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Gabriele Tinti: The Poet Who Loves Boxing

By Scoop Malinowski

The Italian poet Gabriele Tinti has deep roots in boxing from his childhood in Italy.  He was later inspired to create poetry, some of his work even romanticizes the sweet science, particularly “The Boxer” which was later read in a live performance by two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey.

“Boxing is a space in which our repressed feelings, our fears and our identity anxieties all converge. Boxing resolves everything in the sense of death. It manages to do so because it is a primal display; a manifestation of an unrepeatable existential experience, a ‘true’ reality; the revelation of an internal world in which not only the body (with all its suffering) and the flesh are on the line, but also the intellect, the spirit and so-called ‘culture.’ It is a cruel spectacle made of pain and love, of the unpredictable and the serious, of boredom and great emotions. (Excerpt from: “Poetry, Translation, and “Spectacles of suffering” – an interview with Gabriele Tinti.)

Tinti has authored eight books. I had the chance to ask Tinti some boxing questions…

 

(Photo by Ernesto Ruscio.)

Introduction to boxing: My father used to take me as a child to watch the fights of a local boxer who lived right across from us and whom we knew personally.

Early boxing memory: The matches at the sports hall in the small seaside town where I lived. And Mike Tyson’s fights on TV.

Favorite boxers to watch: Manny Pacquiao, Arturo Gatti, and more recently, Deontay Wilder for his vulnerability, and Tyson Fury for his exceptional talent.

First ringside experience: Here in Italy, in Rome, and as I mentioned, when I was a child.

Best boxing moment: Diego Corrales’ victory over Jose Luis Castillo in the epic 10th round of their 2005 fight.

Most painful boxing moment: Manny Pacquiao’s brutal loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth fight. I was a huge fan of Manny, and watching him lose like that was painful.

Why do you love boxing: Boxing is a cruel spectacle, made of pain and love, unpredictability and gravity, boredom and overwhelming emotion.

Who will win Fury vs. Usyk 2: I don’t know the future. My guess is Tyson Fury, but it will be very, very tough.

Favorite boxing films: Fat City and Raging Bull.

Favorite boxing books: The Game by Jack London, Pound for Pound by F. X. Toole.

Favorite fights: Castillo vs. Corrales, Gatti vs. Ward.

Kevin Spacey reads “The Boxer” poem by Gabriele Tinti video link

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