"Insightful, enjoyable, and stimulating. . . . Should be read by anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of the role that boxing has played in shaping American attitudes and values."--Journal of Southern History

"Carefully documents the ruin waiting for almost all those ill-advised enough to become professional boxers. He confirms all the legends, of crime, of swindling, of the miserable economic rewards allotted to the vast majority of fighters . . . the traditional racism of the American ring. . . . No one, reading Sammons, can doubt that it is evil."--Times Literary Supplement