Looks at Chicago's fighters and explores the history of amateur boxing in Chicago, including the role of the the Chicago Golden Gloves and Catholic Youth Organization boxing tournaments in producing such world title holders as Joe Louis and Ernie Terrell.

In the late 1980s Wacquant, a white, French-born, French and American sociology graduate student, entered the Woodlawn gym on 63rd Street in Chicago and began training as a boxer. This text invites us to follow Wacquant's immersion into the everyday world of Chicago's boxers.

Records of modern female boxing date back to the early eighteenth century in London, and in the 1904 Olympics an exhibition bout between women was held. Yet it was not until the 2012 Olympics—more than 100 years later—that women’s boxing was officially added to the Games. Throughout boxing’s history, women have fought in and out of the ring to gain respect in a sport traditionally considered for men alone. The stories of these women are told for the first time in this comprehensive work dedicated to women’s boxing. A History of Women’s Boxing traces the sport back to the 1700s, through the 2012 Olympic Games, and up to the present. Inside-the-ring action is brought to life through photographs, newspaper clippings, and anecdotes, as are the stories of the women who played important roles outside the ring, from spectators and judges to managers and trainers. This book includes extensive profiles of the sport’s pioneers, including Barbara Buttrick whose plucky carnival shows launched her professional boxing career in the 1950s; sixteen-year-old Dallas Malloy who single-handedly overturned the strictures against female amateur boxing in 1993; the famous “boxing daughters” Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde; and teenager Claressa Shields, the first American woman to win a boxing gold medal at the Olympics. Rich in detail and exhaustively researched, this book illuminates the struggles, obstacles, and successes of the women who fought—and continue to fight—for respect in their sport. A History of Women’s Boxing is a must-read for boxing fans, sports historians, and for those interested in the history of women in sports.

A history of boxing in Chicago discusses fans, promoters, mob bosses, and such memorable boxers as Professor Mike Donovan, "Stockyards" Harold Smith, and Battling Nelson-"The Durable Dane."

Professor Mike Donovan, Battling Nelson"The Durable Dane," and "Stockyards" Harold Smith their stories are as colorful as their names. Chicagos boxing history is as exciting and unpredictable as any prize fight within the ring. Some of the most memorable boutsgreat, infamous or otherwisetook place in the citys clubs, parks and arenas, and Chicago has seen its share of champions and top contenders over the years. The Gans-McGovern fight in 1900the "Big Fix"set the sport back 25 years in Chicago. The "Long Count" between Tunney and Dempsey, in 1927, may still be the most controversial bout of all time. Chicago Boxing is a story not only of great boxers, but of the fans who embraced them, the promoters who made them big, and even a few mob bosses who made good on their talent.

Built in 1929, Chicago Stadium was the crowning achievement of local sports promoter Paddy Harmon. The largest sports arena in the world when it was built, the stadium was completed at a total cost of $9.5 million. The "Madhouse on Madison" witnessed an active 65-year reign as the city's greatest auditorium. Home to both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Bulls, the stadium's attendance eclipsed that of others around the nation as it hosted numerous boxing matches, the first playoff game of the National Football League, rodeo competitions, and concerts (featuring Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and later KISS) among other events. Chicago Stadium fell to the wrecking ball in 1995.

Besides recounting the exemplary life of Monsignor John Joseph Egan, An Alley in Chicago briefs us on the firebrand priests and lay people who radiated the power and -lan that made Catholics across the country look to the heartland, to ChicagoAIs Catholic moment. They sought leadership in marriage education, in neighborhood empowerment, in urban ministries, in ecuminism, in race relations, in community organizing, from these indefatigable Chicago leaders-and they got it.

Chicago has garnered national recognition by winning the World Series, the Super Bowl, and a string of titles in the National Basketball Association. But amateur sports also play a large role in the city's athletic traditions, especially in schools and youth leagues. In fourteen chapters, experts focus on multiple aspects of Chicago sports, including long looks at amateur boxing, the impact of gender and ethnicity in sports, the politics of horse racing and stadium building, the lasting scandal of the Black Sox, and the perpetual heartbreak of the Cubs. Well illustrated with forty photographs, this volume will help historians and sports fans alike appreciate the longstanding importance of sports in Chicago. Contributors are Peter Alter, Robin F. Bachin, Larry Bennett, Linda J. Borish, Gerald Gems, Elliott J. Gorn, Richard Kimball, Gabe Logan, Daniel A. Nathan, Timothy Neary, Steven A. Riess, John Russick, Timothy Spears, Costas Spirou, and Loic Wacquant.

Held on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium, the second Louis-Schmeling fight sparked excitement around the globe. For all its length--the fight lasted but two minutes--it remains one of the most memorable events in boxing history and, indeed, one of the most significant sporting events ever. In this superb account, Lewis A. Erenberg offers a vivid portrait of Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, their individual careers, and their two epic fights, shedding light on what these fighters represented to their nations, and why their second bout took on such international importance. Erenberg shows how in the first fight Schmeling shocked everyone with a dramatic twelfth-round knockout of Louis, becoming a German national hero and a (unwilling) symbol of Aryan superiority. In fact, the second fight was seen around the world in symbolic terms--as a match between Nazism and American democracy. Erenberg discusses how Louis' dramatic first-round victory was a devastating blow to Hitler, who turned on Schmeling and, during the war, had the boxer (then serving as a paratrooper) sent on a series of dangerous missions. Louis, meanwhile, went from being a hero of his race--"Our Joe"--to the first black champion embraced by all Americans, black and white, an important step forward in United States race relations. Erenberg also describes how, after the war, the two boxers became symbols of German-American reconciliation. With Schmeling as a Coca Cola executive, and Louis down on his luck, the former foes became friends, and when Louis died, Schmeling helped pay for his funeral. Here then is a stirring and insightful account of one of the great moments in boxing history, a confrontation that provided global theater on an epic scale.