'In the Ring with Jack Johnson Part I: the Rise'

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by guilalah, Jan 16, 2014.


  1. apollack

    apollack Boxing Addict Full Member

    4,220
    1,605
    Sep 13, 2006
    This is what Kevin Smith posted on amazon.com:

    5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly Objective, January 22, 2014
    By
    Kevin R. Smith

    This review is from: In the Ring With Jack Johnson - Part I: The Rise (Hardcover)

    An excellent work--the best boxing book I have read in many years. Adam's approach has always been good, but Johnson has always been such an enigma that his style in this case, works remarkably well for fleshing out the bull. I have read every book ever written on Johnson(even involved in the Unforgivable Blackness project), watched every documentary, read hundreds of fight reports and newspaper stories on him and I can honestly say that this book has given me a new appreciation for the man. And for the first time I feel like I have true grip on his fighting career and just how good this guy was--not to mention the enormous courage and self confidence he had. Again, this is not a re-hash of everything your have already read on Johnson---it is a fresh, inspired effort that deals in facts and facts alone. Great job Adam. I personally thank you for this volume and state emphatically that it is a must have addition to any boxing fan, or historian's, library
     
  2. apollack

    apollack Boxing Addict Full Member

    4,220
    1,605
    Sep 13, 2006
    Anyone else out there reading it?

    Great read
    By Ted Sares on February 18, 2014

    It never really seemed like 700 pages because it moved so rapidly. I now feel like I am an expert on Jack Johnson thanks to the incredible attention to detail in this outstanding book. Well worth the money.

    Another outstanding entry in Pollack's series of Boxing Biographies.
    By Robert P. Lancaster on January 16, 2014

    'In the Ring with Jack Johnson Part I: the Rise' is the seventh entry in an outstanding series of books by Adam Pollack, each focusing upon the boxing career of a heavyweight champion -- Pollack's previous books have had, as their subjects, John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Jeffries, Marvin Hart, and Tommy Burns. All these boxing biographies are exhaustively researched, relying primarily opun first hand accounts when reporting the boxers contests; Pollack also does a good job of digging up photographs and illustrations contemporaneous with his subjects.
    The previous entrees have covered the boxers careers from begining up to the point they lost -- or, in Jeffries case, relinquished -- their heavyweight titles. (Pollack does try to cover historically post-championship bouts of his subjects in subsequent books of the series). 'In the Ring with Jack Johnson Part I' -- due no doubt to the mass of information Pollack has uncovered -- departs from this structure slightly, covering Johnsons career from start to the immediate aftermath of his winning the title from Tommy Burns. Even so, the book runs to over 700 pages. (Needless to say, I eagerly await the release of 'In the Ring with Jack Johnson Part 2: the Reign').
    Pollack's books are boxing biographies. Their particular focus is the boxing contests, with a great deal of coverage as well given to match-making and the boxers preperations. Pollack also (in all of his books) gives coverage to social and legal factors influencing (often heavily) the boxers careers. Pollack is an ideal writer on the subject of the legalities of boxing, as he is a professional lawyer who is also significantly involved with organized boxing.
    Pollack is also knowledgeable regarding the social and -- particularly, but not exlusively, relevant to his 'Johnson' entrees -- racial attitudes of the time, both internationally, nationally to the United States, regionally within the USA, and also within the broad sporting community (boxers, trainers and managers, promoters, and journalists).
    As a boxer, Jack Johnson was, and to some extent remains, an enigmatic figure. It's a generalization to say that he tended to be safety first, and sometimes seemed to do just about enough to win and to discourage his opponents from getting frisky; but there was sometimes justice in this view. He didn't always perform in a crowd pleasing manner, sometimes didn't seem to be exerting himself, and also was a fellow who was very difficult to look good against -- that last sometimes being interpretted to Johnson's disadvantage (i.e., people thought Johnson won because the other boxer was undistinguished, rather than holding that Johnson was so good he made other fighters look ineffectual). It was hard to guage Johnson: once he'd matured as a fighter he rarely if ever seemd pressed to his limits, so it was hard to say just what those limits were.
    Granted that Johnson had a manner of fighting which tended to shroud is exact abilities, Pollack gives us as much information as to Johnson's (and his opponents) performances as we're liable to have at this time, and is sometimes as probing regarding Johnson's journalistic exponents and naysayers as he is regarding the fighters themselves.
    [It seems to me that, around 1907, Johnson began to fight in a way that was more active yet still defensively secure. Notable white contenders, such as Al Kaufmann and Bill Squires, who might have done much to build (Kaufmann) or restore (Squires) a reputation by besting Johnson, were conspicuously averse to any talk of meeting Jack. Sports media began to relent a bit from talk of Johnson having a yellow streak. The book ends with Johnson's preeminence among contemporary heavyweights generally acknowledged, those having viewed his controlled, secure and steady dismantling of champion Tommy Burns having difficulty imagining any active boxer wresting the title from Johnson].


    this is highly recommended for sports fans of all kinds
    By HE Grant on December 12, 2013

    Mr. Pollack does an outstanding job on this deeply researched volume on the early career years of heavyweight legend Jack Johnson. For those familiar with the author's previous works , you can expect the now customary top of the line job and then some. For those who have not as of yet sampled any of Mr. Pollack's work , you are in for a treat. There is not a more detailed, interesting portrait of a prizefighter and historical figure than Pollack's Johnson. AS with all his work, this is highly recommended for sports fans of all kinds.
     
  3. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

    97,601
    28,857
    Jun 2, 2006
    It will go down as the definitive book on the subject of John Arthur Johnson.
    Everything Mr Smith says about the first volume is true ,it gives you the first really clear picture of Johnson , putting flesh on the bones that other authors have just sketched.:good
     
  4. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    112,734
    47,522
    Mar 21, 2007
    Ordered my copy today. I will have to gather Burns too.
     
  5. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

    97,601
    28,857
    Jun 2, 2006
    You won't be dissapointed!
     
  6. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    112,734
    47,522
    Mar 21, 2007
    ****ing twenty-five bucks i'm disappointed already.
     
  7. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

    97,601
    28,857
    Jun 2, 2006
    Well you are a Scot.:lol:
     
  8. guilalah

    guilalah Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,355
    306
    Jul 30, 2004
    apollack, how's 'In the Ring with Jack Johnson: the Reign' going? I'm SO looking forward to it!
     
  9. apollack

    apollack Boxing Addict Full Member

    4,220
    1,605
    Sep 13, 2006
    I'm editing it down a bit right now. Hoping to have it ready by the end of the year.
     
  10. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

    97,601
    28,857
    Jun 2, 2006
    A Xmas present for me then:good
     
  11. guilalah

    guilalah Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,355
    306
    Jul 30, 2004
    Really looking forward to 'In the Ring with Jack Johnson: Part II'; I'm holding off getting the '60's Adam West 'Batman' TV series, in fact -- I want to get apollack's book first.
     
  12. janitor

    janitor VIP Member Full Member

    71,500
    27,036
    Feb 15, 2006
    I am particularly looking forward to the prospective Willard book, because I think there might be a lot to uncover there!
     
  13. apollack

    apollack Boxing Addict Full Member

    4,220
    1,605
    Sep 13, 2006
    Part II will be released hopefully sometime in early 2015. It is pretty massive, bigger even than Part I. I am still editing and adding a bit to the Mann Act chapter. You won't be disappointed.

    For those of you who have not done so already, if you have read the book, please post your thoughts about Part I here and/or on amazon.com, etc. I would appreciate it. Or feel free to talk about some things you might have learned from Part I, or perspectives you have obtained that might be different or richer than you had from other Johnson books. I am intrigued to see what people think. Thanks.
     
  14. klompton2

    klompton2 Boxing Junkie banned Full Member

    10,974
    5,412
    Feb 10, 2013
    I wanted to revisit this top and add a couple of things in light of recent events. Adam and I have discussed this via email to a degree but since this thread and our email discourse I have been able to acquire a copy of the original, virgin reel that Jim Jacobs acquired a copy of which he edited to the form we now see today. So the copy I have predates any editing by Jim Jacobs. My copy has the original intertitles etc. It is now apparent that the reason this film was appeared in the form that Jim Jacobs showed it was due to nothing more than clever editing for the purpose of creating a narrative. The original reel ONLY has rounds 7-10 and what appears to be either round six or part of round six and part of round 5. Jacobs NEVER had the final round. Period. He also NEVER had the beginning of the fight. Period. Adam had suspected that the film was edited and/or the filming stopped at the time of the fight to prevent the images of a white man being knocked down and out by a black man. That is not true. The original film was entirely complete. It showed prefight training and footage, the entire fight including the stoppage, and even showed the fighters getting paid after the fight. This comprised several reels of film. Only one of those reels (the one in question) have survived. I have a copy of television program that Jacobs appeared on shortly after finding this film and he exhibits it on this program. Once again he trots out the same completely false story that the cameras were halted by the police to prevent the knockout being filmed. However, instead of showing the same scene that we are all familiar with where Burns is in mid fall and the cameras freeze frame he shows an entirely different scene and the film just stops. Both of these scenes are taken from the middle of the fight not the end and in the unedited version the scene we are all familiar with where Burns appears frozen in mid fall he actually does not fall but catches his footing and continues on for the duration of the round. So in short the bottom line is that this film was not edited for political or racial reasons. It was edited by Jacobs for commercial purposes because he did not have the complete film but was marketing it and as such wanted to give an impression of the entire fight for the purposes of narrative flow. The knockdown you can see in the Ken Burns documentary which is missing from the version Jacobs marketed is (if I recall, speaking strictly from memory at the moment) from the 7th round, not the first as its labeled in the Burns documentary. This is positively identified in the unedited film five ways: 1. The round is identified prior to the start by the original intertitle, 2. You can see on the upper left side of the screen a man sitting down after displaying a round card, his round card carries the number "7", 3. After the round ends the same man can be seen standing up and displaying a round card for the 8th. 4. The original inter title after the round lists it as the 8th. 5. Finally, I was able to acquire part of the original handbill for this film when it was exhibited in England and it has short descriptions of each round perfectly describing not only the round in question but also describing the final round as shown on the film including the stoppage.
     
    BitPlayerVesti and reznick like this.