No. 56: WILLIE PEP, CARMEN BASILIO, MARVELOUS MARVIN HAGLER et al: The Harder They've Fallen: A Fistic Tragicomedy with Sport's Noblest Savages

The perspiring arts love nothing more than a reunion. Boxing's biggest was charmingly low-rent and, at the same time, emotionally devastating.

I’m floating a couple of boxing stories here this week. Don’t worry—you don’t have to like boxing and you can even be appalled by it. These stories don’t glorify violence, but rather contextualize it.

Today’s is free to all, which features a bunch of famous names and Hall of Famers for reasons that will come clear. I wind up chumped in it. Again. A wish that I could do it all again … but sadly, I can’t. Bygone stuff that’s gone for good. Very on-brand for How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying).

Tomorrow’s missive will be behind the paywall and tells the tale of how a boxing feature that I wrote for the Irish Independent ended up getting me caught up in a £1-million lawsuit. (For the record, my international record in libel cases is 0-1.) It’s a version of a chapter in my Audible Original, which is also titled How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying). Included in tomorrow’s package is the wrongly maligned story which is unavailable through the usual sear…