Honnêtement, les compilations d’articles de presse ne sont pas vraiment ma tasse de thé. Je préfère les lire au fil de l’eau plutôt que dans un gros pavé de plus de quatre-cent pages. Oui mais voilà le talent de Hugh McIlvanney justifie qu’on s’y colle. Le bonhomme a couvert les plus grands combats du boxing game de Muhammad Ali vs. Henry Cooper (1966) à Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield II (1997) soit trente ans de sueur et de sang avec une attention toute particulière portée aux champions britanniques. Et une obsession : comment justifier une telle fascination pour un sport aussi cruel ?

Ce bouquin intéressera les nostalgiques et les quelques illuminés qui rêvent et écrivent la boxe en 2020. A cet égard, la langue de McIlvanney fait des ravages. Voilà quelques fulgurances, en version originale, comme de juste !

Sur Foreman :

The Zairese audiences, who are captivated by Ali, laugh at Foreman’s clumsiness in the gym but most men who have faced him in earnest have wished they had an ejector seat instead of a corner stool.

Sur le public :

But anyone who cannot feel for the loser in boxing should not be allowed through the door of the arena.

Sur Ken Buchanan vs. Miguel Velazquez :

The fight was held in Madrid, where a foreign boxer needs an opponent’s death certificate to win a decision.

Sur Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns :

Hearns has a reach that is a threat to chins in the next county and develops enough leverage when he punches to knock down a small building.

Leonard and Hearns are driven essentially by a desire to gain the kind of credits that has nothing to do with banks.

Sur Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns :

The more Hagler bled the more certain it was that Hearns would be sacrified.

Sur Joe Bugner :

He had the physique of a Greek statue but fewer moves.

Sur Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas :

Masakuzu Uchida had the scores level after nine and Ken Morita had Tyson one point ahead, which indicates that he would have given Pompeii the verdict over Vesuvius.

Hugh McIvanney rapporte aussi quelques bons mots de boxeurs qui valent leur pesant de cacahuètes.

Larry Holmes sur Don King :

Don King doesn’t care about black or white. He just cares about green.

Un échange entre Holyfield et Foreman :

‘It’s not about the size of the man, George, but the size of the heart,’ said Holyfield. ‘I eat hearts,’ the old man responded. ‘I eat chicken’s feet. I eat everything.’

NZ