Serenity: A Boxing Memoir

"This is a surprising book, a terrific book. It's not about boxing, but about an odd, demanding world in which boxing is the thread, the key to existence. Wiley deftly broadens the delineation of this world and its people. Perceptive reporting is the foundation and perceptive reporting is rare enough. Wiley enhances it with clear, quick writing laced with humor and with a sensitivity that lends brilliance to this impressive work."-Robert W. Creamer, author of Baseball and Other Matters in 1941. "Ralph Wiley, with Serenity, has produced an original book about the ring. . . . He can dig beneath the surface and show us what really happened in a bout: why Thomas Hearns, with too much faith in his powerful right hand, lost to Sugar Ray Leonard in their first match. . . . Or why Roberto Durán was acting out of prudence, not cowardice, when he quit in his second fight against Leonard. . . . Yet the book is not really about boxing. Boxing in Serenity is what T. S. Eliot, speaking of plot, called the meat a burglar brings to distract the watchdog. The book is really about growing up in a world where you had to defend yourself physically to survive."-New York Times. "Wiley's rapport with boxers is profound."-Publisher's Weekly. "Wiley is one writer who really knows his way around a boxing ring. . . . [He writes] with passion and understanding about complex, violent men and their oddly redemptive sport."-Booklist. Ralph Wiley is the author or coauthor of several works, most recently Born to Play: The Eric Davis Story.

Prizefighters, opines Sports Illustrated writer Wiley, have serenity to a greater degree than ordinary folk, his theme here as he reminisces about his contacts with practitioners of the sweet science. He covers them from the ham-and-eggers who are victims of future champions on their way to the top, to the outstanding boxers of the past two decades--as well as the shattered hulks of the once-great who have taken too many punches. The most memorable chapters are devoted to Sugar Ray Leonard, unwilling to retire, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns, who claims not to want to be liked (and indeed is not very likable) and Mike Tyson, depicted as a boy in a man's body. The glimpses of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, a victim of Alzheimer's disease, and Muhammad Ali, old at 47, are affecting, as are looks at those who have killed other fighters in the ring, like Ray Mancini. Wiley's rapport with boxers is profound.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sportswriter Wiley has written an interesting memoir dealing with his association with boxing. The sport has fascinated him, and he has met many champions. Some of them are given separate chapters, and Wiley's insights into these boxers are often very revealing. The late Sugar Ray Robinson, who is acknowledged by many to be the greatest fighter pound for pound, has his career detailed from its beginning, when he had nothing, to its end, when he had nothing. The boxing career of Ray Leonard, who adopted the name Sugar Ray, is chronicled, and Wiley attempts to find the motivation for hisreturn to the ring. Manager Emmanuel Steward, his fighter Thomas Hearns, and boxers Roberto Duran, Muhammad Ali, and Larry Holmes are covered in summary fashion. Recommended for libraries where there is interest in boxing or sports writing.
- David L. Mills, Brooklyn P.L., New York
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.