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(JULY 20) The first and primary
commandment for those who put words on a page is: "Write what you
know." Mischa Merz knows boxing; she knows it from inside the ropes,
she knows it as an astute journalistic observer outside the ring and
she knows it as a woman who has undergone an almost Homeric odyssey
through the hurdles imposed by the amateur boxing world of
Australia, while pursuing the siren song of a sport to which Merz
admits she has become "addicted."
"Bruising" published in 2000, is Merz's chronicle of a woman whose
first thoughts, when, indeed, she gave thought at all to boxing, was
the impression of barely organized violence. She subsequently, over
the course of several years, underwent a virtual metamorphosis,
beginning with the recognition of the difference between fighting
and boxing, evolving to varied conclusions concerning athletes,
women and herself and finally arriving at a juncture in her life
when she fully embraced a sport that, she realized, had in turn,
embraced her. It is a layered piece of writing, combining the basic
elements of the most primal of sport and the unique obstacles faced
by females within that sport. "Bruising" has recently been reissued
in paperback and new material includes Merz's travels outside her
native Australia, into the world of Gleasons Gym in New York City, a
sojourn, of sorts, into the Sweet Science and the women who now
proliferate the sport, an experience, for both the author and her
readers, markedly different from the recounting of Merz's
experiences in her home country during the last half of the previous
decade. This new material serves to make a good book better.
Mischa Merz's baptism into boxing begins as the result of a
"turbulent encounter" not in the sport, but in the realm of real
life. Following this incident, Merz migrates towards the boxing ring
and as she progresses from a novitiate stage, she quickly learns an
ancient sports truth: "the further you go, the more skilled you
become, the more you need to learn." It is true of every sport and
is never more true than in individual sports. And Merz, the
unschooled neophyte athlete, Merz, the novice boxer, and Merz, the
amateur fighter, learns there is no sport more individual than going
forward, within a confined space, and throwing punches at someone
who is intent on doing the same thing to you. Along that path, while
Merz, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes reluctantly, heads towards
"soloing" in the ring, she receives varied assistance outside the
ropes: her soon to be husband, Peter, a boxing coach in Melbourne; a
female professional boxer, Amanda Buchanan, renowned in Australia
for well developed ring skills and someone who transitions Merz from
the rudiments of boxing to the verge of "answering the bell;" Keith
Ellis, ostensibly a trainer/promoter, but one who will be
recognized, by boxing fans, almost immediately, as a boxing "lifer,"
a term of endearment to some, derision from others. All these
supporting players and others, to a lesser extent, are, at various
stages of Merz's development, integral stepping stones, each
offering a different pallet of encouragement, instruction and
expertise as the author moves out of a figurative corner and into
the literal center of a boxing ring.
As she recounts her learning and progress through the sport, Merz
lays waste to some of the sacred tracts propagated by those who,
instinctively, shun women boxing. She specifically deconstructs the
myth that it is abhorrent "to watch two women punch each other."
Merz also offers several other interesting, thought starter
observations about the manner in which women athletes are viewed
from both a clinical and mass market purview. It is during a couple
of these dissertations, that the author's reliance on references and
direct quotes from varied academics and authors on the subject of
females, athletes, aggression and specific reference to the sport of
boxing seem to spin the book slightly off kilter. It is not that
these references are irrelevant or off topic, it is simply that they
tend to distract from Merz's basic story arc, while, simultaneously,
detracting from Merz's strong writing on a subject she has lived and
a subject which she has proven, countless times in the book, she has
the ability to provide insight far exceeding that of any removed
academic or social scientist. It is a minor grievance.
One of the pluses of the paperback edition is that the first quarter
of the book recounts the author's time spent, this year, in Gleasons
Gym in New York City. As with her entree into the sport, Merz's
first figurative steps into Gleasons are of the "toe in the water"
variety. But Merz is now much more confident around the sport and in
the ring. Nonetheless, from her first moment in this Brooklyn
landmark she quickly realizes that she has advanced to a different
plateau within the skill sets of professional women boxers. The
Gleason's talent ceiling is not, solely, women who can be,
legitimately, called professional boxers, but rather female athletes
who have succeeded to the top rung of professional boxing. As with
her own experience in the ring, Merz captures, spot on, the
cultural, hierarchal and sense of community feel of a big time
boxing gym, in the rings, in the "changing rooms" and in the hopes
and dreams of some the women who are, at this point in time, an
integral part of one of the most integral locations in the sport of
boxing. Possibly, because it is current and up-to-date, I found the
Gleasons portion of the book somewhat more interesting and would
have preferred this segment be offered in chronological sequence at
the back of the book, rather than in the first fifty pages, if for
no other reason than satisfying a long-standing boxing dictum:
finish strong. Again, a very minor complaint.
Mischa Merz knows well that first commandment of writers and she
follows it, closely, with a book about a sport she knows intimately;
a sport, even to this day, she continues to practice with skill; a
sport she writes about with a combination of been there, done that
authority. It is an unvarnished look at an unvarnished sport done in
highly polished prose and is an unanimous decision winner.
"Bruising" can be obtained by contacting:
www.mischamerz.com
Bernie McCoy
