Cut Time: An Education at the Fights

The author is a keen observer of the local boxing scene, and his thoughtful well-written essays are instructive and philosophical, teasing out insights with broad applications from the drama inside the ring. I particularly enjoyed his experiences in the world of low-grade regional boxing, mostly in the Boston area. Funny, sometimes poignant stories of heartbreak, loss, victory, sweat, and blood.

In the introduction to his collection of essays, Carlo Rotella notes that boxing can "teach...lessons...about the virtues and limits of craft, about the need to impart meaning to hard facts by enfolding them in stories and spectacle, about getting hurt and getting old, about distance and intimacy, and especially about education itself: boxing conducts an endless workshop in the teaching and learning of knowledge with consequences." Through the nine essays that follow, he explores the ways in which pain and the mastery of a craft can intersect, in the process creating vivid portrayals of former heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes, several other boxers of varying skill from the distant and recent past, a fellow boxing afficionado, who has survived a brutal car accident, and his late grandmother during the last years of her life. The essays takes the sport away from both the glamour and squalor where most boxing writers target their focus. Instead Rotella uses the subject to give us a poignant reminder of how acquiring wisdom comes at the price of overcoming adversity. He also shows depth in his knowledge of the mechanics of boxing as he describes the subtle shifts in the action of a fight in a way that most writers miss. The insights to be found in this book are simple but wise. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thoughtful heartfelt writing that quietly says something about the way we live our lives.

This book was foisted upon me by a friend who's a big boxing enthusiast. I read it only because I knew him to be a good judge of quality literature, and I wasn't disappointed. I came away from reading Cut Time with a far greater appreciation of the sweet science, yet also with a heightened antipathy for the sport. While I don't share Rotella's love for boxing, I have nothing but admiration for his writing. The prose is as tight, sharp, and powerful as Tommy Hearns in his prime, and the characterization of Larry Holmes -- among other pugilists -- is beautifully done. Cut Time is one of the best books I've read all year.

Rotella is a great ethnographer; i'm not a boxing enthusiast but this book exposed me to a deeper side of boxing - a sport where people feel, dream, fail, and persevere. A good read!

I'm not a huge boxing fan, but having read a few of Rotella's pieces in the Post magazine I thought I'd give this book a try. Glad I did! Great stuff on boxing but also wonderful character studies of people as diverse as Larry Holmes, a struggling student, and Rotella's Sicilian grandmother. The Holmes stuff is classic, interesting even to people like me who had no idea who he was. I'll be recommending this one to all my friends.