Sparring With Hemingway: And Other Legends of the Fight Game by Budd Schulberg (1995, Hardcover)

Synopsis
A collection of nearly 50 years of noted boxing writer (and author of the screenplay for "On the Waterfront") Budd Schulburg's best articles. The book includes coverage of the Ali-Foreman, Leonard-Duran, and Hagler-Hearns fights.

Key Details
Author:	Budd Schulberg
Language:	English
Publisher:	Ivan R. Dee
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	1566630800
ISBN-13:	9781566630801

Size
Height:	9 in
Width:	6 in
Thickness:	1 in
Weight:	16 oz

Publisher's Note
Budd Schulberg's love affair with boxing began when he was twelve, when his father took him to the fights at the Hollywood Legion. Over the years, between his celebrated novels and screenplays, he has been Sports Illustrated's first boxing editor and covered title bouts for Playboy, Esquire, Newsday, and the New York Post. Sparring with Hemingway collects for the first time the best of Mr. Schulberg's "takes" on the Sweet Science, from "The Great" Benny Leonard to Muhammad Ali to George Foreman: memorable personalities and their unforgettable fights. Mr. Schulberg is a passionate fan as well as an expert observer (of boxing and human nature), and his stories capture the sights, sounds, and sometimes even the smells of the fight game. Along with vivid pieces on the great fights and the great fighters of the last seventy-five years, Mr. Schulberg offers reflections on the social history of boxing, explores the mystique of the heavyweight championship, rails against the seamy side of the boxing business, and recalls his celebrated sparring match with Ernest Hemingway, when two aficionados of "the game" had a verbal (verging on physical) go at each other. In the opinion of anxious onlookers, "Papa bullied him all over the ring but finally quit between rounds".

The best of Mr. Schulberg's reporting on the sweet science, from Benny Leonard to Muhammad Ali to George Foremna, including reflections on the social history of the fight game, the mystique of the heavyweight championship, the seamy side of the business, and his own sparring match with "Papa."

Industry Reviews
"If you didn't read beyond the first of these collected essays on the 'sweet science' by veteran novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg, you'd still have gotten your mony's worth....Sparring With Hemingway goes the distnace, and it's a crowd pleasure all the way."
Chicago Tribune Books - Les Standiford (08/13/1995)

"Sparring with Hemingway is a collection of nearly half a century of Mr. Schulberg's best articles about boxing, and it belongs on the same shelf with the real heavyweights--A.J. Liebling, W.C. Heinz and Hugh McIlvanney."
New York Times Book Review - Allen Barra (07/09/1995)

"Bringing expertise and empathy to this collection of essays, Schulberg swings from the high drama of the Marciano-Moore title fight, at once savage and cerebral, to the unspeakable tragedy of Speedy Sencio, battered into jelly because of a manager's greed and now a blind attendant in a men's room. He recognizes the need for reform (but never abolition) while savoring the classic bout, 'epic in both form and content.'"
Los Angeles Times Book Review - Dick Roraback (07/09/1995)