Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers from the Halifax Forum to Caesars Palace

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press,
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

In 15 chapters, Saunders, an American-born Haligonian, tells the story
of Black boxing in the Maritimes. It is an arresting tale at times, but
in some sections plods badly when it devolves into short paragraphs of
names of fringe performers and their records.

Saunders begins with a brief history of the ring and its rules as
developed in England in the 1700s, and then moves quickly to the
twentieth century and North America, especially the Maritimes. Along the
way, he touches on the big names in Black boxing to give the down east
perspective. The influences on Maritime boxing are slow in arriving, but
nevertheless exert themselves. And this book is a sociological treatment
in part, at least. Yvonne Durrell, for example, the famous Baie St. Anne
fisherman who was a contender for a world title and knocked champion
Archie Moore down three times in a title fight, is mentioned only in
passing. This is definitely a Black history of pugilism.

Photographs illustrate the text; photos that go back to the famous Sam
Langford at the turn of the century and action shots of recent Black
fighters like Trevor Berbick. There are also ample references to the
influence boxing had on the status of the Black in society, and a good
chapter on the changes for the better that champions such as Joe Louis
and Ali effected.

One can never lose sight, however, of the fact that this is also a book
about the Maritimes, a gentle backwater of Canada. Anyone who aspires to
make it big usually has to leave. Why, then, does this often-condemned
sport continue to exist? The answer seems to be that there is a vibrant
underground of boxing surviving despite the isolation, lack of purses
and facilities, and general neglect, simply because there is a tradition
of Black boxing in which a segment of that community takes great pride.

Sweat and Soul is a good bit of sociology buried in the tales of the
squared circle.