Overview
Rookie reporter Chris Jones had no idea what he was getting himself into when he decided boxing would be his sports beat. In his first year ringside, the sport crept inside him, setting his heart pumping one minute and breaking it the next, making him stare at the violence-in himself and others-and daring him not to flinch. Jones gets dressed down by Don King, interviews the troubled guy who found Holyfield's ear, crashes Ali's birthday party, and watches Prince Naseem explode while Tyson implodes. Equal parts victory and defeat, FALLING HARD is an intoxicating mix of boxing distilled to its essence.Author Biography: Chris Jones has been a sports writer since 1998 and has won the Edward Goff Penny Memorial Prize for outstanding young journalists. He lives in Toronto.
Synopsis
In Falling Hard: A Rookie's Year in Boxing, Chris Jones recounts his first year at ringside. He gets dressed down by Don King, gambles his way through Vegas, meets the troubled guy who found Evander Holyfield's ear, goes to Muhammad Ali's birthday party, and witnesses Prince Naseem Hamed explode while Mike Tyson implodes. Like the sport itself, Falling Hard is equal measures of victory and defeat — an intoxicating combination that leaves Jones down for the count more than once. Determined to stay objective, he instead becomes addicted to boxing's special brand of pain, and what begins as a simple curiosity soon escalates into an unhealthy obsession. Jones writes with the rhythm of the sport he covers: hard and fast, with the drama of fiction but the truth of journalism. Sometimes humorous, always suspenseful, Falling Hard is a travelogue for the fight game, boxing distilled to its essence by sportswriting's newest star.
Publishers Weekly
In a mixed effort, Toronto-based Jones chronicles a year of professional fights and learning the ropes as a neophyte ringside newspaper reporter for the newly formed National Post. In what is always a dicey move, he places himself squarely in the focus of his story. Rather than yielding interesting results, the exercise becomes a distraction that strays into a nuisance. Covering his first fight, Jones quotes a promoter saying that no matter what happens, the event will make his boxer "a bigger player." Jones adds, "Yes, I agree. Me too." Add to this photos of Jones's press credentials at the beginnings of chapters, a prevalent sense of awe at actually being a boxing writer and even a scene where Jones scolds Eddie Murphy for interrupting him and the self-absorption becomes tiresome. Jones's strength lies in his reporting skills, and he uses them aptly to paint vivid character portraits of the boxers, giving readers a vested interest in his descriptions of their bouts. But those descriptions themselves often lack solidity, as if Jones is still feeling the pinch of column inches instead of using the opportunity of a book to explore and elaborate. He writes, "The action is desperate. Both fighters consent to furious exchanges. Lefts and rights batter heads and bellies." At other times, the writing is much more effective, particularly when Jones ruminates on his first trip to Las Vegas and the sorry decline of Mike Tyson. Despite its flaws, the book offers enough flourishes of this kind and behind-the-scenes details to entice a fan of the sport to go the distance. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.