Sweet Science a ground-breaking portrayal of boxing
LAST WEEK’S review focused on an author who removed himself completely from the subject matter, instead playing the role of onlooker rather than making himself the centre of attention. And it’s a case of veering from one extreme to the other this time around, as this column features a timeless classic by a gifted writer who is very much front and centre.
The Penguin Modern Classics series throws up its fair share of sports books, and they don’t come much better than A.J. Liebling’s acclaimed ‘The Sweet Science - Boxing and Boxiana: A Ringside View’.
Quality writing will always stand the test of time regardless of genre, and this is certainly true of a publication that first appeared on the bookshelves in 1956.
The subject matter deals with the period from 1951 to ’56 when Liebling travelled around the U.S.A. and further afield to give his own unique take on the boxers, trainers, assorted hangers-on and fanatic followers that brought such colour and excitement to the sport during arguably its brightest era.
Liebling wasn’t a boxing reporter as such, and this afforded him the time to take a more considered look at what he witnessed inside the ring.
He wasn’t tied down to immediate after-fight deadlines for the next edition, and his feature writing adorned the ‘New
Yorker’ magazine and made him one of the most respected journalists of 1950s
America.
His own back story was interesting, as he served as a war correspondent in
France, England and Africa, reporting on the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris during the Second World War.
Liebling invites the reader to join him on his journey as he covers a multitude of big title fights, regaling one and all with his witty observations and descriptive writing.
He can be caustic when he wants to be, and he certainly calls it as he sees it, and that’s what makes the book so entertaining.
It is very much of its time, of course, and he wouldn’t be able to get away with some of his portrayals of the boxers and their backroom teams in the current climate of political correctness.
Liebling was born in Manhattan in 1904 and died in 1963, and he was also an adept writer on the diverse topics of food and horse racing.
The life and times of Rocky Marciano featured in another recent review in this column, and the former heavyweight champion is one of the featured fighters in this compilation.
As well as carrying impressive in-depth insight into the world of boxing during the early 1950s, the book also serves as a window into what life was like in the U.S.A. at the time as its people started to find their feet again after the war.
The razamatazz associated with the fight game isn’t just a recent phenomenon, and the assortment of characters brought to life in this book highlights both the good and bad aspects of life on the boxing sidelines.
There’s chancers, criminals, visionaries and gifted sportsmen side by side, all of them coming under Liebling’s spotlight as he reveals aspects of boxing that might otherwise have stayed hidden beneath the surface.
Indeed, this book was regarded as ground-breaking when it was first published, and it’s easy to understand why.
It may be 62 years old at this stage, but it hasn’t aged and that says it all in terms of the quality of the writing. Penguin chose well when they termed this book a Modern Classic.
ALAN AHERNE
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