A Hurting Sport

About

“No one has ever done it better.”
—The Ring

A Hurting Sport marks the tenth annual volume of Thomas Hauser’s boxing articles to be published by the University of Arkansas Press. Every year, readers, sportswriters, and critics alike look forward to these collections. In 2014, Booklist observed, “This annual series detailing the year in boxing should be a highlight, not only for fans of the sport but also for those who appreciate journalistic acumen and stylish prose.”

Other sportswriters have called Hauser “the dean of fightwriters” (TheSweetScience.com) and “our craft’s most celebrated practitioner” (15Rounds.com). His readers call him one of the last real champions in boxing and one of the very best who has ever written about this sport.

A Hurting Sport continues this tradition of excellence with a behind-the-scenes recounting of 2014’s biggest fights, a look at Floyd Mayweather’s conduct in and out of the ring, analysis of fight impresario Al Haymon’s burgeoning empire, and much more.

Author

Thomas Hauser is the author of many books. His first work, Missing, was made into an Academy Award–winning film. He later authored Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, the definitive biography of the most famous fighter ever. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for Career Excellence in Boxing Journalism.

Contents

Fighters and Fights
Behind the Scenes at Pacquiao-Bradley
Sergio Martinez vs. Miguel Cotto
Chris Algieri: An Unlikely Champion
Boyd Melson: An Atypical Fighter
GGG = WOW
New York Notes
Jermain Taylor’s “Comeback”
Hopkins-Kovalev: A Legacy Fight
A Look Back at Hopkins-Kovalev
Larry Holmes at Ecco

Non-Combatants
Remembering Paul Hoggatt
Don Turner: Opinions and Memories
John Duddy: Actor

Curiosities
“I’m Going Down”
David Diamante at Pamplona
Tina and Manny Redux
HBO’s “Delta Force”
Fistic Nuggets

Issues and Answers
Floyd Mayweather, Donald Sterling, and TMZ
What Is Al Haymon Planning?
Instant Video Review and Boxing
Fistic Notes
The SCP Summer Premier Auction
Mayweather and Pacquiao vs. the Modern 135-Pound Greats
100 Days: The New York Times and Boxing
Floyd Mayweather and Ray Rice
Literary Notes
In Memoriam
Floyd Mayweather, Showtime, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission