Читать книгу Jacobs Beach. The Mob, the Garden and the Golden Age of Boxing онлайн

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Mitchell also spends time with Lou Duva, who started hanging around the Garden when his brother fought a four-rounder there in 1940, then quit his job as a truck driver to hang around Stillman's Gym on Eighth Avenue and devote his life to boxing. Duva learned from one of the best, Charley Goldman, becoming close friends with Marciano and going on to a hall-of-fame career as a trainer and promoter in which he handled nineteen champions. Duva cried when Rocky died, vowing that one day he would bring a heavyweight to the title and point up to Rocky in heaven and say, “Rocky, I'm dedicating this here to you. This is your fight. You're still champion of the world.” Duva's moment came on October 25, 1990, in Las Vegas, when Evander Holyfield knocked out Buster Douglas.

Duva's experience highlights the bloodlines of boxing. The value of Mitchell's book lies not only in bringing back to life a lost era. He also shows us how the blood, sweat, and toil of the ring has been distilled into hard-won wisdom passed down through the generations—the connective tissue of the sweet science.