Fight Town: Las Vegas - The Boxing Capital Of The World

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Thorough coverage
Review: Fantastic photos. Fine background text. Knowledgable author. But the one thing that got me was instead of this being a historical look at the boxing game in Las Vegas, it really turned into Dahlberg's view of Boxing in Vegas.

If a book is to be based on your opinion, I'm fine with that. But doen't disguise it as a historical perspective of the topic and then force YOUR PERSONAL opinions in as if they WERE fact.

A blatant example of this was Dahlberg's OPINION that Tommy Hearns was exhausted and spent in the 13th round of his epic bout with Leonard. If Tim wants to quote Manny Steward's opinion on Hearns' weight and physical condition in the bout, that's fine. But don't pass off your personal opinion as fact. In MY Opinion, what stopped Hearns in the 13th round was Leonard's fists. Hearns certainly gave no noticable appearence of being Spent or exhausted. He slowed down when Ray NOTICABLY hurt Tommy.

I also did not care for the top 10 Vegas fights either. If you are basing it on historical significance or hype and build up, than how does Leonard Hagler not make the list? ANd if it is based on ferocity and sustained action, how does Barrera Morales not make the list? Were Tyson Berbick (Why? so we have a fight for Tyson in Vegas that Mike acutally won?)Holyfield Bowe I & II and Foreman Moorer more deserving than the two fights I mentioned, each for different reasons?

The bias and inconsistancies prevent 5 stars form me. I previewed it before I purchased it, so I feel it was worth the buy. But It ranks only as very good and not exceptional in my book

Jeff Hawkins

Rating:
Summary: Fight Town is the Undisputed Champion!
Review: If you like boxing at all, you're going to love this book. I bought it at the author's website after reading a review on a boxing website, and it was even better than I imagined. This is a big book, 228 pages in a coffee table size, and filled with great photos that really are images in time. There's Sugar Ray Robinson with two little kids on the Las Vegas Strip in 1952, and Muhammad Ali fighting in Las Vegas for the first time in 1961. The book opens with a photo I've never seen before of Ali taunting Sonny Liston after Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight title in Las Vegas in 1963. This photo alone is almost worth the price of the book. There's great photos from the 50s to fights in 2004, from Liston and Ali to Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya. These aren't your standard fight pictures, either. They are taken before fights, in casual settings, during fights, you name it. Did I mention it had words too? Dahlberg has been around fights in Vegas for a long time and it shows. He tells inside stories, such as how Marvin Hagler was so tight with his money he made sure the phones in the hotel rooms of his entourage were turned off and how Bob Arum nearly landed the first Ali-Frazier fight in Las Vegas. He tells how Caesars Palace built an outdoor arena for the big fights, and how great the hotel's pavillion was for fighters and how Sugar Ray Leonard came up with the game plan to beat Hagler. It's the kind of book you'll put out on your coffee table just to pick up and read a bit and look at the pictures again and again. I got mine at the fighttownvegas.com website, so I could get it personally signed by the author. My friends are all jealous.