A Hurting Sport

Book excerpt: A Hurting Sport marks the tenth annual volume of Thomas Hauser’s boxing articles to be published by the University of Arkansas Press. Every year, readers, sportswriters, and critics alike look forward to these collections. In 2014, Booklist observed, “This annual series detailing the year in boxing should be a highlight, not only for fans of the sport but also for those who appreciate journalistic acumen and stylish prose.” Other sportswriters have called Hauser “the dean of fightwriters” (TheSweetScience.com) and “our craft’s most celebrated practitioner” (15Rounds.com). His readers call him one of the last real champions in boxing and one of the very best who has ever written about this sport. A Hurting Sport continues this tradition of excellence with a behind-the-scenes recounting of 2014’s biggest fights, a look at Floyd Mayweather’s conduct in and out of the ring, analysis of fight impresario Al Haymon’s burgeoning empire, and much more.