Publication Date:October 8, 2002 Availability:Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days Shipping:International shipping available Condition:Shipped from the US -- Expect delivery in 1-2 weeks. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.ca Muhammad Ali has had more media attention (books, documentaries, a hit feature film) than any other athlete in history--a fresh take on him seems impossible. But acclaimed sports journalist and author Stephen Brunt has found one: he profiles the oft-ignored supporting cast in Ali's illustrious yet controversial life and career. The result is Facing Ali, a must-read for all fans of boxing and Ali. Brunt zeroes in on Ali's opponents, those that came face to face with the lightning-fast jab and the yapping mouth of the Louisville Lip. He explores the lives of these fighters pre- and post-Ali, has them reflect on how those bouts changed their lives, and collects their impressions of Ali, the man and the boxer.
Brunt's vivid portraits of each man add flesh, heart, and soul to those often reduced to a footnote in boxing history. Anyone who has followed the heavyweight saga over the past four decades knows plenty about Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Canadian hero George Chuvalo. Even those major players, however, are given new life in Brunt's perceptive pugilistic profiles. Of special interest are looks at such virtual unknowns as Brian London, Karl Mildenberger, Chuck Wepner, and Tunney Hunsaker, Ali's first pro opponent. By seeking out these boxers on their own turf, whether it be a Hamburg bar (Jurgen Blin) or a Fayetteville, West Virginia, home (Hunsaker), Brunt elicits extraordinarily candid responses. Blin confesses to knowing in advance he had no chance against Ali, while Belgian Jean-Pierre Coopman notes that "two seconds after the opening bell, Ali knew that I was nothing more than a fly." Frazier reveals himself to be tragically bitter and angry about Ali, even claiming that the champ's Parkinson's is God's punishment for Ali's disrespect toward Frazier and his country. Other fighters display real affection for Ali. "If there is a God, what must have been going through His mind to give a disease like Parkinson's to a great man like Ali?" Coopman asks the author. Entertaining anecdotes fly fast and furious. Chuck Wepner (the inspiration for Rocky) recalls buying his wife a sexy negligee before his Ali fight and telling her, "tonight you're going to be sleeping with the heavyweight champion." Upon his loss, his wife teased him, "Do I go to Ali's room or does he come to mine?"
Brunt is Canada's best boxing writer, as evidenced by his earlier book Mean Business: The Rise and Fall of Shawn O'Sullivan, not to mention his Globe and Mail columns. He clearly loves the sport, yet he has never backed off from revealing its ugly side. His reputation is now firmly cemented by Facing Ali, a beautifully written work, worthy of international recognition, that does those it features real justice. It's a knock-out read. --Kerry Doole
Customer Reviews:
A masterpiece of sports writingApril 18, 2007 Stephen Brunt's excellent book poignantly tells the stories of fifteen men who fought Muhammad Ali. Brunt tells us in his introduction that we generally only hear one side of the story - usually the side of the star of the show. Since there have been few stars who have shone as brightly as Ali in the boxing world (or in the world in general for that matter), the stories of his opponents, even the ones who were champions in their own right, have tended to be forgotten, if not completely ignored.
The stories provide a fresh perspective on Ali through the course of the book, since many of these men developed a relationship with him that transcended their battle(s) with him in the ring, but the spotlight here is directly on the lives of these fifteen men. Each of their stories is unique. Some are funny, some are tragic, some offer us lessons if we care to look. All the stories show us how these men's lives were altered by their moment in the spotlight. With the exception of Joe Frazier, who gets the longest section of the book devoted to him, every man conveys a fondness and respect for Ali even if they had differences with him.
Brunt is a great writer who is able to convey something essential about each of the men he dedicates a chapter to. There isn't a trace of sentimentality and every portrait comes across as being fair to it's subject. "Facing Ali" is a masterpiece of sports writing and belongs on the shelf of every boxing fan.
A truly different book about AliMarch 12, 2007 Many books have been written about Ali, but none like this. Actually, I've never seen a book written like this. The author, Stephen Brunt, interviewed 15 fighters that fought Ali and how their lives changed after the fight(s). There is non of the typical "boxing book stuff" such as breaking down the fights, etc. What the author does do is provide the readers what the boxers think and feel about Ali before, during, and after their fight against him and what it did for their lives.
I good book that is a nice change from the typical boxing book.
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