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The 12 Greatest Rounds of Boxing: The Untold Stories

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The longtime boxing physician and broadcaster shares his insider insights and observations of a life in boxing, from the 1920s to the present, as he looks at twelve of the most unforgettable rounds in the history of boxing.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2000

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Ferdie Pacheco

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for S. .
125 reviews9 followers
July 1, 2013
Dope. Fin.
Profile Image for Dick.
425 reviews5 followers
September 8, 2021
Ferdie Pacheco has had a lifetime association with boxing, starting out as a fight fan, then eventually as Ali’s personal physician.

In this book he chose 12 of for him – and for many of us – were the most unforgettable rounds of boxing, ever.

He tells the story and background leading up to the famous "The Long Count" in the Jack Dempsey versus Gene Tunney fight of 1927. That is a story that will never be settled, for we do not know if Tunney could – in fact – been able to beat the count. I thinknot, but then he was a very smart fighter and cagey. So, who knows. Fights in those days allowed the standing fighter to stand right over the fallen and as soon as one knee was off the canvas, begin pummeling him again. No neutral corner in those days. He does a good job providing the background and political “ernvironment” of the House vs Schmeling fights. Most people today do not know this, but Louis and Schmeling built a respectful friendship after those fights.

He does a really good job of pointing out the turning points of the Ali/Liston fights, both of them. Many will disagree with me, but I am st ill convinced that the 2nd fith, found Liston taking a dive. Phantom punch. More, the mob was behind Liston and their betting showed they had the money on Ali. Liston could have risen, but opted to stay down. Was Ali in on that? I doubt it.

There are lots of old photos of great fighters. I remember many of these fights from the late 40’s and listening to an RCA Victor console radio, laying on the floor. I always like Joe Louis.
Included are such fight rounds as round 1 of Dempsey-Willard/ the 7th-round long count of Dempsey-Tunney/ Joe Louis's opening-round KO of Max Schmeling/ and three or four of Ali's greatest fights.

Pacheco shares an exchange between Ali and Frazier at the end of the 7th round of their third fight: "Ali, with his back to the corner," writes Pacheco, "grabbed Joe by the back of the head and pulled him into a clinch. He yelled in Frazier's ear, 'They told me you was washed up, champ.' Joe gritted his teeth, hammered his hardest punch to Ali's kidney and growled, 'They lied to you, champ. They lied!'" There are other such exchanges and quotes. By the way the pulling down of Frazier’s head was illegal and he had been warned about it before the fight. He still did it and the referee did nothing.

If you are a fight fan, you will enjoy this book I sure did.
1 review
March 17, 2017
This book is about how a famous fight doctor named Ferdie Pacheco, he became a fan of boxing since a little kid. As he got older he studied more on boxing and soon also became a personal physician to one of his favorite boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali. when Ail hired a new personal trainer, Ferdie worked hard and then had a other career of being a broadcaster. In his book he has chosen a dozen of the most unforgettable rounds in boxing history. One of the matches Pacheco thought was the most interesting was Jack Dempsey versus Gene Tunney fight of 1927 which he called it "The Long Count".
I personally think that this book is only for boxer fans only that want know how the legends in boxing fighting to get the top to become the best but only a few can like Joe fraizer and Muhammad Ali. This book interested me because I got to learn how was boxing in the past and learning that in one of the fights was fixed. I recommend this book to people that want to learn how boxers in the past was more in danger than boxers today.
Profile Image for Matt Wright.
14 reviews
May 9, 2025
I really enjoyed this book. Great insight into boxing but also what was happening in the world that affected some of these fights.
Profile Image for Ben.
127 reviews
October 22, 2013
A must of all boxing fans. And sports fans . Or even fans of great story tellers like Freddie .
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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