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#muhammadali

mkwadee@diasp.eu
Khurram Wadee

On my holiday, I took a #book that I was finishing and had a choice of taking another one. I don't use e-books and so I mean paper books. The new one I took was called #TheFight by #NormanMailer. It's about the famous #boxing match between #MuhammadAli and #GeorgeForeman. Now, boxing is not everyone's cup of tea and I am no ardent follower of the #sport either. However, I do remember this from vaguely 1975 and it was crystallized by the documentary #WhenWeWereKings which also has contributions from Mailer and others like #GeorgePlympton and goes into the build up to the fight which took place in #Zaire under #Mobutu.

The book is amazingly written and the way Mailer describes events is superb in my opinion. He really brings the training and the sparring (both literal and figurative between Ali and Foreman) to life. I know in reality, like all people, Mailer was a highly complex individual, and not a very nice person and was married no fewer than six times, I believe. But the way he writes is eloquent, verbose and enthralling. He really brings out the romance of boxing as an art like ballet but also its brutal side. The likes of Ali, both as an athlete and a highly intelligent man is brought out so well by Mailer, it's well worth reading if you like that sort of thing. The reason I got it is because of the documentary, which I found very interesting.

An interesting device the author uses is always to refer to himself in the third person as Norman or Mailer, though not through arrogance but as a form of stepping back from himself as he took part in the events, through interviews and so on and so he tries to be as dispassionate as possible about that aspect. It did take a bit of getting used to but you soon forget about it.

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