cover image The Boxer's Heart: How I Fell in Love with the Ring

The Boxer's Heart: How I Fell in Love with the Ring

Kate Sekules. Villard Books, $23.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-375-50395-5

""The sweet science of bruising"" is how travel editor Sekules describes the art of boxing. In her memoir she documents the sport in unflinching detail--from a round-by-round recap of her first professional match to the often maternal relationship between a boxer and her trainer. The major underlying theme of the book is--not surprisingly--gender issues. While women have been boxing since the 18th century, Sekules discovers there is no model of behavior for women in the male-dominated world of modern boxing, and to her disappointment, she finds that the women who are involved are not interested in any kind of female camaraderie. As expected, her participation in the sport causes waves with the men surrounding her. Her boyfriend displays a new penchant for masochism in bed, which she quickly tires of, and a male boxer tells her over e-mail that he pays women to beat him up in the ring. Her trainer develops a crush on her and pouts at inopportune times when he is rebuffed. And a sports journalist calls her hours before a professional match and reveals that he is ""titillated"" by ""catfights."" From boxers, she writes, ""I was learning to transfer weight from weight to fist and also from problem to tool."" If by book's end, the problems are not solved (or even solvable), it is apparent that Sekules has all the tools she needs and more. (Sept.)