Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems - Softcover

Shuttleworth, Red

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1647791200 ISBN 13: 9781647791209

Publisher: University of Nevada Press, 2023

Synopsis

A tribute to the improbable dreams of valiant men in a rough sport.

In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer (professional or amateur), offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer. From the inspiring hopes of an early career to agonizing defeats, the poems in Eclipse of the Sun take readers on a journey from moderate successes to the realization that a dream of a promising future has become the reality of the long haul of a journeyman. Along the way, Shuttleworth rubs elbows with greats like Muhammad Ali, Chickie Ferrara, and Ron Lyle, exposing the resolute path and difficult end of a hard-lived life.

This collection is an homage to boxing at its grittiest levels, and to fighters who persevere—with hope, blood, and bone—against sense and loss. Few professional boxers earn a living in the ring, and even fewer arrive in their forties with any money left from their sport. In this collection, boxers attain poverty rather than riches, end up in post-career menial jobs, and have no pension plan to fall back on. Shuttleworth’s poetry is a visceral inside look at the brutality and humanity at the heart of boxing.

About this title

About the Author

Red Shuttleworth holds degrees from City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has been writing poetry for more than fifty years and has also written short fiction and texts for the theater for decades. Shuttleworth took up boxing while a student at City College of San Francisco in the 1960s. He had three amateur bouts, one of which he won by decision.

 

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1647791200
• ISBN 13: 9781647791209
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 73