From the publisher: “When Billy Conn Fought Fritzie Zivic tells the story of boxing in its pre-television days between the First and Second World Wars and into the 1950s through poetry. Men like Harry Greb, Billy Conn, and Fritzie Zivic, and the steel city of Pittsburgh come alive in these pages. Poetry is as much history and deeds, as truth and beauty. Remember when Pittsburgh was a tough town? This is it.”
“I read it in one sitting. Exceedingly good…. (Stupp) masterfully captures the grit and street-level history of Pittsburgh, a city whose spirit has dirty fingernails.” -Springs Toledo, author of Smokestack Lightning: Harry Greb, 1919; Murderers’ Row and Cheap Seats. Contributor to Boxing News; The Ring, HBO and The Sweet Science.
About the Author: John Stupp’s third poetry collection Pawleys Island was published in 2017. His manuscript Summer Job won the 2017 Cathy Smith Bowers Poetry Prize and was published in August 2018. He lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From 1975-1985 he worked professionally as a mediocre jazz guitarist. When Billy Conn Fought Fritzie Zivic is now available to pre-order from Red Flag Poetry.
Season’s Greetings
It was the Roaring 20’s
the Jazz Age
and Santa Claus was there
with the steel workers
miners
brickies
from Lawrenceville
and East Liberty
and Braddock
to see the legendary Garfield man
Harry Greb
pound for pound the greatest fighter
who ever lived
face Tommy Loughran
at Motor Square Garden
on Christmas day 1923
this was a gift
hung by a chimney with care
and Harry didn’t disappoint
he turned Mr. Loughran from Philadelphia
into Christmas pudding
and chased him around the ring
our city can beat your city
the great brass section of the crowd roared
you could hear them up and down Baum Boulevard
as Loughran’s bloody teeth
found the balcony
Pittsburgh is the toughest city in the world
the bookies crowed
all heroes now
while outside
the coke ovens and furnaces burned for miles in the dark
and the snow was busy punching
the Ohio River in the mouth
over and over
with no ref to stop the carnage
This excerpt from When Billy Conn Fought Fritzie Zivic is published here courtesy of the author and should not be reproduced without permission.
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