Oden - Life in the Ring: Lessons and Inspiration from the Sport of Boxing Including Muhammad Ali, Oscar de la Hoya, Jake LaMotta, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson, and Rocky Marciano

Foreword
by Bert Randolph Sugar

G OING BACK ALMOST to the time when Cain rendered Abel hors de combat, writers have worn their pencils down to stubs churning out a sumptuous variety of articles and books about the sport of boxing. Some of those in the writing dodge remain as unknown as Whistlers father, but many are as well known as the face that greets us every morning in the bathroom mirrorand include such great writers as Homer, Hazlitt, and Hemingway.

Everyone, it seems has a book in them. So it came as no surprise when a friend of mine named John Oden, a successful businessman and white collar boxer himself, approached me to tell me of his plan to write a book on boxing and asked for my opinion. Now, Ive been held up for my opinion with a loaded drink pointed at my head twenty times or moreenough times for all the products of Scotland to be exhaustedbut I will admit that, at first, words failed me. All I could do was roll my eyes in their parent sockets and try to dissuade him by telling him about the hardships of writing, how it had been described as everything from an act of courage to a vocation of unhappiness, even throwing in Red Smiths immortal line, There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. In short, writing is hardly a barrel of monkeys. I advised John itd be best to stay away.

Nevertheless, he persevered, desiring only what he could accomplish. And, writing from the smithy of his soul, he accomplished much in producing the book, White Collar BoxingOne Mans Journey from the Office to the Ring. Honesty dictates that I tell you it was good: not great, mind you, but good. A different view from a different pew is refreshing, and Oden had told a straightforward story of how he had, as a round peg in the square ring known as boxing, fit. I thought to myself: Welcome, John, to the amateur division of boxing writing.

Jump-skip four years later, and John, still with printers ink in his blood, came back with yet another book idea. This time round he wanted to write a book of vignettes, illustrating how boxers could provide everyone, from businessmen on Wall Street to ordinary men on Main Street, with lessons and inspiration. Simple yet impactful messages, to be sure, but ones that could be learned and applied to life.

Studying the sport and its participants the way a scientist would a specimen, Oden chose 15 boxers from almost every era of the sportfrom yesteryears Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, to todays Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, and Joe Calzaghe. And, in telling their stories in vivid vignettes and applying the principles learned from them, Oden builds a fascinating, case-by-case study with plainspoken straightforwardness that provides lessons for life.

This is a welcome relief from the many books on boxing that strain to tell us the sordid side of boxing, the scandals that pockmark the face of the sport, and are chronicled with numbing predictability. Odens is a positive book on the Sweet Science, which only gets sweeter with its upbeat and inspirational message.

And while some may say an inspirational book on boxing is as unbelievable as Santa Claus suffering from vertigo or Captain Bligh with sea sickness, John Oden has done it, rubbing his creative lamp to give us a book that illuminates the sport in a way different than anyone has before.

John, welcome to the big leagues of boxing writing!

Bert Randolph Sugar, July 29, 2009

Introduction

I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED that boxing is a metaphor for life.

In this book you will discover the stories of 15 extraordinary men from all walks of life, from different times and different backgrounds. These men chose boxing as their vocation. Each one brought his own unique contribution to the sport. Their stories are profound and each no two are alike.

You will read of their hardship, struggle, defeat, comeback, and victory. They capture the very essence of the human experience. When a truly competitive boxing match is performed by skilled fighters, there is also a beauty, grace, and athletic excellence which cannot be duplicated in any other sport. And it is that combination of elements which grabs the imagination.

In boxing there are no words, only actions. And behind the action in a boxing ring are many of the human emotions and complications that one might encounter in lifepreparation, concentration, purposefulness, goal setting, challenges, pain, perseverance, and a host of anxieties and fears.

There is an aloneness to boxing that is unique in sports. Indeed, when facing an opponent one-on-one, there is only you and him. All the training, all the experience, all the emotions, come with you out of the corner. But there is no team, no ball, no bat, no racquet, no protective shoulder pads for someone to hide behind. And like a gladiatorial contest, it is done until one of the participants or the other cannot go on, either by knockout or stoppage, or when the winner or loser is declared by the judges at the end of the fight.

At its core, boxing is a sport of self-actualization, a means to discover truths about oneself which could not be learned in any other place quite so effectively. In boxing, mental agility and toughness are as equally important as physical strength and ability. Bruce Silverglade, owner of the famous Gleasons Gym in New York City and the godfather of white collar boxing maintains that the only person who can make a champ is the person himself not the trainer, the manager, or anyone else. Boxing is 50 percent mental, 40 percent conditioning, and 10 percent ability. The keys to the sport are commitment and focus. And these come with pain, long hours of preparation, and continued sacrifice. And then comes the day of judgment, the moment of trutheither a boxer wins or loses when he or she climbs between the ropes.

Boxing is ingrained in our culture, and evidence to this effect is everywhere: references to boxing constantly pop up in the lives we lead, and people make analogies to boxing without even realizing it. Nomenclature like knockout punch, came out swinging, took some hard shots, down for the count, and main event, are all references to elements of boxing in the society in which we live that make the parallels between life and boxing clear.