Manly art : (they can run but they can't hide)

380 Pages·2011·3.41 MB·English

by  George Elbert Kimball

$24.95 U.S. — $25.95 CAN
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“Perhaps the best bet of the year for [boxing] aficionados—a compila- cn
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tion of George Kimball’s ring writings from the last decade . . . This
r
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n “You need to learn to duck before you get into
is a must for fight freaks.” —Michael Katz, Gaming Today —y
b the ring with George Kimball. He comes out
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t t A (They can run — but they can’t hide) of his corner two-fisted and ready to fight.”
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“This is good, old fashioned sports writing. Kimball’s take on the fight y
cr —J. P. Donleavy, Author of The Ginger Man
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game is a pleasure to read and re-read.” —Max Kellerman, n
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HBO Boxing Commentator id
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From the award-winning sports journalist
“With a prodigious intellect, a well-honed sense of outrage, and a
George Kimball comes this compila-
bawdy comic sensibility, George Kimball reigns as the king of the
tion of boxing- related commentary, criticism,
boxing beat. There isn’t anyone—fighter, corner man, manager, pro-
reportage, and analysis representing the
moter, or fellow scribe—who’s going to knock the crown off his head.
best of his work over the last decade. With
—John Schulian
selections culled from a wide array of pub-
© 2011 Anne Tangeman
author of Writers, Fighters and Other Sweet Scientists
lications including Boxing Digest, The Irish
George Kimball spent a quarter-century
Times, ESPN.com and TheSweetScience.
as a sports columnist for the Boston Herald. In
com, this is a hard-hitting look at the current
“Through his writing and his presence, George Kimball ennobles the
1985 he was awarded the Nat Fleischer Award
state of the sport. Kimball pulls no punches
sport of boxing.” —Thomas Hauser,
for Excellence in Boxing Journalism from the
as he dissects the triumphs, defeats and mis-
author of Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times
Boxing Writers Association of America. He has
takes of the major figures in boxing yesterday
covered nearly 400 world-title fights in a four-
and today—Muhammad Ali, George Foreman,
decade sports writing career. He lives in New
“Manly Art is a book that even the mildest fight fan will snuggle up with Manny Pacquiao, Oscar de la Hoya and doz-
York City. Visit him at www.georgekimball.com g
and wish for a hundred pages more. Kimball writes about people— ens more—and he proves once and for all:
e
colorful, intense people—and does it to a turn.” —Vincent Patrick, o They can run, but they can’t hide.
author of The Pope of Greenwich Village and Family Business r
g george kimball
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ISBN: 978-1-59013-571-6 i
m
52495 Foreword by Carlo Rotella
McBooks Press, Inc. b
Ithaca, New York a
Cover paintings by Tom Russell © 2011.
l
www.mcbooks.com 9 781590 135716 l Dust jacket & interior design by Panda Musgrove.
McBooks Press
Manly Art
Also by George Kimball
Four Kings
Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing
Only Skin Deep
Sunday ’s Fools
Stomped, Tromped, Kicked and Chewed in the NFL (with Tom Beer)
Chairman of the Boards (with Eamonn Coghlan)
American at Large
The Fighter Still Remains
A Celebration of Boxing in Poetry and Song from Ali to Zevon
(editor, with John Schulian)
At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing (editor, with John Schulian)
george kimball
Manly Art
(They can run — but they can’t hide)
McBooks Press, Inc.
www.mcbooks.com
Ithaca, NY
Published by McBooks Press, Inc. 2011
This Compilation Copyright © 2011 George Kimball
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written per-
mission of the publisher. Requests for such permissions should be addressed to
McBooks Press, Inc., ID Booth Building, 520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850.
Cover paintings © 2011 Tom Russell
Author photo © 2011 Anne Tangeman—Taken inside William Burroughs’ Lawrence,
Kansas, home.
Cover and interior design by Panda Musgrove.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kimball, George, 1943-
Manly art : (they can run but they can’t hide) / by George Kimball.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59013-571-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Boxing--Anecdotes. 2. Boxers (Sports) I. Title.
GV1135.K56 2011
796.83--dc22
2010044552
The e-book versions of this title have the following ISBNs:
Kindle 978-1-59013-594-5, ePub 978-1-59013-595-2,
and PDF 978-1-59013-596-9
Visit the McBooks Press website at www.mcbooks.com.
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is for Pete Hamill and Tom Paxton and for
our pals running bar tabs at the Great Saloon in the Sky:
Val Avery, Tommy Butler, Liam, Tom, and Paddy Clancy, Dennis Duggan,
Fred Exley, Joe Flaherty, Wes Joice, David Markson, Frank McCourt, Archie
Mulligan, Jack Newfield, Joel Oppenheimer, Mike Reardon, Paul Schiffman,
José Torres, Dave Van Ronk and Vic Ziegel

Table of Contents
Foreword 11
Chapter I—The Way It Was
SurvivaloftheGreatest 15
TheGreatSt.Patrick’sDayHooley McTigue and Siki 19
SeparateButUnequalledSam Lacy 28
AManYouDon’tMeetEveryDay 37
MississippiRiverbankHustle 45
ArmandtheMan 50
ACatalystforConsensus?The Jack Johnson Pardon 53
MSG’sLossIsCanastota’sGain 58
TheBabylonianHeavyweightsAn Unseemly Schism 61
Chapter II—Bruising as Art
FatCityandFat City An Appreciation 67
TheReinventionoftheAmblingAlp 75
WhatWouldLieblingDo? 80
TheCutMan’sBaby 83
TryingontheGlassSlipperJeremy Schaap’s Cinderella Man 86
LuisResto–BillyCollinsRedux
Doctored Glove Tragedy Won’t Go Away 91
BadDayattheBeachKevin Mitchell’s Jacobs Beach 96
TerryMalloyMeetsPaulieWalnutsGarry Pastore’s Waiting for Budd 101
Ali,Holmes,andMayslesWhat’s Up with This, Doc? 106
IrishThunder 113
StalloneTakesaFinalCrackatRocky 115
DeconstructingtheChamp
Two New Films Explore the Metamorphosis from Clay to Ali 119
ALookInsideTyson’sHead 127
Chapter III—At Ringside
TysonMakesGolotaQuit 133
SavageBeatingbyLewisEndsTyson’sClaimsasaPretender 137
Duddy–PuddySmackdownatMSG 140
DawsonOverwhelmsAdamek,WinsWBCCrown 143
MayweatherOutboxesOscarforFifthGreenBelt 146
Abraham–MirandaIIStomping through the Swamp 150
Bute:SavedbytheBellattheBell 153
CalzagheTamesaLegend 155
SometimestheScaleDoLie... 160
BadMojoattheJoe 163
TheWrathofKhan’sArmy 167
Chapter IV—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
FromtheTailofaPony 175
ThePrisonerofHell’sKitchenA Shaggy Bag Story 182
ThePac-ManPoliticianDoes PPV Stand for Pay-per-Vote? 189
Baghdad’sFridayNightFights 192
Paulie’sHair 194
GoldenBoy’sGoldRush 196
HighBloodSugarandSourExcuses 200
SemperFiorSwiftBoatRedux?
Reconsidering the Late Pat Putnam 207
Termite:APestbyAnyOtherName 212
Forbes:TheNewBibleofBoxing? 217
BringBacktheTitans 221