Sting Like a Bee : The Muhammad Ali Story - Softcover

Torres, Jose; Sugar, Bert Randolph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071395881 ISBN 13: 9780071395885

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2001

Synopsis

Climb inside the ring with a world-champion boxer for a behind-the-scenes look at Muhammad Ali Writers have long been attracted to boxing. Hemingway, Mailer, Algren, Plimpton, Oates, and many others have stepped into the ring--at least in spirit--to give voice to an otherwise wordless sport, to celebrate that “sweet science,” and to bear witness to its romance and tragedy. In Sting Like a Bee, hailed by Norman Mailer as an “impressive event,” we are brought for the first time into the ring for a close-up look at the “manly art” through the eyes of Jose Torres, a man who was a great boxer himself. When former light-heavyweight world champion Jose Torres traded in his gloves for a typewriter, boxing finally found its eyewitness. In this classic book, Torres turns his well-trained eye on one of the most celebrated and controversial athletes of all time: Muhammad Ali. In this penetrating view of Ali and the world of prizefighting, told by a true insider and “boxing’s Renaissance man,” Torres delivers exciting and explicit accounts of all of Ali’s major fights with the cool authenticity of one who has lived it.

About this title

About the Author:

A silver medalist in the 1956 Olympics, Jose Torres went on to have a brilliant professional boxing career, becoming light-heavyweight champion of the world in 1965. After his fighting days ended, Torres became a columnist for the New York Post and associate editor of Boxing Illustrated magazine. From 1983 to 1988 he served as chairman of the New York State Boxing Commission. He publishes regularly in Parade, the New York Post, El Diario, and the Village Voice and is the author of Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson. He lives in New York City.

“. . . Acrid, penetrating, a book fuming with the ammonia of the prize ring and the psychic steam of champions." -- Publishers Weekly

“Marvelous . . . it is a study of the psychic contest that in boxing is the hidden part of the iceberg.” -- The New York Times

Review:

“Acrid, penetrating, a book fuming with the ammonia of the prize ring and the psychic steam of champions.”—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)

“Marvelous. . . . It is a study of the psychic contest that in boxing is the hidden part of the iceberg.”—New York Times (New York Times)

"With his keen, analytical eye, [José Torres] takes us inside the gym, inside the locker room, and even inside the psyche of the boxer in the ring. He explains the feelings, including fear and exhaustion, that all boxers, even Ali, experience prior to, during and after a fight. This makes Sting Like a Bee more than a valuable insight into a significant period in the career of a boxing legend. It is also a benchmark against which to measure other boxing books, if not sports literature in general."—Tim Gebhart, Blogcritics.org (Tim Gebhart Blogcritics.org 2009-03-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0071395881
• ISBN 13: 9780071395885
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224