The University of Wisconsin Press

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Sports / Wisconsin

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Lords of the Ring The Triumph and Tragedy of College Boxing's Greatest Team Doug Moe The glory days and tragic end of college boxing Lords of the Ring revives the exciting era—now forgotten—when college boxing attracted huge crowds, outdrawing the professional bouts. On the same night in 1940 when Joe Louis defended his heavyweight crown before 11,000 fans in New York's Madison Square Garden, collegiate boxers battled before 15,000 fans in Madison . . . Wisconsin. Lords of the Ring tells the whole extraordinary story of how and why this popular college sport abruptly ended in 1960, based on dozens of interviews and extensive examination of newspaper microfilm, boxing records, and memorabilia. Doug Moe is a daily columnist for the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the author of The World of Mike Royko, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press, which was a Chicago Tribune Choice Selection of the Year. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.) Additonal description from the cloth edition: Under legendary coach John Walsh, the most successful coach in the history of American collegiate boxing, University of Wisconsin boxers won eight NCAA team championships and 38 individual titles from 1933 to 1960. Badger boxers included heroes like Woody Swancutt, who later helped initiate the Strategic Air Command, and rogues like Sidney Korshak, later the most feared mob attorney in the United States. A young fighter named Cassius Clay also boxed in the Wisconsin Field House during this dazzling era. But in April 1960 collegiate boxing was forever changed when Charlie Mohr—Wisconsin's most popular boxer, an Olympic prospect—slipped into a coma after an NCAA tournament bout in Madison. Suddenly, not just Mohr's life but the entire sport of college boxing was in peril. It was to be the last NCAA boxing tournament ever held. Lords of the Ring tells the whole extraordinary story of Wisconsin boxing, based on dozens of interviews and extensive examination of newspaper microfilm, boxing records, and memorabilia. "A story of exhilaration and heartbreak. . . . reads like a Greek tragedy for the book's leading characters from Wisconsin's glory days of boxing."—Tom Butler, retired sportswriter and columnist, Wisconsin State Journal Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

October 2005 LC: 2004005363 GV 262 pp. 6 x 9 44 b/w photos Paper $24.95 t ISBN 978-0-299-20424-2 ADD TO CART   "Doug Moe . . . has written a wonderful book that brings back to life those last bittersweet days of collegiate boxing. As a native Madisonian who grew up in the shadows of the UW Field House, and who witnessed the match that ended Charlie Mohr's life, I was amazed by Moe's research and grateful that here, finally, is the true, unvarnished story." —David Maraniss, author of They Marched into Sunlight

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