revealing that he had a dream the night before their bout that he would kill Jimmy Doyle in the ring, a premonition that tragically came to pass (but not before Doyle had the Sugarman on the brink of being kayoed in the sixth round)

- Charley Phil Rosenberg's honest appraisal of his bout with all-time great featherweight Johnny Dundee

- Fritzie Zivic, one of the "dirtiest" fighters in boxing history, relating that terrific-hitting lightweight champ Lew Jenkins (who is also an interviewee) used to manipulate his boxing gloves so that little padding would actually cover his huge knuckles

- Archie Moore explaining how his animosity toward Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy Bivins developed

- LaBarba confessing that, at the end of the bout, he only remembered just over a minute of what transpired in the ring during his first fight with powerpunching bantamweight Bud Taylor because he kept blacking out whenever Taylor nailed him with a great shot, a bout that LaBarba WON (in turn, in HIS interview, "Bat" Battalino claims that he remembered almost nothing from his victory over LaBarba)

- Jack Dempsey modestly and graciously admitting that, "Even at my best I don't know whether I could lick (Sam Langford) or not."

- Ed "Gunboat" Smith - whose interview is definitely among the most revealing, interesting, and entertaining in the book - explaining why the 1910 Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries title bout was moved from California to Nevada and admitting that he used to "load" his boxing gloves

All in all, a very good book. Incidentally, I didn't bother to name all of the fighters who were interviewed for this book because you can see their names for yourself by clicking on the "Look Inside!" balloon above the image of the book's cover on the Amazon webpage. However, I should note that the book includes an index at the back, which is handy in that it gives you an idea as to the adversaries about whom the interviewees speak.

More than 40 world boxing champions tell their stories in this book, and some of them are fascinating. I especially enjoyed the defiant discourse of Roberto Duran, the colorful stories of Archie Moore (especially his conversation about his rivalry with Jimmy Bivins, who hit him so hard with a late punch that his mouth was numb for months), and Carmen Basilio, who steadfastly maintains that Sugar Ray Robinson was overrated.

I liked Emile Griffith's poignant retelling of what transpired before and after his fateful third meeting with Benny "Kid" Paret. It was interesting to listen to James J Braddock talk about his fights with Max Baer and Joe Louis and what his life was like after retirement.

This is a knockout of a book, and all boxing fans should read it at least once.

Rev. Marc Axelrod

The premise of the book is excellent in that the history of the fighters should be preserved and we do need to document their stories but I think the book could have been written less as it was told, but more in the conventional manner in order to make it easier to read.

The stories started to blend together after a while, as they were a few pages each, all written as the fighter told the author, so the book lost some interest to me as it went along.

Perhaps more space to devoted to the old time fighters like Gunboat Smith and Willie Ritchie.

I might even have done away with the whole section on the fighter who was saying that he was an assassin when he was young. If you know they are telling a fiction story, don't waste your time.

The articles on fighters were a great read though. The author put a lot of work into it and should be commended.

i gave this 4 stars for the hard work on the road the author put to gather these interviews from boser--a lot of whom probably we never would not have heard from again if he did not compile these interviews
my criticisms of the book are that a lot of the writing from both the author and subjects are too many run on sentences flowing endlessly making it hard to stay interested

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.

This was an excellent book, well detailed, interesting, and enjoyable. It gives a great insight to some of boxing's great champions; what they went through, how they started, and what they thought. It should be considered a "must" read for the serious fan and boxing person, and is highly recommended.

This is a fast reading book, the author knows what he is talking about - thank goodness If you are a boxing fan I truly recommend this.....