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Summary
Summary
Muhammad Ali cast a blinding light on his sport, on the tumultuous times in which he reigned as champion, and on all the people who surrounded him. That included the fighters brave enough to stand alone, in the ring with the greatest heavyweight champion of all time.
Ali's own story has been told often, but the tales of those who faced him have been mostly overlooked. For each, the moments alone in the ring with Ali changed their lives. FACING ALI tells the stories, in the fighters' own words, of fifteen men from around the world--from famous names like Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Henry Cooper, to lesser lights like Tunney Hunsaker, Jergen Blin, and George Chuvalo. FACING ALI offers a unique perspective on what it was like to fight Ali, and gives new insights into the character of a boxer who is arguably the most recognized man on the planet.
Author Notes
Stephen Brunt is Canada's premier sportswriter and commentator. He is the lead columnist for Toronto's Globe and Mail and won the Michener Award for his piece on negligence and corruption in boxing. He was nominated for Canada's National Newspaper Award for his account of meeting with Ali.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Brunt provides penetrating and honest profiles of 15 fighters from around the world who faced Muhammad Ali, and he produces a book that should become one of the essential works for understanding the legendary fighter. Brunt's subjects range in chronological order from Tunney Hunsaker, the first man to fight Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) as a professional, to Larry Holmes, whose crushing victory in Ali's fourth comeback showed that the champion's career was truly finished. In between, Brunt (columnist for Toronto's Globe and Mail) offers bracing new looks at Ali's well-known opponents, including Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman. Some of Brunt's best portraits, however, bring to life those "extremely unlikely tales, longshots, no-hopers, fighters lifted out of obscurity for their date with the most famous man on earth," such as Germany's Jurgen Blin, who fought Ali and the next day "was back at work at the sausage factory." Although each story varies, Brunt is amazingly sensitive to and respectful of each fighter's own words, no matter how factually wrong or self-serving they might be. He deftly illustrates how all the fighters to some degree believe that, as Jean Pierre Coopman says, "The Ali fight was the defining moment of my career," although this feeling is ironic for some, such as George Chuvalo, who despite his winning record became better known in his native Canada for going the distance with Ali and losing. Others are bitter, such as Joe Frazier, who views Ali's current Parkinson's disease unsympathetically; as Brunt cannily observes, "on the cosmic scale, [Frazier's] getting even." (May) Forecast: Facing Ali should be as coveted as other recent popular works on Ali to which it compares favorably, such as David Remnick's King of the World and Mark Kram's Ghosts of Manila. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Canadian sportswriter Brunt fills in the background as boxers tell of their experiences in the ring with Muhammad Ali. "In boxing, as in everything else, only one side of the story tends to be told," writes Brunt, and when that story involved Ali, one voice was certainly heard above the others. So the journalist takes it as his task to tell Ali's opponents' stories: how they felt about facing him, and how these fights altered the course of their careers. The writing is hard and ungussied, much like the men. Some of them, like dementia-afflicted Tunney Hunsaker, can't speak much, and other significant opponents have been permanently silenced. (Readers will regret the absence of Sonny Liston, whose death left two unanswered questions that nag at every fight fan: What was on his gloves that blinded Ali? And did he dive in their second fight?) But Sir Henry Cooper makes some bright quips, and Joe Frazier vivifies his antipathy to Ali: "Lord . . . I want you to help me kill that scamboogah," Frazier would pray. More than one boxer knew he was in way over his head. Brian London says, "I gave me best for two or three rounds. But then I realized that I was going to get one hell of a hiding." According to Jean-Pierre Coopman, "It was never a question of winning or losing. Just surviving." Chuck Wepner, later immortalized as Rocky, tells the funniest story. He had bought his wife a negligee the day of the fight, announcing with swagger, "tonight you're going to be sleeping with the heavyweight champion of the world." When he shuffled in after the pulping he received, she asked, "Do I go to Ali's room? Or does he come to mine?" George Foreman, always the canny operator, understood well that he and most of the other guys were financially and professionally lucky just to step into the ring with the Champ. Makes it clear that boxing sure could use an Ali today--or any day. (Photos) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Muhammad Ali has been written about ad nauseum, but here we have a fresh approach: examine Ali the boxer through the eyes of his opponents. From the champs (Foreman), to the contenders (George Chuvalo), to the hopelessly overmatched (Jean-Pierre Coopman), the lives of Ali's opponents were profoundly shaped by facing (and, usually, getting pummeled by) an international icon. While Ali transcended boxing, his opponents didn't, and most of these fighters spent their lives getting beat up in the ring and out of it. That makes for fascinating reading, but for those who care more about Ali than, say, Earnie Shavers, the book is also chock-full of anecdotes and opinions about Ali as seen by his opponents. From each fighter's story, a different Ali emerges. To Frazier, Ali is a cruel bully. To Chuck Wepner, Ali is Apollo Creed to Wepner's Rocky Balboa. To Joe Bugner, Ali is just a brilliant businessman who knew how to put butts in seats. Between the perspectives on Ali and the witty, elegant retelling of 15 fighters' lives, this is a must for boxing fans. John Green
Library Journal Review
In the never-ending saga of Muhammad Ali, it has been the fate of those who faced him in the ring, even those who had claims to greatness themselves, to be relegated to the role of foil. Here Canadian sportswriter Brunt speaks in depth with 15 of Ali's opponents. There are the big names (Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton) and, ultimately more interesting, lesser lights from Cooper and Shavers on down to Coopman and Hunsaker. Brunt does an excellent job of bringing his subjects out of the shadow of the Greatest, recounting their often poignant tales of life before and after their dates with the champ. In the end, of course, we learn more about Ali. His foes offer some purely technical observations, e.g., he was not above employing less than ethical tactics in the ring, and his hand speed did not equal that of Floyd Patterson. Yet with a couple of not surprising exceptions, what stands out is their almost unanimous expression of affection for Ali. A worthy addition to any boxing collection.-Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Round 1 Tunney Hunsaker | p. 11 |
| Round 2 Henry Cooper | p. 25 |
| Round 3 George Chuvalo | p. 47 |
| Round 4 Brian London | p. 67 |
| Round 5 Karl Mildenberger | p. 81 |
| Round 6 Joe Frazier | p. 101 |
| Round 7 Jurgen Blin | p. 129 |
| Round 8 Joe Bugner | p. 141 |
| Round 9 Ken Norton | p. 165 |
| Round 10 George Foreman | p. 185 |
| Round 11 Chuck Wepner | p. 209 |
| Round 12 Ron Lyle | p. 231 |
| Round 13 Jean-Pierre Coopman | p. 245 |
| Round 14 Earnie Shavers | p. 263 |
| Round 15 Larry Holmes | p. 279 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 299 |
| Photo Credits | p. 301 |
