Arts: Fighting Back: The Punishing World of Professional Boxing

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Behold Fighting Back: The Punishing World of Professional Boxing By David Rosenberg Posted Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012, at 02:30 PM ET Behold is Slate's brand-new photo blog. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @beholdphotos and on Tumblr. Learn what this space is all about here. Howard Schatz's 19th book, At the Fights, is a 224-page opus on professional boxers, or, as he puts it, "rare and unusual individuals" shot both in studio and on location at gyms and stadiums around the country. Schatz initially came into contact with boxers while working on his book Athlete, which covered just about every sport from baseball to wrestling to table tennis. But it was the boxers who really caught his attention. "I realized the individuals who are boxers, no one is like them," Schatz said. "Their level of courage … that they would participate in an endeavor where their opponent wants to make them comatose—that sort of courage really is awesome to me. I still cannot understand it." Schatz worked on the book for six years. He was able to develop relationships with many of the boxers, which enabled him to gain their trust and focus on getting shots both in his studio and in the ring. No small order, considering Schatz often shot more than 1,000 frames during a single studio visit using strobes and sometimes dousing the boxers with water to create dynamic effects. "I said I want to make an image where people say, 'Oh my God!' and that's really hard to do," said Schatz. "And they [boxers] understand 'really hard to do ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate How Cheap Will Legal Marijuana Be in Colorado and Washington? Beating Back the War on Judges The Star Wars Trilogy	Advertisement
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