Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Jemal Countess / Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Right on heels of our last post, Shame and Literacy, comes this doozy. Rapper 50 Cent has challenged Floyd Mayweather, who many consider the best pound-for-pound boxer in the universe, to appear on Jimmy Fallon's late night TV show and read the Dr. Suess classic "Cat in he Hat." If he does so successfully 50 Cent will donate $750,000 to a charity of Mayweather's choosing. The two former business partners had a falling out and are now duking it out on social media. First 50 Cent challenged Mayweather...
A Heavyweight For Illiteracy
Wladimir Klitschko is the World Heavyweight Champion. He currently holds 4 different championship belts and is pretty much considered the undisputed king of the ring. His latest fight might be his toughest yet - illiteracy; the global scourge that effects over 250 million children who do not have access to education. The project is called Klitschko vs. Illiteracy and it is the brainchild of the Klitschko Brothers Foundation in cooperation with the German charity organization BILD hilft e.V. Ein Herz für Kinder. For the project Klitschko dipped his gloved hands in blue paint and punched the 26 letters of the alphabet individually on canvas. Why blue? Because "blue is the ink of writing"...
Kaplan Boxing Archive: From Contender To Champ
Poster For An Exhibit of Materials From The Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.(All Images Courtesy Of Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive At Brooklyn College.)The rags to riches story behind Brooklyn College's Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive just got a little richer: on April 16, 2010 the collection's chief archivist, Professor Anthony Cucchiara, became the winner of a $315,000 endowment from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) to organize the largest and most extensive boxing collection in the world. "This two-year grant will allow us to process and preserve this invaluable collection that spans two centuries of boxing history," says Prof. Cucchiara.Finding the...
The Biggest Jew in Chicago Part 3
According to its press book, a movie was loosely based upon Terry Druggan, his partner Frankie Lake, and their activities.William Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), starred James Cagney as Tommy Powers/Terry Druggan and featured Edward Woods as Matt Doyle/Frankie Lake. The 1923 tragi-comic death of Sam “Nails” Morton was depicted in the movie: An avid horseman, Nails (in the film, “Nails Nathan”) was riding in Lincoln Park one morning, a stirrup broke, the horse reared, Nails was thrown, the horse kicked him in the head and killed him. So upset and grief stricken were his Irish boon companions and partners...
Ernest Hemingway: Down For The Count
In 1922, Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey was the toast of Paris. He was feted and fawned over, the women obliging, the men in awe.Champion for three years, he was used to celebrities wanting to put the gloves on and spend a fantasy few minutes sparring with him. A fighter who took all that occurred within the ring with extreme seriousness – it is not a playground1 - he nonetheless indulged many: he allowed silent film star Douglas Fairbanks to throw jabs and rights at him, knowing that Fairbanks’ smaller frame and lesser weight would not put much power behind his...