The Boxing Glove Book Review: One Punch From The Promised Land

The Boxing Glove Sunday Night Book Review by Peter Silkov

"One Punch From The Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title"  By John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro

“One Punch From The Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title" is the story of the Spinks brothers, Leon and Michael, and how they used boxing as a way to escape the life of hardship and poverty that they had both been born into together.

The two brothers, Leon and Michael Spinks,grew up in St Louis, in the notorious Pruitt-Igoe housing project. Leon, born on July 11, 1953, and Michael, born on July 13, 1956, became Olympic Gold medallists together in the 1976 Games, then both would become world champions as professionals. Eventually, the two men would become the first brothers to both win the World heavyweight title, with Leon scoring a famous win over Muhammad Ali in 1978. Michael scored an upset victory over Larry Holmes in 1985, after having held the World light-heavyweight championship for a number of years previously.

Despite their shared triumphs in the roped square, Leon and Michael were two very different men, and two very different fighters, and as their professional careers progressed, their lives, both inside and outside, the ring took very different routes.

While Michael took a steady route to the WBA world light-heavyweight title (which he won July 18, 1981, with a point’s decision over Eddie Mustafa Muhammad). Leon blazed a spectacularly meteoric charge to the World heavyweight championship, which he won with a shocking upset point’s victory over Muhammad Ali on February 15, 1978. Leon had been a professional for just a little over a year, and was having just his 8th professional fight when he beat the legendary Ali.

After beating Ali, Leon became an overnight phenomenon. But if Leon’s rise to the heavyweight title and stardom had been meteoric, his fall back down to the ground would be even more spectacular and ultimately devastating. Within a few weeks of him winning the world championship, the stories coming out from an ever story- hungry press changed, from the complimentary to the critical. It became more clear with every passing day that Leon was overwhelmed by the scale of his achievement and the fame and attention that it had attracted. Soon he was embroiled in a victory party, which would last the best part of the next decade.

Just seven months after his improbable victory over ‘The Greatest,’ an ill-prepared Leon was beaten in the rematch with Ali. It was the start of a long spiral down to almost where he had started. By the time Michael won the WBA world light heavyweight title from Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, in July 1981, Leon was effectively burnt out as a fighter. Ruined by devastating defeats in the ring and a no- holds-barred party life outside of the ring.

“One Punch from The Promised Land” is a fascinating study of how two brothers from the same background react to success and fame in such drastically different ways. Michael, in contrast to Leon, would go from strength to strength. After defending his World light-heavyweight title successfully 10 times, he would then move up to heavyweight, pull off a huge upset by beating Larry Holmes, and winning the World heavyweight championship. He became the first World light-heavyweight champion to successfully move up and win the World heavyweight championship.  He would go on to be defeated just once in his career, by Mike Tyson, in his final fight.

John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro do a great job in this book of peeling back the glamorous façade of the boxing game and revealing the darker, shark-infested elements of the sweet science. We see how in differing degrees, boxing offered both Spinks brothers an escape route from their impoverished childhood, but also a trap. It is a trap that so many boxers fall into at the end of their careers, one that can leave them broken and damaged if they fail to escape from it in time. 

Both Spinks brothers come through this book as courageous and all too human. Leon, for all his mishaps, wild living, and the self-destruction of his boxing career, still achieved the remarkable.

“One Punch from the Promised Land is a fascinating exploration of success and failure, both in and out of the boxing ring. It is especially a fascinating read for all those who want to know what was going on behind the scenes in the heavyweight division during the 1970s and 80s. This book offers a lingering, often unflattering insight into the world of professional boxing, and the fight of two brothers seeking to better their lives by using it.

Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com

Book Review: Fighting the Demons: The Lester Ellis Story

The Boxing Glove Sunday Night Book Review by Peter Silkov

Fighting the Demons: The Lester Ellis Story

As told to Robert Drano.

First published in 2007, “Fighting The Demons: The Lester Ellis Story” is the searing autobiography of Lester Ellis, former IBF World junior lightweight champion, who also held multiple belts in different divisions in his career. To say that Ellis had a meteoric career would be an understatement. He won the world championship in 1985, one month before his 20th birthday, after just 15 fights, and barely two years as a professional fighter. In the end, it was too much too soon for Ellis. He lost the world title after just five months to friend and archrival, Barry Michael, and although he would carry on fighting until 1996, and win other titles, he would never again win a major world championship.

In fact, when reading this book one can see that in many ways Ellis’s life started a slow spiral downwards from the moment he lost his world title to Barry Michael.  “Fighting the Demons” is more than just a story about boxing; it is a story about a man struggling to cope with a life that is slowly spinning out of control. By the time Ellis retired from boxing in 1996 (although he made an ill-fated one-fight comeback in 2002 against Anthony Mundine) he was in the grip of depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and alcoholism. Things would get much worse before he hit rock bottom and started to fight back.

In many ways, “Fighting the Demons” was a catalyst for the beginning of Ellis’s recovery. He says in the introduction that he was still in denial about the extent of his drinking problem during the writing of the first 10 chapters of the book, then in an incident, which made the news nationwide in Australia in 2006, Ellis tried to commit suicide. From the 11th chapter on, “Fighting The Demons” focuses on Lester’s fight against alcoholism, and his return from a rock bottom that saw him at one point drinking 200 cans of beer a week. 

Ellis was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, on March 15, 1965.  He was born premature weighing only three pounds and two ounces, with under developed lungs.  When he was five years old, the Ellis family relocated to Melbourne Australia, partly because of young Lester’s asthma. Not long after their move to Australia Lester’s parents marriage broke up. This would turn out to be a huge life changing event for young Lester, who went from being happy, and well adjusted to being a troubled, and angry.  Boxing would turn out to be his salvation and a focus and outlet for his rage.

As a fighter, Ellis was, at his best, a very hyper fighter. He could both box, and slug it out, and fought at a pace that seemed to be close to perpetual motion. His trademark two-fisted attacks, with blinding hand speed and knockout power, gained him the nickname “The Master Blaster.”  Ellis was a great in-fighter and vicious body puncher. Ellis describes himself as an angry fighter, someone who fought with emotion and anger, rather than a cool head, which you are supposed to do inside a boxing ring. Despite what the experts might say, this approach certainly worked for Ellis, and for a time he was simply overwhelming his opponents. This is one of the reasons why he got a world title fight so quickly; because many fighter were refused to fight him and so he was fast-tracked to the very top.
  
This is an extremely vivid book, written as if Ellis is talking to you. Overall, the book is captivating, entertaining, moving, and disturbing. Despite some of the harrowing subject matter, there is a lot of humour within the book. Ellis comes across as having a good line in black humour. There are also fascinating insights into the world of boxing, and the whole merry-go-round of fame and success, which young boxers can experience so suddenly during their careers, and then just as suddenly, have taken away.

“Fighting The Demons” gives a fascinating insight into the pressures that come with success and the fickleness of many of the so called ’friends’ whom befriend fighters when they are at the top, only to abandon them when they start to lose.

Like many of the best boxing autobiographies, “Fighting The Demons” is far more than just a book about boxing. It is a fascinating story of a life lived on the edge, in fast forward, which eventually spins into self destruction.  It also shows the courage that is needed to turn away from the brink.

Lester Ellis’s autobiography resembles the way in which he fought in the ring, exciting, fast paced, and hard hitting. This was one of the most moving autobiographies I have ever read and made me admire Ellis even more both as a man and a fighter. 

Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com

Henry Cooper: The Tale of Enry’s Ammer

 

Remembering…Henry Cooper   May 3, 1934 - May 1, 2011

The Tale of Enry’s Ammer
By Peter Silkov

Few British sportsmen have enjoyed the popularity that Henry Cooper gained during his career.  “Our Enry” as Cooper was affectionately known by boxing fans, managed to transcend boxing and achieve the kind of lasting recognition and popularity that few other British fighters have come close to emulating, either before or since.  Cooper was one of only three people to win the BBC Sports personality of the year award twice (in 1967 and 1970.) He was also awarded an OBE in 1970, and in 2000, became the only boxer ever to receive a Knighthood. In terms of the popularity and recognition, which Cooper brought to the sport, and especially the domestic heavyweight division, few fighters have done more for the sport in this country during their careers. On pure ability, Cooper may not have been our greatest heavyweight ever, but he was actually a lot better than some people give him credit for being.

Style-wise, Cooper was a boxer-puncher, aggressive, with a crowd-pleasing mix of good boxing skill, and dynamite punching. Cooper was left-handed, which usually would have made him a southpaw boxer (meaning that he would fight with his right foot forward and leading with the right hand), but Southpaws were generally frowned upon in Copper’s era, especially heavyweight southpaws, so Copper was ’converted’ to an orthodox fighter. This resulted in Cooper developing a very formidable left jab and hook. His trademark punch was his left-hook, which he would fire in vicious uppercut-like swings. Cooper’s left-hook became known amongst his supporters as “Enry’s Ammer.” 

At around 185 to 190 pounds at his best, Cooper was never a very big heavyweight, but he compensated for this with good mobility and fast hands. He often had to give away weight during his career.

Henry Cooper was born on May 3, 1934, (along with his twin brother George) in Lambeth, London. Cooper excelled at sport and was soon learning to box along with his twin brother George. During an amateur career at Eltham Amateur Boxing Club, Cooper compiled a record of 73-11 and won the ABA light-heavyweight championship in 1952 and 1953, before turning professional in 1954, along with George (who fought under the name of Jim, as there was already a George Cooper boxing at heavyweight.)

Managed by the wily Jim Wicks, the Cooper's gained publicity early in their professional careers due to them being fighting twins. It soon became clear that of the two, Henry was the one with the most talent. George would suffer from cuts to an even greater degree than Henry, and he would never come close to achieving the success of his brother inside the ring. Success would not come easy to Henry either.  Following a promising start, where he went 14-2 in his first 2 years as a professional, Cooper went 1-5-1 in seven fights between late 1956 and early 1958. Included in this run of mostly defeats was three title fights in a row; all of which Cooper lost. 

On September 7, 1956, Peter Bates stopped Henry in the 5th round, due to a badly cut eyebrow. Cuts for Henry would prove to be his Achilles heel for the duration of his career.

Five months after his loss to Bates, Cooper challenged Joe Bygraves for the Commonwealth heavyweight championship, and was knocked in the 9th round. 3 months later, Cooper took on Ingemar Johansson for the European heavyweight title and was knocked out in the 5th round.  Four months after the loss to Johansson, on September 17, 1957, Cooper faced Joe Eskine and was out-pointed over 15 rounds.

Cooper was then 1-1-1 in his next three fights, including a disqualification defeat to Erich Schoppener. Such a run of defeats, especially at championship level would have been enough to finish many fighters, or at least reduce their championship ambitions.  Henry, however, bounced back with some of the best wins of his career, beating Dick Richardson and Zora Folley in late 1958. Cooper’s point’s victory over Folley on October 14, 1958, was one of the best results of his career, with Folley being one of the top heavyweights in the world, who at the time was being avoided by many of the other top heavyweights, including the world champion Floyd Patterson.

The victories over Richardson and Folley catapulted Henry right back into title contention, and on January 12, 1959, Cooper won the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles, when he beat Brian London on points after a bloody and brutal classic brawl. It was the beginning of Henry Cooper’s record breaking reign as British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion. He would defend the British title a record 10 times in the next 12 years, winning 3 Lonsdale belts in the process. In this time Cooper would also make 11 defences of the Commonwealth title, and win the European championship 3 times. Coopers exciting defences during the 60s brought a level of popularity and recognition to Britain’s domestic heavyweight scene, seldom seen before, or since. Cooper defended his titles against Joe Erskine, Dick Richardson, Brian London, Johnny Prescott, Jack Bodell, Karl Mildenberger, Jose Manuel Urtain, and Billy Walker. 

During this time, Cooper also took part in a number of non-title fights, suffering a set back in late 1961when he was knocked out in the 2nd round in a rematch with Zora Folley. Cooper, however, gained wins over Wayne Bethea, Roy Harris, and Alex Miteff.

On June 18, 1963, Cooper took on the rising star and future World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (then still Cassius Clay), at Wembly Stadium, London. In what has become an iconic contest in British boxing folklore, Cooper floored Ali at the end of round 4, only to see the American saved by the bell. The fight was then ended in the next round when Ali launched a furious attack upon Cooper, forcing the referee to stop the contest due to Cooper badly cut left eye. Ever since it has been wondered what would have happened had Enry’s Ammer floored Ali earlier in the 4th round, rather than near the end of it? Certainly Cooper had Ali more hurt than just about anytime during his career, aside from his first fight with Joe Frazier when he was floored in the 15th and final round.

Cooper faced Ali for a second time, on June 21, 1966, at the Arsenal Football stadium, watched by a crowd of over 46,000. This time round, Ali boxed cautiously until he opened a cut over Cooper’s left eye in the 6th round, which led to the almost immediate stoppage of the fight, as Cooper’s eye gushed blood at an alarming rate. 

Henry’s fights with Ali cemented his popularity with the public and gained for him widespread respect within the boxing world.

On March 16, 1971, Cooper was controversially out-pointed by a young Joe Bugner, in a fight that still raises controversy today. Cooper had said before the fight that he would retire after it, win, lose, or draw. After a very close contest, the referee Harry Gibbs gave the fight to Bugner, and Cooper had lost his British, European, and Commonwealth heavyweight title. Cooper never did fight again, retiring with a final record of 40(27koes)-14-1.In his retirement, Cooper remained as popular as ever, often appearing as a pundit on boxing shows, as well as being involved in many other sporting and celebrity events, such as cricket and golf. 

Henry Cooper died on May 1, 2011.

Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com.

Book Review: The 16TH Round: From Number 1 Contender To Number 45472

The Boxing Glove Book Review: by Peter Silkov
“The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender To Number 45472”    By Rubin “Hurricane” Carter

The 16th Round is the extremely powerful and often moving autobiography of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. During the early to mid 1960s Rubin Carter was one of the top middleweight contenders in the world, a feared and destructive fighter, who was considered by many to be a future world champion. However, that is not the way things turned out for The Hurricane. Rubin Carter did not win the World middleweight title, instead he tried and failed in what would be his one and only world title chance. Then in a dark twist of fate, Carter saw both his remaining boxing career and his freedom snatched away from him when he was jailed in 1967 for his part in the murder of two white men and a white woman in a New Jersey bar.

Carter, and a friend John Artis, were eventually convicted of the killings on May 26, 1967, despite the apparent lack of solid evidence against the men. Also, the fact that the prosecution’s main witnesses were two petty criminals, Alfred Bello and Arthur Dexter Bradley, who admitted to being in the area that night with the intent to burgle a nearby factory. Rubin Carter and John Artis strongly claimed their innocence of these murders from the beginning, but it would take 20 long years before Carter would finally be set free and have his indictment dismissed. With Artis being released on bail in 1981.   

Between their original convictions in 1967, and Carter’s release in 1985, his case would become known internationally and made him a focus during the civil rights movement. Rubin's gained the support of many high profile celebrities from the world of both sport and entertainment, including Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan. Carter achieved a taste of freedom for a couple of months in 1976, when he was let out on bail pending a second trial.  Unfortunately for Carter, the second trial ended with the same verdict as the first, and he was returned to prison.

In “The 16th Round” Carter tells the story of his life and details the injustice of his incarceration. This book, written in 1974, behind the bars of Rahway State Prison in New Jersey, is an intense howl of anger and despair by Carter at his unjust imprisonment for murders that he claims he did not commit. 

The 16th Round is a stark and often brutal tale of Carter’s life from a troubled childhood, through to his time as middleweight contender, when he was, for a time, one of the most feared fighters in the world, onto his conviction and imprisonment for murder. It is this book that fired up much of the campaign that resulted in Rubin’s brief taste of freedom in 1976, until in the run up to his second trial. 

From early childhood, Carter was afflicted with a severe speech impediment that he would not overcome until the age of 18. This seems to have played a strong part in him growing up with an ever-deepening sense of alienation and injustice at the world around him, including his father who was a respected deacon, but could neither understand (physically or emotionally) nor control his young son.  At the age of 11 years old, Rubin was jailed in a juvenile reformatory for stabbing a man (whom Carter describes in this book as trying to sexually assault him.) It is to be the first of a number of incarcerations that featured in Carter’s life. The descriptions of these places is at times quite chilling, and Carter provides some disturbing and enlightening material upon the inhumanity and hopelessness of prison.

Rubin’s boxing career, and the rise of his alter ego “The Hurricane”, is focused on the middle part of this autobiography, with some vivid accounts of some of his most important fights. Yet, it is his experiences with authority and the justice system where this book really excels and transcends from being just another boxing autobiography. Having read "The 16Th Round," it is not hard to see why the civil rights movement took up his case and why his imprisonment was seen by many as one of the greatest injustices of the time. The whole Carter story is mired with controversy, and there are those who dispute much of what he writes within “The 16TH Round”, especially his protestations of innocence.  Even today, a year after Carter’s death, there seems to be almost an ’anti-Carter’ industry, which opposes many of the claims and assertions made by Rubin Carter and his supporters. This debate will probably continue for many years, with both sides passionate about whether “The Hurricane” was truly an innocent man or not.

After he was eventually freed in 1985, Rubin Carter’s story would become the subject of a Hollywood film starring Denzil Washington “The Hurricane”, which gained great acclaim, despite infamously taking some Hollywood liberties with the truth in some parts.

Rubin Carter himself became a powerful voice for the wrongfully imprisoned in the years after he finally achieved his freedom. 

Although there have been other books written by and about Rubin Carter since the original publication of The 16th Round, neither of them succeed in capturing the raw emotions that one can feel literally coming out of the pages at you in Carter’s original autobiography. When all the controversy is swept aside, this book stands on its own merit as a fascinating and visceral study of human nature.  Love, hate, racism, violence, despair, and courage are all to be found in here, in a autobiography that truly goes beyond the world of boxing, and looks into the darkest areas of the human condition.
 
Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com.

The Hurricane: Rubin Carter

By Peter Silkov

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was a top middleweight contender in the 1960s, whose career was cut short by a murder conviction that would see him spend almost 20 years in jail for his alleged involvement in 3 murders.

Carter was born on May 6, 1937, in Clifton, New Jersey. Rubin was a troubled child, who struggled with a severe stutter that he would not overcome until his late teens.  At the age of 14 he was convicted of assault and sent to Jamesburg Home for Boys.  Three years later, he escaped, and while on the run enlisted in the army. It proved to be a turning point in his life and while in the army, Carter took up boxing for the first time. Rubin would eventually leave the army with a record of 51-5 with 31 knockouts.  However, Carter still found himself falling into trouble and in 1957, he was jailed for 4 and a half years for his part in an assault and two robberies. 

It was following his release from this period of incarceration that Carter finally began to take boxing seriously, making his pro debut on September 22, 1961, with a 4 rounds split points win over Pike Reed. From this point, Carter’s rise was a little less than meteoric. His ultra aggressive style attracted the fans, he would stalk his opponents, and when in range throw punches in vicious combinations. A fearsome demeanor equaled Carter’s knockout power in his fists. Some 20 years before it became fashionable for fighters to shave their heads, Carter sported a bald dome, a goatee moustache and beard, and the same kind of baleful expression that was worn by Sonny Liston. By 1963, Carter was a one of the most feared contenders in the middleweight division, with impressive wins over Florentino Fernandez, Holly Mims, Gomeo Brennan, George Benton, and Farid Salim. On December 20, 1963, Carter scored a sensational 1st round knockout victory over Emile Grffith, who at the time was the World welterweight champion and would go on to become a two-time World middleweight champion as well. Griffith certainly felt that he had been run down by a hurricane on that night of December 20, 1963. It would prove to be Carter’s greatest night in the ring.

Following his defeat of Griffith, The Hurricane started clamouring for a title fight, and in the mean time, out-pointed Jimmy Ellis, the future World heavyweight champion. Carter got his title shot on December 14, 1964, when he met Joey Giardello for the World middleweight title. Giardello was a 34-year-old veteran who was considered to be years paste his best, and many expected Carter to be too young and strong for the battle scarred champion. However, it was not to be, Giardello produced a boxing clinic, using all his skills and the experience of over a decade as a professional, to out-box and at times, out-punch the fearsome challenger.

Rubin Carter & Dick Tiger

The loss to Giardello seemed to have done something to Carter, whether it damaged his confidence or focus is not clear, but certainly Carter seemed to have peaked, and then began the long slide downhill that happens to all fighters. The Hurricane himself would blame the post-Giardello fight slump in his form upon the increasing harassment, which he was receiving, from the police and media by this time.

Following the Giardello bout, Carter would be 7-7-1 in his last 15 bouts. Carter was still a hit with the fans, and there was no shame in his point’s defeats to Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Harry Scott, Dick Tiger, and Stan Harrington, but he no longer looked like an invincible fighting machine, storming towards winning a world title. 
Then on June 17, 1966, an incident occurred which would change Hurricane Carter’s life. Two white men and a white woman were shot dead at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson. Carter and an acquaintance, John Artis, were pulled over within the hour and questioned. What followed was a case of tremendous twists, turns, and complexity, which still raises heated argument today.

Rubin Carter would have one more fight while free on bail, being out-pointed by Juan Carlos Rivero on August 6, 1966. It would turn out to be The Hurricane’s final fight.

On May 27, 1967, Carter and Artis were both sentenced to three counts of life in prison. In a debacle, which would include a second trial in 1976, when the pair were convicted again, Carter was not freed from prison until November 1985. In the mean time, his case had become a cause attracting worldwide attention, with support from celebrities from the sports and entertainment world, such as Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan.  Rubin Carter’s case became an illustration of the many wrongful imprisonment cases that occur all too often, and more often than not, due to the colour of a person’s skin. While in jail, Carter brought attention to his cause with his biography “The 16th Round”, which recounted his life and boxing career, and protested his innocence. 

In 1988, a third trial was finally cancelled and the indictments on Carter and Artis finally dropped. After his release from jail Carter would spend his time giving support to other victims of injustice in Canada and America, and giving speeches about his life and experiences.  In 1999, a film “Hurricane” starring Denzel Washington was released about Carter, focusing upon his boxing career, and his wrongful imprisonment.

After his death Rubin Carter is still a controversial figure, with some people still questioning his innocence, whatever the truth, there is no denying that Rubin Carter has highlighted the problem of wrongful imprisonment in a way that was never achieved before and upon such a large scale.

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s final record was 27(19koes)-12-1.


 Copyright © 2015 The Boxing Glove, Inc. Peter Silkov Art. All Rights Reserved. Peter Silkov contributes to www.theboxingglove.com and www.theboxingtribune.com