Damon+Runyon Entries

Entries tagged with "Damon+Runyon":

Turn up the mic – June 30th, 2018
“The old beat writers were classically trained journalists. A fan must first learn to put words on paper before venturing near the ring…”
Braverman New World – March 9th, 2018
Braverman said he was “thrown in...the nuthouse,” where he described the other inmates “making sounds like roosters and reading bibles upside down…”
Classic Fights: Marciano KOs LaStarza – May 12th, 2017
“He’s a great fighter,” said LaStarza in his dressing room after the fight. “He’s definitely a better fighter than when I fought him before…”
Classic Fights: Louis Crushes Schmeling – March 30th, 2017
Joe landed a right to the body. Max’s legs buckled and he let out a scream. “I was paralyzed from that point on...”
Max Baer and Barney Ross — Jewish Heroes of Boxing – November 16th, 2016
While recounting the exploits of these two men, the pages of “Jewish Heroes of Boxing” are replete with fascinating cameo appearances…
Lou Stillman & His Famous Filthy Gym – November 14th, 2016
“The golden age of prizefighting was the age of bad food, bad air, bad sanitation, and no sunlight. I keep the place like this for the fighters' own good…”
Did You Ever Hear of Irving Rudd? – June 10th, 2016
I noticed he wore a Brooklyn Dodgers ring. The Dodgers, for whom there was no greater fan in New York than yours truly, was the perfect fit for Irving Rudd…
Gleason's and The Garden: Randy Neumann Remembers – January 11th, 2016
Gleason's sat in the Fort Apache section of the South Bronx, streets so violent and depraved that Hollywood made them into a movie…
Charley Retzlaff: No Laffing Matter – January 10th, 2016
Damon Runyon compared him to Jack Dempsey, calling him "the best-looking heavyweight prospect that had bobbed up in a long time…"
Benny Leonard: Golden Talent from a Golden Age – July 27th, 2015
Along with the great care and precision that Benny brought to his ringcraft was the essential nerve of the gambler...
Billy Taub: Clothier of Champions – February 18th, 2015
Baer swelled "magnificently in the right places" and had an "exhilarating clothes sense, his taste running to orchidaceous tones and new designs…"
One Ballsy Irish Kid: Kevin Smith – January 6th, 2015
He had come within punching distance of the Holy Grail, only to be turned away by fate, which is always the most formidable opponent of all…
Little Uncle Abe Attell – July 13th, 2014
He told me that he grew up in an Irish neighborhood, where he was called a Christ killer on Good Fridays. He learned to fight to defend himself…
Natural Talent and Instinct: An Old Champ Explains – April 21st, 2014
“I don’t agree with those who say that clever boxing is no longer popular. People today are simply not familiar with it…”
Did Langford Really Carry Ketchel in 1910 Superfight? – August 20th, 2013
Was Sam trying his best or was he protecting his San Francisco investment? Probably a bit of both, since Mr. Ketchel was nobody’s mug...
The Tiger in the New York Jungle – August 9th, 2013
Before sampling the punches of New York, Jack Dempsey had taken the blows meted out by his hard life in the Old West...
Rose in Bloom: Slapsie Maxie – June 22nd, 2013
Baer had kept his famous good looks throughout his ring career. Slapsie on the other hand looked like his face had been run over by a truck…
Jess Willard’s Last Stand – May 28th, 2013
The Jess Willard-Floyd Johnson fight was filmed, but the knockout footage was either lost or never captured. The existing footage is raw and unedited…
The Stylists: Why Joe Louis Was Unique – April 4th, 2013
Why is it that Joe Louis isn't more greatly studied and at least impersonated by the hopeful heavyweights of today? Why is the Louis style still unique?
The Recollections of Whitey Bimstein – February 1st, 2013
By 1950, when he sat down to reminisce with Barney Nagler of The Ring magazine, Whitey Bimstein had gained the status of living legend...
Downsize Me: Chilling Lessons from Joltin’ Joe – January 16th, 2013
Why do people find it so hard to understand that in a fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Jack Dempsey, it would be Wlad on the defensive?
Ray Arcel: Dean of Them All – January 8th, 2013
“If you watch videos of the old-time fights from the late 1920s through the 1930s right into the early ‘40s, invariably you’ll see Ray Arcel…”
Pinoy Boxing: Villa, Yes. Manny Pacquiao, No. One? – December 4th, 2012
Like those that followed, like Harry Greb, Tiger Flowers, Battling Siki, and Salvador Sanchez, Pancho Villa’s life ended much too abruptly...
The Horror: Jess Willard’s Toledo Injuries – November 4th, 2012
One of his cheekbones had caved in. His jaw was broken, as was his nose. His ribs were busted. Many of his teeth had been knocked out…
Phenomenon: Why Harry Greb Was So Great – October 30th, 2012
Some men just look like fighters. One look into their eyes, one scan of their features, and you know they’ve got the right stuff…
1946: When the Boys Came Home – October 20th, 2012
Bobby Halpern and “The Rock” – July 31st, 2012
Back to an unseasonably warm New York City night on May 15, 1978: it was a time when Studio 54 thrived and Disco Ducks roamed the streets...
Georges Carpentier: “The Orchid Man” – July 23rd, 2012
The keys to his success were that he had fast hands and feet, good boxing skills and a very hard punch with either hand…
Who Died and Left You King? – March 27th, 2012
With all his experience in the advertizing business, Sugar cleverly promoted himself as the cigar-chomping front man, the Damon Runyon of his era...
Pocket Battleship: Sam Langford – February 16th, 2012
Boxing can be a cruelly deceptive sport. It can paint pretty pictures and then deface them at the drop of a hat...
George Plimpton Awarded the Liebling – January 5th, 2012
Prima donnas are great in grand opera, but not so grand when it comes to a great sport like boxing…
Take Me Home to Mom, Pete: Stanley Ketchel – December 12th, 2011
For a man who had lived so hard and fought so violently, the last words of Stanley Ketchel were strangely gentle and poignant...