Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems
A tribute to the improbable dreams of valiant men in a rough sport.

In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer (professional or amateur), offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer. From the inspiring hopes of an early career to agonizing defeats, the poems in Eclipse of the Sun take readers on a journey from moderate successes to the realization that a dream of a promising future has become the reality of the long haul of a journeyman. Along the way, Shuttleworth rubs elbows with greats like Muhammad Ali, Chickie Ferrara, and Ron Lyle, exposing the resolute path and difficult end of a hard-lived life.
 
This collection is an homage to boxing at its grittiest levels, and to fighters who persevere—with hope, blood, and bone—against sense and loss. Few professional boxers earn a living in the ring, and even fewer arrive in their forties with any money left from their sport. In this collection, boxers attain poverty rather than riches, end up in post-career menial jobs, and have no pension plan to fall back on. Shuttleworth’s poetry is a visceral inside look at the brutality and humanity at the heart of boxing.
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Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems
A tribute to the improbable dreams of valiant men in a rough sport.

In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer (professional or amateur), offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer. From the inspiring hopes of an early career to agonizing defeats, the poems in Eclipse of the Sun take readers on a journey from moderate successes to the realization that a dream of a promising future has become the reality of the long haul of a journeyman. Along the way, Shuttleworth rubs elbows with greats like Muhammad Ali, Chickie Ferrara, and Ron Lyle, exposing the resolute path and difficult end of a hard-lived life.
 
This collection is an homage to boxing at its grittiest levels, and to fighters who persevere—with hope, blood, and bone—against sense and loss. Few professional boxers earn a living in the ring, and even fewer arrive in their forties with any money left from their sport. In this collection, boxers attain poverty rather than riches, end up in post-career menial jobs, and have no pension plan to fall back on. Shuttleworth’s poetry is a visceral inside look at the brutality and humanity at the heart of boxing.
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Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems

Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems

by Red Shuttleworth
Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems

Eclipse of the Sun: Boxing Poems

by Red Shuttleworth

eBook

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Overview

A tribute to the improbable dreams of valiant men in a rough sport.

In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer (professional or amateur), offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer. From the inspiring hopes of an early career to agonizing defeats, the poems in Eclipse of the Sun take readers on a journey from moderate successes to the realization that a dream of a promising future has become the reality of the long haul of a journeyman. Along the way, Shuttleworth rubs elbows with greats like Muhammad Ali, Chickie Ferrara, and Ron Lyle, exposing the resolute path and difficult end of a hard-lived life.
 
This collection is an homage to boxing at its grittiest levels, and to fighters who persevere—with hope, blood, and bone—against sense and loss. Few professional boxers earn a living in the ring, and even fewer arrive in their forties with any money left from their sport. In this collection, boxers attain poverty rather than riches, end up in post-career menial jobs, and have no pension plan to fall back on. Shuttleworth’s poetry is a visceral inside look at the brutality and humanity at the heart of boxing.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781647791216
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Publication date: 08/08/2023
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 72
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Red Shuttleworth holds degrees from City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has been writing poetry for more than fifty years and has also written short fiction and texts for the theater for decades. Shuttleworth took up boxing while a student at City College of San Francisco in the 1960s. He had three amateur bouts, one of which he won by decision.


 

Table of Contents

Have Fists Will Bang, Mackenzie, British Columbia

Nature's Course

The Dog Knows Winter Is Coming

The Boxer on Canvas

Prince George, BC, Canada: Four-Round Bout

The Dog in the Cemetery

Against the Sky on a Ridge

Racing Our Seasons

All-Night Prince George Waffle House. . .Taking Rest

Polished Walnut Coffin

A Few Flakes of Snow Collapse

Evening at Crooked River, BC


Hurricane, Eddie, Benny, Sonny, and Woody Woodpecker

Hurricane Jackson

Eddie Machen

New York '58. . .Benny Kid Paret Takes Up Residence at an Efficiency Hotel

The Farm

Construction Sites. . .Blocked Sidewalks. . .Pedestrian Detours

Sometimes You Win. . .Big

You're Dead When They Cut the Gloves Off

Watching the Bout on TV, Benny Kid Paret's Two-Year-Old Son Screamed: Papa. . .Papa. . .Papa. . .

You the Better Man?

Precise Jabs, a Hook to His Ribs

Three Days Beyond Leotis Martin vs. Sonny Banks

Woody Woodpecker

Hospital Bed in a Living Room


Ron Lyle vs. Muhammed Ali

Carrying the Baggage

South. . .A Mile Short of True Vegas

Roadwork, Six Miles with Ron Lyle in Las Vegas, at the Dunes Golf Course, a Few Days Prior to Lyle's World Championship Bout with Muhammed Ali

The Workhouse

Lyle vs. Ali, Tenth Round

A Taped Jump Rope Dangles in the Night Gym


Not a Contender, a Journeyman

Night Train

Spokane

Faith, Whirligig, Damnation

Extra Blanket

Union City, Tennessee, Six Rounds

Holy Mass for Broken Hands

Flash a Smile and Keep Walking

Eclipse of the Sun

Visits with Joanna

Peppermint Go-Go Ancient Diary

Overgrown Memory

Night Watchman. . .One-Eyed Attack Dog Mutt

Last Day of Summer

Sparring in a Cold Showers Gym

January Roadwork: Watery, Red Eyes

The Further Days

Afterlife Road

Low Rounds. . .High-Intensity Workout

Dementia Pugilistica

After I Die. . .


Acknowledgments 

About the Author

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