Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing

Product Description

“This is powerful writing. Enjoy it.”―Thomas Hauser, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee
“Carlos Acevedo is the most original, perceptive, and best new writer in boxing. Sporting Blood is a vivid and gripping collection.”―Donald McRae, writer for The Guardian and author of Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing
“…this book may cement [Acevedo’s] status as one of today’s best boxing journalists.”―Kirkus Reviews
Boxing’s literary tradition is perhaps the richest in sports. From A. J. Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great sportswriting. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that honored tradition.
The essays that make up Sporting Blood include Acevedo’s moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; his penetrating look at Ali’s fearsome rival, the enigmatic heavyweight Charles “Sonny” Liston; and his profile of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King’s late 1980s reign of terror. Acevedo offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing’s dark side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Johnny Tapia, Evander Holyfield, Jake LaMotta, and more.
Sporting Blood is ultimately a poetic throwback, an uncanny book that evokes journalism’s golden age and places Acevedo not only among the best sportswriters of this generation, but of any other as well.

Review

“… this book may cement Acevedo’s status as one of today’s best boxing journalists.”–Kirkus Reviews
This is powerful writing. Enjoy it.”
–Thomas Hauser, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee
“Carlos Acevedo is the most original, perceptive, and best new writer in boxing. Sporting Blood is a vivid and gripping collection.”

–Donald McRae, writer for The Guardian and award-winning author of over twelve books
“Acevdo is a sensationally good writer with some brilliantly memorable turns of phrase. Each essay packs a mighty punch and resonated with me long after I read it. It is a great collection to dip in and out of, to take your time over, to re-read and savour the writing and the imagery.”
–All Sports Books Reviews
“Carlos Acevedo’s book of essays…finds a balance between the familiar and the less so for a read that goes by quickly and feels over too soon. Acevedo… gets to show off the range of his talent in this collection, applying varying stylistic flourishes to each subject approached.
–Cliff Rold, Boxing Scene

Review

“… this book may cement Acevedo’s status as one of today’s best boxing journalists.”―Kirkus ReviewsThis is powerful writing. Enjoy it.”―Thomas Hauser, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee“Carlos Acevedo is the most original, perceptive, and best new writer in boxing. Sporting Blood is a vivid and gripping collection.”―Donald McRae, writer for The Guardian and award-winning author of over twelve books“Acevdo is a sensationally good writer with some brilliantly memorable turns of phrase. Each essay packs a mighty punch and resonated with me long after I read it. It is a great collection to dip in and out of, to take your time over, to re-read and savour the writing and the imagery.” ―All Sports Books Reviews“Carlos Acevedo’s book of essays…finds a balance between the familiar and the less so for a read that goes by quickly and feels over too soon. Acevedo… gets to show off the range of his talent in this collection, applying varying stylistic flourishes to each subject approached. ―Cliff Rold,Boxing Scene

About the Author

Carlos Acevedo was the founder of
The Cruelest Sport and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His work has appeared in
Inside HBO Boxing,
Boxing News,
Remezcla,
Boxing Digest, and
Hannibal Boxing. His stories
A Darkness Made to Order and
A Ghost Orbiting Forever both won first place awards from the BWAA. Acevedo is also a member of the International Boxing Research Organization.
Sporting Blood is his first book.

Thomas Hauser (Foreword) is the author of forty-eight books on subjects ranging fr