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Summary: Legacies of Great Fighters
Comment: Although Ghosts of Manilla is ostensibly focused on the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" in which Muhammad Ali outlasted Joe Frazier in a brutal slugfest, the book really digs into who these men were before boxing, how boxing affected them, and how we should look upon them. Those looking for lots of boxing excitement will probably be disappointed. The fight descriptions are the least well done parts of the book. Those who are looking into what heavyweight boxing is really like will get more than they bargained for. The personal record on Muhammad Ali is dramatically revised downward, and you will again be reminded that boxing is a brutal sport. After the fight, "one left with the ruin of a life, the other battered to his soul." When offered a chance to watch the fight on videotape, Muhammad Ali declined. "I don't wanna look at hell again." The book's stylistic weakness is that the author is very opinionated, and often borders on sarcasm in conveying his views.Mr. Kram has been a boxing reporter for many years, and has had close access to most of the people he writes about in the book. As a result, he can portray his own discussions and observations from a first-hand perspective. He seems to have decided to tell it like it is on events that many reporters probably observe but do not comment about in public. On the other hand, he does this telling as tastefully as possible while not pulling his punches.
The book is much more about Mr. Ali than about Mr. Frazier. The key themes that are new about Mr. Ali are that he was controlled by the Black Muslims through fear of being killed, had an uncontrolled sexual appetite, did severe damage to the personalities of the black boxers he verbally humiliated, treated one of his daughters poorly, and was an unprincipled self-promoter. The book also covers familiar territory about whether or not he was a hero for resisting the draft, a good role model for young people, and the effect that boxing had on his developing Parkinson's Disease.
I learned more about Mr. Frazier than I had known before. The man was an enigma to me at the time of the fight. Now, I think I understand him better. I was sorry to see how bitter he has become, due to his treatment by Mr. Ali and the public.
To me, Mr. Ali's appeal lay mostly in his unorthodox fighting style and in his willingness to try new things. Although both attributes are mentioned in the book, I think they were overly downplayed. I never expect boxers to be role models for children. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book was the part that focused on what it meant to people how the heavyweight champion comported himself. That certainly says a lot about our society.
After you finish this book, I suggest that you think about how you would have played the cards that were dealt to Mr. Ali and Mr. Frazier. What would you have done differently? What would you have liked to have done differently?
Satisfy yourself by meeting your own high standards!
Customer Rating:
Summary: well written , but a very bitter assessment of Ali
Comment: In describing Ali's third and most brutal war with Joe Frazier, Kram twists and distorts plain facts and truths to suit his own agenda,which appears to concern itself with exacting some kind of revenge on Ali for an imaginary crime or slight Kram never explains.
Ali is portrayed as a cesspit of human morality, a womaniser ( already well-documented), a figure of no social or cultural impact and, most offensively of all, a coward who refused to fight for his country.
Even amidst the aclaim surrounding his 60th birthday, no sane person would argue that Ali is a saint, but he was a tremendously exciting and enthralling sporting figure who transcended boxing and became an icon and a hero to millions around the world.
Did he achieve this by being a coward, as Kram asserts? Did cowardice see him through his battles with Sonny Liston, George Foreman and, most of all, the American media and Government? I think not. Ali had the heart of a lion, and it must have taken unimaginable courage to surrender his World Championship over his very genuine religious beliefs.
The history Ali ultimately made tells us differently now, but in 1967, nobody expected to see him box again, far less regain his title on that epic night in Zaire.
It seems Kram has elected to interpret Ali's story - and history - very differently from anybody else, as if he is nursing a personal grievance...
Go and buy Thomas Hauser's comprehensive biography, or better still, David Remnick's magnificent King Of The World & Hugh Mcilvanny's On Boxing for writing that does Ali justice. To millions, he'll always be The Greatest.
