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More Than a Champion: The Style of Muhammad Ali | 
 enlarge | Author: Jan Philipp Reemtsma
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy New: $6.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 3144100
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 0375700056
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780375700057
ASIN: 0375700056
Publication Date: July 27, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW SHRINKWRAPPED. NO BLACK MARKS, SHELFWARE OR ANY OTHER DEFECTS. SHIPS TODAY. CHECK OUR CUSTOMER FEEDBACK S-34A
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Written by a German academic, More Than a Champion is an odd gem, a thin volume with a solid jab. Using the almost mythic confrontation of Ali and Joe Frazier in Manila as his centerpiece, Jan Philipp Reemtsma bobs and weaves through the champ's life and career to establish a thesis that goes the distance: that Ali, both in and out of the ring, was ultimately a prisoner of the majestic boxing style he created for himself. Though at times Reemtsma seems a little punch-drunk on his own erudition, he is a precise interpreter of boxing's essence, and an imaginative analyst of its most poetic practitioner.
Product Description
From one of Europe's most prominent intellectuals: a brilliant, utterly original study of the boxing style of Muhammad Ali; of his rise, ascendancy, and fall as champion of the world; and of how Ali the man came to reflect many of our own deep, often disturbing, cultural patterns.
This virtuoso essay takes as its narrative framework the legendary Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight in Manila in 1975, which Jan Philipp Reemtsma follows in three-round sections. Intercut with these vivid and telling accounts of what actually is going on (as opposed to what merely appears to be) are much wider ranging sections exploring the choreography (it is not too grand a word) that Ali crafted for his greatest title bouts, how he created a style that became its own myth, how he then came to have to act that style in the ring, and its damaging consequences.
Reemtsma also provides portraits of Ali's opponents: Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Ken Norton, and, above all, Joe Frazier, the strongest "big puncher" of them all. He even produces a startling analysis of Sylvester Stallone's five Rocky movies to show how closely linked they are with the changing mythology of Ali, then opens up that myth so that we see how Ali the man and what he represents are connected with our own lives.
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| Customer Reviews:
Good, but not good enough October 28, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've read parts of this book and it held my interest simply because the subject is interesting. But there is nothing in there that I've not read, known or heard before about Ali. The author makes a conclusion of Ali's style on the basis of just one fight, even if that fight is -- to quote Ali himself -- his "greatest". It is also too short, about 200 pages in paperback and contains very few photos of its larger-than-life subject. So what if Ali created a style that he had to maintain as part of his identity before us his fans and the rest of society? That is not a very original or striking psychological observation.
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