NEW James J. Corbett Book

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 10 Jun 2007, 02:41

Check out my new book: In the Ring With James J. Corbett.

It is available at lulu.com. See http://stores.lulu.com/apollack

Those who enjoyed my John L. Sullivan book will enjoy this one. It is $30 paperback, $45 hardback. The preface and intro are available for review.

This is the second book in Adam J. Pollack’s series on the heavyweight champions of the gloved era. It is the most thoroughly researched boxing-detailed biography on James J. Corbett’s career ever written. It reveals new dates, bouts, and facts, shedding fresh light on his experience, skills, and ability. It meticulously describes his bouts and provides multiple viewpoints by local next day newspapers, giving it unparalleled authenticity and accuracy. The exhaustive research provides an encyclopedic wealth of knowledge about Corbett’s boxing career. His bouts are placed into social, legal, racial, and historic contexts, including anti-prize fighting laws and the color line. A complete record of Corbett’s career is included. 435 pages, 51 photos, 820 footnotes, bibliography, index.

Adam J. Pollack is a staff writer for Cyberboxingzone.com, vice chair of USA Boxing’s Judicial Committee and a member of its Women’s Task Force. He is also a boxing coach and attorney living in Iowa City, Iowa.[/b]

HomicideHenry · Post by **HomicideHenry** » 10 Jun 2007, 14:59

James J. Corbett was an excellent fighter and is sadly never mentioned much these days. His amateur credentials were just as impressive as his professional accomplishments, and from starting off as a MW (amateur) to challenging for the HW championship against the biggest name in sports (John L. SUllivan) and becoming the first HW boxing star who was a tactician. Corbett was vastly fast, once landing 100 punches to his opponents 6 in a span of 5 minutes, his defense was impregnable in his prime and quite frankly, should be right up there with Muhammad Ali, Walcott, and Holmes in terms of being so succesful as a mover/tactician.

Truly one of the defensive ATG's.

robert.snell1 · Post by **robert.snell1** » 10 Jun 2007, 15:57

Adam is a great writer and am sure the new book will go very well and he will do more of this quality work to preserve the history of boxing in such a quality manner.

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 12 Jun 2007, 09:58

The Corbett book is of the same quality and style as my John L. Sullivan book.

Here are some reviews of my previous book:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=9487&more=1

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/J ... Review.htm

Other reviews:

Pat Myler, Evening Herald, Dublin, 16 Dec. 2006.

"John L. Sullivan, the Irish-American generally recognized by ring historians as the first world heavyweight champion, has been the subject of many biographies.

None has been as comprehensive in describing the Boston Strong Boy's fights as Adam J. Pollack in his most welcome latest addition to the Sullivan library. ...

He set out to make this a definitive story of what happened when the fistic hero squared up, in bare knuckles or gloves, and in this regard he succeeds admirably."

Jack McCormack, Irish Edition, February 2007

“Everything you ever wanted to know about the great John L. Sullivan and early gloved boxing lies within the covers of this work. … If you are a devotee of the manly art, you will enjoy this biography…”

http://www.BS.com/forums/showt ... 294&page=6

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/sho ... 156&page=3

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 12 Jun 2007, 10:34

Massive detail on Corbett's bouts and exhibitions - round by round reports, pre and post fight analysis, details about his opponents where applicable, discussion of legal and social issues that affected the sport. You will get to know Corbett as a fighter. It contains information that you will not find anywhere else. I found the previously unknown dates of many bouts, and as a result, I was able to provide the next day newspaper reports. You won’t be disappointed.

This from Kevin Smith:

I had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy of Adam's new book and I can assure you that it is quite worth the price of admission. Like Adam's work on Sullivan, In the Ring With James J. Corbett, is a highly detailed, well written, well researched and thoroughly detailed work. I am a big fan of primary sources and this book supllies them in detail, using them to craft a thoroughly accurate and objective look at Corbett's fighting career, his machinations and his business acumen. Adam remains objective in his prose, giving several sides to each fight, each story. In my opinion, Adam's series on the heavyweight champions is the most exhaustively comprehensive group of works available on the fighting lives of these very public and very important social figures. If you want to know about Jim Corbett's career as a fighter, you needn't look any further than In the Ring With James J. Corbett.

I might also add that at 435 pages, the price tag of $30 is a bargain.

See http://stores.lulu.com/apollack

HomicideHenry · Post by **HomicideHenry** » 14 Jun 2007, 00:42

Does this mean Apollack is going to write a book on each individual champion in history? I think that be great if he does 8) newer generations need to really know just how special these men were in their eras and how well they would have been today.

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 14 Jun 2007, 08:33

Yes, I intend for this to be a series. I'm at least going up to Tommy Burns. If I'm not totally burnt out by then, and my books sell well enough, I'll keep going. But I have working drafts all the way through Burns. Check out my Corbett bio. If you like it, get the Sullivan one. I personally recommend getting hardback, because it will last you longer. These are the types of books that you can and will refer to for years and generations to come.

HomicideHenry · Post by **HomicideHenry** » 14 Jun 2007, 15:48

Personally, in my opinion, I think if you was to end the series on any one man, it would be Jack Johnson, as his career has become more the stuff of legend and rumor and myth [dive against Willard is the most famous of these], and the record should be set straight.

I think, if you was to write any further books after that, it should be on champions who are more or less written off or under-rated, or maybe even over-rated, such as Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky Marciano, Max Schmeling, Max Baer, Primo Carnera, Ezzard Charles.

I sincerly would love to see the stories of Fitzsimmons and Jefferies, especially Burns, as I feel he is very under-rated and unfairly looked down upon because he lost to Johnson. It's a shame, considering he very much was the first true 'world' champion, yet is completely forgotten.

I am sure to pick up the literature on John L. Sullivan and Corbett.

Zakman · Post by **Zakman** » 16 Jun 2007, 20:34

If this book is anything like the Sullivan book, it will be a real winner. The sort of work that Adam does is, in essence, archival research - very meticulous and very thorough. If people want to read about what a fighter actually did in the ring, rather than all the extraneous fluff found in most boxing books, these books are for them. They take a while to read, because they ARE so detailed, but it is well worth the effort. I've been reading boxing books for years, and the book on Sullivan was the most well researched and thoroughly documented book I have ever encountered.

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 06 Jul 2007, 13:26

This from Jason Simons:

"I finished In The Ring With James J. Corbett and, once again, I am VERY impressed. This is a scholarly work worthy of any boxing library. Adam Pollack has done an amazing job with the research and does a good job showing the backgrounds behind the fights and doing as good a job as possible recreating the fights themselves, since, except for a staged bout that not much footage exists from, the fights were not filmed. He has to use eyewitness accounts and newspaper excerpts to recreate the fights and does a very good job with this. I found the descriptions of Corbett's involvement with Joe Choynski particularly fascinating. Once again, like in the Sullivan book, Corbett's personal life is barely and almost never touched upon, but that's fine here. The title indicates that the book deals with the ring life of Corbett and it most certainly achieves that. I definitely look forward to the Fitzsimmons and Jeffries volumes that are mentioned as coming out in the future."

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 08 Jul 2007, 19:32

Corbetts `the roar of the crowd` was a much better than expected book...he really was all you`d expect of a man who dominated in such a sport...even though he tried to disguise it, and myths surrounded him to paint him a little softer.

good luck with the title....hope it does the great man justice.

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 14 Jul 2007, 10:30

By HE Grant (producer of documentary on Larry Holmes):

Adam, I read a great deal of your new Corbett book over the past few days and must say that I am enjoying it immensely ... a tremendous amount of research and information.

By Michael Hunnicutt, Writer for IBRO:

Boxing historian Adam Pollack has produced the definitive work on the boxing life of James J. Corbett. No other book in existence can compare to the fine and rich details of Corbett's bouts, his training, and fight to the finish Queensberry bouts common for major bouts during Jim's time. Mr. Pollack has continued to set the standard that, at least this writer wishes, could be done for all important boxers, as he previously has for John L. Sullivan. He is a wonder.

By McGrain:

In The Ring With James J. Corbett is a book that has been written by an attorney. It's hard for me to advise you to do anything that might make an attorney richer, but I have to tell you that this book is worth the cover price and more.

What is most interesting is Adam’s angle - it's about the boxing, and all the way to the hilt. This makes for a slow start, as Corbett, the most professional of amateurs, tours the country making a bit of sly cash under a pseudonym so as not to jeopardize his attachment to the Olympic sporting club, which sounds like a hell of a place. The writer treats even these earlier fights with tender loving care and it is interesting to read the boxer's words regarding his early experiences.

“Early in my experience I used to be fond of parrying blows. I found that they would sometimes get through my guard in spite of everything. Then I began to rely upon my legs and eyesight. I found it a great deal better plan...”

This ties in with the exhaustive post fight analysis of the Sullivan-Corbett duel and there is a real sense of the book "coming together" as you read. There is a complete picture of Corbett and no mistake.

Once the book lifts off, it's almost impossible to put down. The author doesn't drop any sauce into his accounts of the great Corbett battles, he understands the drama exists regardless and so we are treated to little opinion or speculation but we do get multiple sources for each round of the Corbett-Peter Jackson war of May, 1891.

The coverage is exhaustive and I can honestly say that I have a real sense of what occurred in this fight without having ever being able to see it and that's a treat.

The Sullivan fight is treated as a near Holy thing with multiple sources (including The New Orleans Daily Picayune, The New Orleans Times-Democrat, Birmingham Age Herald, The New York Times, New York Herald and New York Sun) compressed into one thrilling account so thrilling it's the closest thing to watching the fight you could ever experience.

After this fight, we run into the book’s limitations a little bit. There is nothing about how Corbett celebrated, what women he saw, what his family made of the events, how quickly he recovered (though he was at the "sparring" not long after)...pretty much none of that. To some that will be a relief, but I felt it was a shame. However, give Pollack credit - he set out to write a book purely about boxing and that's what he's done, regardless of the temptation to do otherwise here.

And the book soon goes into overdrive again. Jackson had the sore end of his draw with Corbett but it was a draw, and Jackson was very much the #1 contender - now followed a fascinating rhetorical joust between Corbett's people, Jackson's people and the society of the day as to whether and where a fight between the two should take place. This part of the book - relevant because it concerns making a fight - is my favorite, with astonishing insights into the color politics of the time through the window of contemporary accounts. Nowhere does Adam judge Corbett but nor does he duck "Gentleman Jim's" conduct in this matter.

I submit that the details concerning the attempts to make the failed Jackson fight are worth the price alone.

Although there is an inevitable sense of "those days were better" in the tone - inevitable because the writer has to describe scenes like this one, where Corbett and Sullivan spar (long before their fight):

“...the boxers wore large gloves, their dinner outfits, including their vests, pants, shirtsleeves, collars and neckties, to the surprise of the spectators. They barely ruffled each other's hair over the 3 rounds...”

But nevertheless, the author keeps a very reasonable detachment from proceedings, probably because his subject runs directly into the next one - Fitzsimmons. That book will be a treat, I suspect, though the one I’m looking forward to most is Jeffries.

So just tell yourself that Adam Pollack is most likely a human rights lawyer of some sort and order the book.

In the Ring With James J. Corbett
is available at lulu.com. See http://stores.lulu.com/apollack

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 20 Jul 2007, 09:16

Tracy Callis' review is now available.

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/J ... Review.htm

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 28 Jul 2007, 14:17

What you will get in this book:

More detail and accuracy regarding the fights than ever before. Round by round accounts. Pre and post fight analysis. All based on multiple local next day newspaper reports.

Dates and local reports of fights which were previously unknown, or for which no one was able to provide a description because the dates were unknown, including William Welch, Joe Choynski, Mike Cleary, Dave Eiseman, etc.

Discussion of Corbett’s semi-fixed fights with Frank Smith, Duncan McDonald, and Dave Campbell, using accounts written at the time.

Massive coverage and discussion of the Burke and Choynski bouts, the Peter Jackson fight and subsequent attempts to negotiate a rematch, the Sullivan, McCaffrey, Kilrain, Mitchell, and Sharkey bouts, Corbett’s many exhibitions, and the filmed Courtney bout.

Analysis of race issues and context for how legal issues affected and impeded the fights.

apollack · Post by **apollack** » 23 Nov 2007, 13:18

This was in the Boxing Collector's Newsletter, by Don Scott

"Old Subject but NEW (and great) Book

It really isn't until you get into Adam Pollack's new book on Corbett that you can answer for yourself the question that has first come to mind. "Why would anyone write another book on Jim Corbett?"

The answer is that if you write well and have the incredible tenacity it takes to sift through hundreds of newspaper accounts of any celebrity’s life, you will likely produce a largely untold account of that life.

That is certainly what has happened here. To BCN readers, think Harry Shaffer's articles seen here from time to time. Actual newspaper quotes knitted together by the kind of narrative style that old Harry (nor moi) could ever master. What emerges is a fresh account of a fascinating figure. And the photos therein are also anything but ordinary.

Adam has now done Sullivan and Corbett and will be giving us Fitzsimmons next, then Jeffries. We can hardly wait.

It is available at lulu.com. See http://stores.lulu.com/apollack.