97 Fights

A History of Modern Boxing

John Sutherland

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• eBook ISBN:
  9781836393092
• Year: 2026

The noble art of boxing is the world's oldest contact sport. Its Big Bang moment was the arrival of Thomas Alva Edison, whose pioneering feature film Men Boxing was produced in 1891. From that seed, boxing grew to become the first truly global sport.
97 Fights is a thrilling, no-holds-barred account that considers all the greats – Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, Nicola Adams and Oleksandr Usyk among them. Modern boxing has weathered the storms of mob fixing, wayward fighters and personal tragedy, in and out of the ring. With signature precision and humour, and the passion of a true fan, John Sutherland charts the sport's precipitous climb, its golden era and its uncertain future, from the 'Thrilla in Manila' to the unedifying spectacle of Logan Paul's 'Bragging Rights'. Ultimately, the book asks: where will boxing go? Or will it just go? These are the two questions to which Sutherland's authoritative survey leads, and to which he supplies authoritative answers.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Fiat Lux
• Wild West and West End
• The Colour and Color of Boxing
• The Greater Fight
• The Dempsey Era
• Boxing Becomes World Historical
• War and Boxing
• Post-War: Middleweight Supreme
• The Divided Reign of Muhammad and Teófilo
• The Female Fist
• Meanwhile in Britain
• The Hispanic Zone: Monzón to Argüello
• Fighting to Fight
• A Fistful of Kings
• The Dark Side
• The Hispanic Ingredient
• Britannia Rules (Again)
• Slava Ukraini
• Whither Boxing? Wither Boxing?
• Conclusion
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Photo Acknowledgements