By Geno McGahee
South African author and boxing fan, Donald McRae, has written an incredible book, DARK TRADE: LOST IN BOXING, which covers many of the most interesting pugilists that have ever laced up the gloves. There is often the comment made by non-boxing fans that the sport is just “two guys beating each other up,” but this book is their answer. Not only does McRae show how the fighters at the top of the sport tick, but also displays the beauty of a sport that can be deadly at times.
If you didn’t know boxing, you know of Mike Tyson, a man recently known for his work in THE HANGOVER series of films, but those acting gigs were at the tail end of a long journey of seeing the highest highs and the lowest lows. McRae chronicles his early rise to the top and his eventual rape conviction in such a way that it reads a map as to what fortune and excess can do to a superstar. I have read every Mike Tyson book every published, being a huge Tyson fan, and McRae’s approach was effective and unique. Considering he was there for it and amongst the fighters, it has a more organic feel.
This book really is a love letter to the 1990s and that era, which was a tremendous one for boxing and I learned many things that I had never known. I have been following the sport since I was 12, read about every book that’s ever been published concerning it, and to read this one and to see the backgrounds given on the characters and then the journey to fight night, I not only relived the fights but saw them through different eyes.
There is great focus to break layers of the character in fighters like the complexity of James “Lights Out” Toney, a boxer that maintained a level of privacy, even with his great bravado. The terrible Nigel Benn-Gerald McClellan incident is covered so well and with such detail that it’s hard to read and sad to remember. McClellan became the poster boy as to why boxing should be outlawed after the fight left him with extreme brain damage. McRae handles it well and tastefully but doesn’t pull any punches either and he tells the story of those around the fighters and the thoughts of those after the defeat and subsequent life-changing injury that not only changed McClellan’s life, but also impacted other fighters and many more.
DARK TRADE: LOST IN BOXING is a book that I didn’t intend to read in two days. At 537 pages, I assumed this would be my date for the week, but it quickly drew me back to a great time for the sport with many ups and downs and moments that will live on my memory forever. McRae’s love of the game is on full display. His respect for the fighters and for the great art that they mastered is written masterfully and I cannot say enough good things about this book. I was beyond impressed with how well it flows, the structure and the pacing. It effortlessly flows from one fighter to another and then finds its way back as the timeline forges on. DARK TRADE: LOST IN BOXING may not be my favorite boxing book of all time, but it’s one hell of a read and a must own for any boxing fan. I really enjoyed this read and highly recommend it.
