- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; New edition edition (14 Oct 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1840188898
- ISBN-13: 978-1840188899
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 3 x 20 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 876,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"A dying blook sport is reincarnated as a metaphor for redemption under flawed circumstances."--Nita Rao, "The Village Voice
"Robert Anasi . . . can turn a phrase as clean as a neatly wrapped fist."--Stephanie Zacharek, "Newsday
""As gripping as any Arctic chronicle . . . As the author's boxing skills increase he turns his attention to his sparring partners and fellow gym rats . . . and makes a rough lyric out of their hard lives."--"The New Yorker
"[A book] as good as any I've read about the sport."--George Plimpton
"Robert Anasi . . . can turn a phrase as clean as a neatly wrapped fist."--Stephanie Zacharek, "Newsday
""As gripping as any Arctic chronicle . . . As the author's boxing skills increase he turns his attention to his sparring partners and fellow gym rats . . . and makes a rough lyric out of their hard lives."--"The New Yorker
"[A book] as good as any I've read about the sport."--George Plimpton
Product Description
The Golden Gloves tournament is an American institution that takes centre stage in the amateur boxing world - a single-elimination contest in which young hopefuls square off in steamy gyms with the boxing elite looking on.Robert Anasi took up boxing in his 20s to keep in shape, attract women and sharpen his knuckles for the odd bar fight. He thought of entering 'the Gloves', but always put it off. Finally, at the age of 33 - his last year of eligibility - he vowed to fight, even though he was an old man in a sport of teenagers and would have to starve himself all winter to make weight come tournament time. So begins Anasi's obsessive preparation for the Golden Gloves. He finds Milton, a wily and abusive trainer, and joins his Supreme Team: a young black man who used to deal guns in Harlem, a bus driver with five kids and a hard-hitting woman champion who becomes his sparring partner. Meanwhile, he observes the changing world of amateur boxing, in which investment bankers spar with ex-convicts and everyone dreads the fatal blow to the head. With the Supreme Team, he goes to the tournament, the outcome of which, it seems, is rigged - like so much in boxing life today. Robert Anasi tells his story not as a journalist on assignment but as a man in the midst of one of the great adventures of his life. Beautifully written, The Gloves has the feel of a contemporary classic.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bob Anasi's memoir of his amateur career and quest to reach the finals of the New York Golden Gloves is both a moving personal story and a wider critique of boxing today. Featuring a broad range of personalities, including Bob's female sparring partner (a Polish-American accountant named Laura), former pro title contender Curtis Summit and the charismatic (and roguish) Milton, Bob's Puerto Rican boxing guru, the book is a succinct analysis of what drives men and women to experiment with the sweet science.
Anasi's training as a writer and journalist lends the book more than simple biographical interest, and while the descriptions of the gyms (including Gleason's) and the fighters smack of authenticity, Anasi is never too far away from exploring the wider canvas; the place of boxing in American life. Anasi's experience as a white fighter in a world of ethnic minority champions piques his incisive commentary on the continuing pervasive discrimination against young blacks and Latinos in American society, and his depictions of his black comrades-in-arms such as Julian and Vic helps explain the timeless appeal of boxing as an avenue for the underprivileged in an unequal world.
Well-written, fluid and funny, Robert Anasi's The Gloves offers an essential understanding of the beauty and brutality of boxing.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have to admit I loved this book. Very well written book about this guys journey through the world of amateur boxing and the positives and negatives of the the boxing scene. I thought it was quite similar to another fighter/writers book The Fighters Heart. If you train as a boxer there will be many stories in this book you will be able to relate to
Format:Paperback
One man's struggle to acheive an ambition. Well written but at times seems to go off tangents and is not gritty enough. Punches at middleweight when it should be at heavyweight. Battles with trainers, accomodation and boxers and dogs means you see the grass roots of boxings at the American major amateur competition.
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