#78: ‘Brutal Artistry’ by Thomas Hauser

‘Brutal Artistry – Great Fighters and Great Fights’ is a collection of articles written by boxing-writing stalwart, Thomas Hauser.

The book is set out in the following four sections:

• ‘Round 1: The Brits’; features boxers Henry Cooper, Naseem Hamed, Lennox Lewis and Audley Harrison (Audley’s inclusion here probably dates the book as it’s hard to imagine him being given such prominent space in an anthology nowadays), alongside legendary writer Hugh McIlvanney.
• ‘Round 2: Muhammad Ali’; a series of pieces written in response to watching Ali in action as well as spending time in his company.
• ‘Round 3: Other Fighters’; among others this section focuses on the likes of Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley.
• ‘Round 4: Issues and Curiosities’; a random selection of articles which perhaps defy definition, with particularly poignant reflections on the immediate aftermath of the 11th September 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York. This section also includes some insightful thoughts on the legend and enigma George Foreman.

For those who are familiar with this blog, you may have noticed a lack of books specifically written about Muhammad Ali; of course, the many anthologies of writing featured on this site include a great number of essays focusing on one of the most influential men of the 20th Century, and this collection is no different.

One of the reasons I’ve, so far, avoided the many biographies about Ali is reflected in Hauser’s writing – the media’s general warping of the man’s life and legacy. It’s refreshing to read Hauser’s views of a man he seemed to know fairly well, and who he obviously liked and respected a great deal. Importantly though, Hauser doesn’t shy away from criticising or questioning the great man when he feels it’s necessary. This balanced view of what was often a complicated character only serves to extol Ali even further.

This contrasts with a lot of writing and films focusing on The Greatest, which often seem sycophantic in nature, written by people desperate to show that they were friends with someone that was once, arguably, the most famous person on the planet. Though, it does seem that one of Ali’s greatest social skills was to make anyone in his company feel like the most important person in the room (next to him), so perhaps it’s not unusual that so many people left his presence feeling like they were in fact an important part of his inner circle.

Maybe I need to read some books about Muhammad Ali to get a better picture of all this?