Sparring with Smokin' Joe - by Glenn Lewis (Paperback)

About the Book

"This Maileresque combination of personal reflection, boxing analysis, and sports biography is a must read for fight fans...." Booklist, Starred Review - This book offers fascinating new insight into the usually private Joe Frazier, including his relationship with his son, wars with Muhammad Ali, and his life after retirement.

Book Synopsis

"This Maileresque combination of personal reflection, boxing analysis, and sports biography is a must read for fight fans...." Booklist, Starred Review - This book offers fascinating new insight into the usually private Joe Frazier, including his relationship with his son, wars with Muhammad Ali, and his life after retirement.

Review Quotes

[A] a must-read for Frazier fans and a solid plus for most boxing libraries.... Fifty years after his biggest triumph, Joe Frazier remains a compelling topic in the discourse of sociological significance. This well written tribute does him plenty of justice.

Although he ranks among the greatest professional boxers, Joe Frazier never seemed to escape the glow of his charismatic nemesis, Muhammad Ali. Their rivalry was psychological as well as physical, and lasted long after they left the ring. In this remarkable on-the-scene account, Glenn Lewis creates a memorable, sensitive portrait of Smokinrsquo; Joe. Itrsquo;s a father-son story, a story of pride, courage, deep faith, resentment, defeat and victory. You donrsquo;t have to be a boxing fan to love this book.

Glenn Lewis delivers some unforgettable action-packed rounds of storytelling: The complicated, but loving tale of a father and a son. The long, bitter rivalry of a boxing great and The Greatest. The rollicking ride of a young sportswriter and a superstar athlete on the cusp of his twilight years. But what lands most indelibly, with the power of a patented Frazier left hook, is a portrait of an underappreciated American legend who never gave up in the ring or beyond, and always came out smokinrsquo;.

In this fascinating account . . . Lewis charts Frazierrsquo;s rise from southern farm boy to 1964 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, and argues that the Frazier-Ali rivalry that followed was arguably ldquo;the greatest individual rivalry in all of sports.rdquo; . . . Lewisrsquo;s access to Frazierrsquo;s family, meanwhile, offers insight into the fighterrsquo;s personal life and his influence on his son . . . Lewis brings a painstaking level of detail to his breakdown of the famous rivalry. This is a knockout.

About the Author

Glenn Lewis is director of journalism at York College, CUNY, and professor of print journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. The veteran journalist and author has written about sports, health, media, and societal trends. He has waited four decades to write Sparring with Smokin' Joe about his time with the iconic heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. Lewis has also been an on-air media and journalism expert for Fox 5 TV-News. He lives in New York City with his wife and has two grown daughters.