Monday, August 25, 2008

A New Look at the Squared Circle

Although I am a fan of several sports I typically reserve this space purely for the discussion of basketball. But today, for a minute, we're going to step off the hardwood and get in the ring.

This morning I stumbled across Boxiana, a new blog that will undoubtedly join my list of required reading. For any Free Darko readers out there, you may recognize the author, Shoefly, as he was once a contributor to the blog and in fact penned the site's inaugural post: a petition to Free Darko Milicic.

The site shares a name with Pierce Egan's early 19th century tome on the same subject. Egan was the man who coined the phrase "the sweet science of bruising" by which the sport is so well known today. I first became familiar with Egan's work after coming across A.J. Liebling's frequent references to him in his old New Yorker pieces. I would call Egan's work a must read for the boxing fan, but I'd be being disingenuous if I didn't admit that the style of the writing can be a bit daunting.

Either way, I'm glad to see that Shoefly has taken the Free Darko aesthetic and applied it to boxing. This isn't the first time the boys over at Free Darko have taken a crack at a FD/Boxing spinoff site. I hope that this attempt builds more steam.

I am a little surprised that this is my first time discussing the sweet science. I used to be an amateur boxer and actually worked as a boxing trainer for a bit after I graduated from college, so the sport is near and dear to my heart. Anyways, if you aren't into boxing, I apologize for the brief detour. But if you are, be sure to check out it out.

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