Sporting Blood: Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing

＂This book may cement [Acevedo’s] status as one of today’s best boxing journalists.＂--Kirkus Reviews

Boxing has one of the richest literary traditions in sports. From A. J.
Liebling to Donald McRae, the sweet science has consistently inspired great
writing. The work of Carlos Acevedo stands firmly in that distinguished
tradition.

In this expanded edition of Sporting Blood, Acevedo adds two new masterful
essays--one about the murder of Stanley Ketchel, the other about the gangland
slaying of Battling Siki--to those that made his debut collection an instant
classic. Other highlights include a moving meditation on Muhammad Ali; a
penetrating look at the enigmatic Charles ＂Sonny＂ Liston; and a vivid profile
of Mike Tyson, which brilliantly conjures the Boy King’s late 1980s reign of
terror. Acevedo also offers many other unforgettable tales from boxing’s dark
side, featuring Jack Johnson, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Aaron Pryor, Jake
LaMotta, and more.

Sporting Blood is a poetic throwback, a singular book that evokes
journalism’s golden age and places Acevedo among the best sportswriters of his
generation.

Contents

Foreword: Thomas Hauser

1: A Ghost Orbiting Forever: Muhammad Ali 1942-2016

2: Fugitive Days: Jack Johnson in Exile

3: The Last Goodbye: Remembering the Rivalry Between Roberto Durán and Esteban De Jesús

4: Right on for the Darkness: On Aaron Pryor 1955-2016

5: The Catastrophist: The Troubled World of Don Jordan

6: Dark Sun: Remembering Joe Frazier

7: Strange Days: The Johnny Saxton Story

8: The Hurting Kind: Wilfredo Gomez vs. Lupe Pintor

9: Yesterday Will Make You Cry: The Short, Tragic Career of Davey Moore

10: Under Saturn: Johnny Tapia 1967-2012

11: Total Everything Now: Mike Tyson, 1988

12: The Windfall Factor: The Night Bert Cooper Almost Beat Evander Holyfield for the Heavyweight Title

13: Red Arrow: The Mysterious Death of Sonny Liston

14: The Dark Corner: The Furious Life of Jake LaMotta

15: A Young Old Man: The Tragic Life of Ad Wolgast

16: The Lightning Within: Tony Ayala, Jr.

17: No Exit: Eddie Machen

18: One Long Season in Hell: On Michael Dokes

19: Lightning Express: The Quick Rise and Even Quicker Fall of Al Singer

20: Live Forward, Learned Backward: Mike Quarry and the ＂Quarry Curse＂

21: Leftover Life to Kill: Who Will Remember Carmelo Negron?

22. The Busy World: The Murder of Stanley Ketchel

23. Too Far from Home: Battling Siki Comes to America

Carlos Acevedo, author of Sporting Blood: Tales From the Dark Side of Boxing (Hamilcar Publications (2020) and The Duke: The Life and Lies of Tommy Morrison (Hamilcar Publications 2022), was the founder of The Cruelest Sport and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His work has appeared in Inside HBO Boxing, Boxing News, Remezcla, Boxing Digest, and Hannibal Boxing. His stories A Darkness Made to Order and A Ghost Orbiting Forever both won first place awards from the BWAA. Acevedo is also a member of the International Boxing Research Organization.