Hooking Off the Jab: Nigel Collins on Boxing - Softcover

Collins, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798986604350

Publisher: Winding Road Stories, 2022

Synopsis

From the smoky clubs of Philadelphia to the visiting room of an Indiana prison to the primetime spotlights of Las Vegas, Nigel Collins has covered boxing like no other writer in the world. His proximity to both the champions that wouldn’t stay down and the opponents that went down a little too easily allowed him to bring fans all the action both in and out of the ring. Hooking Off the Jab recounts five decades of incomparable access, incredible personalities and improbable outcomes in a sport that even the most jaded boxing fan could not accurately predict. Wherever and whenever the bell rang, Nigel Collins was there to answer it.

“Nigel Collins has remained one of the essential voices analyzing and contextualizing boxing for half a century. In his writing, there emerges both an enduring passion for the sport and a brutal honesty about its toll.”
—Eric Raskin, Showtime Boxing Podcast

“If you’ve seen the fight, Nigel Collins will fill you in with what you didn’t see, big picture and little picture. If you missed the fight he’ll make you believe you did see it.”
--Larry Merchant

“Nigel Collins is a master storyteller. A new collection of his work is a reason to celebrate!”
—Don Stradley, author of The War: Hagler, Hearns and Three Rounds for the Ages

“In 1987 I was in my thirteenth year of working for ABC Sports. I had begun my stint there covering college football, and eventually touched every sport imaginable through my exposures on Wide World of Sports and Olympics broadcasts. Then I was suddenly assigned to boxing, a sport in which I had experience only as a viewer. In a panic, I began foraging for every byline that might educate me and keep me from failing my new responsibility as a storyteller in the most revered storytelling sport. And the first name that became a basic staple was Nigel Collins, at that time the executive editor of the magazine that was seen as the Bible of Boxing.’ His writing and reporting helped to keep me afloat. It was a form of poetry that 28 years later we entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame together. He didn’t need exposure to me to achieve that recognition, but I know I wouldn’t have gotten to Canastota without his work.”
—Jim Lampley

“Nigel Collins is, simply put, one of the best to ever write about the sport of boxing. He’s vastly experienced, enormously insightful and he’s been in the small halls, the outdoor stadiums and everywhere in between. He’s met champions, journeymen, promoters, has-beens, never-weres and, of course, his fellow Hall of Famers. He has carefully and colorfully chronicled boxing for more than 50 years and his excellent must-read work will stand the test of time for generations to come.”
—Tris Dixon, author of Damage: The Untold Story Of Brain Trauma In Boxing

"Nigel Collins is one of the greatest boxing writers of them all. Whatever he writes deserves to be read."
—Matt Christie, Editor of Boxing News

Edition details

• Publisher: Winding Road Stories
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798986604350
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 348