Sting Like a Bee: The Muhammad Ali Story » (New Edition)

José Torres is a former boxer who won a silver medal in the 1956 Olympic Games and the 1958 New York Golden Gloves Open Championship. He is the author of Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson and a regular contributor to the Spanish-language New York newspaper El Diario La Prensa.

Bert Randolph Sugar is a historian, boxing writer, Boxing Hall of Famer, and the former editor of Boxing Illustrated and The Ring. He is the author of several boxing books, including My View from the Corner and Boxing's Greatest Fighters.

For four decades, Muhammad Ali's enduring story has gripped the American public, far beyond the boxing community. Among the dozens of books written about Ali, Sting Like a Bee is unique because of its authorship. Few writers have been professional boxing champions. Few professional fighters have been successful writers. Author Jose Torres has been both.

First published in 1971, Sting Like a Bee gained a following because Torres had written perhaps the first book of its kind -- a genuine and authentic view of Ali and the world of prizefighting, told by a true insider. Just three years earlier, Torres himself was the light-heavyweight champion of the world. That's what gives the book its distinct flavor. Torres, who had first met Ali in the Olympics, delivers exciting and explicit accounts of Ali's major fights with the cool verisimilitude of one who has lived it. Also included are little-known anecdotes and facts about Ali's background. With an introduction by Norman Mailer and an epilogue by Budd Schulberg.

New York Times

"Marvelous. . . . It is a study of the psychic contest that in boxing is the hidden part of the iceberg."