Boxing Book Review: The Longest Fight: In The Ring With Joe Gans By Antonio Santiago, Doghouse Boxing (June 20, 2012) Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
Muhammad Ali used to say “I am the
Greatest!”…and he was. Likewise, me, the person who loves to
quote Ali with his ‘bee-line” by saying “I too fly like a
butterfly and sting like a bee, but my name is not Muhammad
Ali”, will tell you, that “I am a Democrat!”. Perhaps it is
fitting then that I am writing a review about a book about Joe Gans,
the Barack Obama of American boxing, just as the country I live at,
the United States, starts to gear up for a rematch between Obama and
the Republican’ts…err…Republicans. It is also fitting that you
read this review now, because the book, named “The Longest Fight:
In The Ring With Joe Gans”, written by William Gildea, (Farrar,
Strauss and Giroux, ISBN-10: 0374280975, ISBN-13: 978-0374280970, http://us.macmillan.com,
2012) WAS OFFICIALLY RELEASED YESTERDAY!
should then get on your car and race to the nearest bookstore in
town, or take the computer off your kids’ or your parents’ hands,
because if you miss this book, you will be sorry. Because it is a
great book. For the longest fight that the book talks about is not
necessarily as much the great, first Gans- Oscar “Battling”
Nelson fight, but the fight against social injustice that many
Americans had to live through for all the way until recent decades.
Now, I am not saying that because I am a Hispanic and whatsoever. I
love people of every race, shade and whatever in this country. But I
am saying it because, unfortunately, what the book describes is what
went on during the times of Gans and Nelson, at least in many
people’s times. If you did not know that, then I recommend you also
to buy the book and learn a part of this country’s history that is
as sad as it is essential in social history books.
takes us on a clear, easy to understand narrative of Joe Gans and
Oscar Nelson, and of the times in which they lived, the minds of many
fans who were concerned with their bouts, and of the city of
Goldfield, Nevada, itself. We also learn a bit more about American
promoter Tex Richard, whose motive was not rightfulness nor social
reform, but seeing that green paper stacked his pockets. In
describing all that, Gildea did a phenomenal job backtracking all the
way to those years in which communication systems were at their
infancy and details about celebrities at a prime prize. Gildea truly
made his homework.
the book makes me wonder why, as the first African American world
boxing champion, Gans has never been honored by the United States
Postal Office with a postal stamp. He deserves that honor and more.
It also makes me wonder if Nelson was really as racist as he sounded.
Because, as foul-mouthed as he was, even writing words I could never
call anyone with in his autobiography, Nelson actually reached out to
Gans near the end. The book then explains to us things in detail,
while also raising our curiosity at the same time.
book’s cover shows Joe Gans dressed in brown, with a whitish-brown
tone in the background, which makes me think about Gans walking the
sandy, dusty Goldfield streets as he marches forward toward the fight
and, perhaps, towards his future and his place in that future and in
the history of the country on which he was walking. The cover
prepares you for what the book really is. A clear view of elements of
society during that era. Trust me, after you read it, you will
thank God that you live in this one instead!.