Facing Ali: 15 Fighters Share Their Stories - Exclusive Boxing Documentary Collection for Sports Fans and History Enthusiasts

An interesting book, a chance to learn more about his opponents, especially the lesser-known ones. Only one problem: The title of the book is "Facing Ali". Conflictingly, there is little to no description of the experience of facing Ali, in the ring. Okay, so you are 4 feet from one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, likely the greatest at that time, before ridiculous size and athleticism combined in the same fighters started to become almost common. Um.........What was it like? You know, like the title leads you to believe the book is about? Instead of a collection of mini-biographies of his opponents, the title led me to believe that I would get a detailed description from each fighter of what it was actually like to have those hands dangling four feet away, baiting you in, then stinging you before you could move your own hands just 6 inches to block those punches. What was it like to get hit by him? What was it like trying to hit him? Tell us about the little body-language tricks that he and guys like Floyd Mayweather used to set you up. When you were successful in hitting him, what did you think of the apparent impact on him compared with what you thought it would or should have been? What retaliatory trickery did you come up with to successfully react to his tricks and traps? What did he say to you, IN THE RING? How did his right hand, when he occasionally cranked up on it, compare with that of many of the other big names? How much faster than anyone else was he? Could you see the punches coming at all? If you lost to both Ali and Liston, or some other pairing, which was the more terrible experience, in the ring? Unfortunately, there's almost none of that kind of thing in there. I only bring this up because it is a pattern amongst many authors in general: Come up with a great idea, a catchy title, a nice cover, and then have the content of the book have almost no connection to what those things lead you to expect, and therefore buy the book for.Facing Ali - I can't think of a more exciting, fearful, awe inspiring and incredible position to be in - Facing Muhammad Ali - The other fighter in the ring - usually the first one introduced with "...in this corner..."I love the idea of this book - the concept of understanding Ali or what it must have been like to face him in the ring. This part of the concept fell a tad short - not exactly what I wanted or expected.I loved the way the chapters are divided and selected - you get to hear the story of 15 fighters that got to square off in the ring with Muhammad Ali.As a Muhammad Ali fan and after reading so many books about him, I missed him - I missed Ali - He's in the book, but through the eyes of his opponents - these are their stories about their lives, careers (both before and after Ali) and of course their experience with the Great One and how he affected their lives.It's a great look and unique perspective at what and who was in the other corner - 15 stories from 15 fightersI was especially interested in Joe Fraziers comments - I understand why he hates Ali, but it just makes you sad to read it in print. I also really enjoyed the chapters of George Forman and Ken Norton, and - actually I really enjoyed the others too.Simply put - it really is a cool book about some very interesting fighters and their moment(s) with Muhammad Ali - and afterA MUST have for Ali fans.Muhummad Ali is the most-photographed, most-written about, most-quoted, and most-popular athlete of all-time. So how does an author come up with a "new" angle on the Ali story that has not already been covered? Well, Author Stephan Brunt comes up with a new tact - 15 fighters who faced Ali in the squared circle tell about their experieces in their own words. This is a unique concept that has not been attempted before in the annals of boxing literature. My hat is tipped to Mr. Brunt for coming up with such a unique angle. I also applaud him for not severely editing the commentary of the opponents stories. The words are there warts and all, especially in the bitterness expressed by Joe Frazier.The book presents 15 fights, and the individual stories of the opponents are written in vivid detail. Brunt gives a brief history of the opponent, how he became a fighter, how he came to fight Ali, and what happened to him afterwards. The 15 fighters represent several of Ali's best fights, including Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, and Ernie Shavers. Too bad we could not have read about Ali's greatest upset fight, i.e. Sony Liston's experience in words - now that would heve been eye-popping! (Liston died of an apparent drug overdose in late 1970.)Brunt does a thorough job with each fighter. He does not so much concentrate on the blow to blow action in the fight, but rather, what the opponent was thinking and feeling before, during, and after the fight. It makes for very interesting reading for boxing fans in general, and of course Ali fans.I could not give it a 5-star ranking as it was not spell-binding, but for being unique and holding my interest throughout, it deserves a solid 4-stars.Jim "Konedog" KoenigThere's always two sides to an argument and in this book we get to here the other sides. Personally I really enjoyed reading the alternative viewpoint and what became of the owners of them.any boxing fan, or Ali fan will love it, its a real story and very few successes which is boxingGreat book.Very good book from start to finish, peaple who like this type of book would like this book very much.