Tag: Boxing

Surely I must be mistaken. Nothing about me would indicate a steadfast interest in a niche collection of vintage boxing cards from the late 1800s and beyond. The trading cards on display are straightforward, commercial depictions of boxing champions from the 1880s. There are essentially two poses these boxers take: crossed arms or in the guard position. Otherwise, the artist has cropped the illustrated portrait below the collarbones of these oft-mustachioed men. Nearly a century before these trading cards were produced British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson created a series of prints called, “Six Stages of Marring a Face” (1792), which combined the visual motifs of a boxing beatdown (bruises, gashes, etc.) As Lady Archer squeezes, primps, and plumps, we see gestures strangely akin to the nearby boxer’s. In the corner of the Met’s exhibition are three nearly identical portraits from the 1780s, the first of which displays boxing champion Richard Humphreys while the last two showcase Daniel Mendoza. Depicting opposing black and white boxers, it is clear that Gericault is foregrounding an aesthetic decision to heighten the monochromatic qualities of his lithograph by exploiting the racial politics of boxing. On the Ropes: Vintage Boxing Cards from the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection continues at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan) through October 21.

Donald Trump said on Friday that he may grant a posthumous pardon to Muhammad Ali, seemingly unaware that the great boxer’s conviction was overturned by the supreme court 47 years ago. Departing for the G7 summit in Canada, the president told reporters at the White House he was looking at “thousands of names” of people who could be granted clemency. He received a draft-evasion conviction in 1967 and was stripped of his world heavyweight title. “He was, look, he was not very popular then, certainly his memory is popular now,” Trump said. “I’m thinking about that very seriously, and some others.” Ali was sentenced to five years in prison but he appealed and in 1971 the supreme court overturned his conviction, finding that the justice department improperly told the draft board Ali’s stance was not motivated by his religious beliefs as a Muslim. Trump’s gesture is therefore meaningless. Ali’s lawyer, Ron Tweel, said: “We appreciate President Trump’s sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary. Earlier this week, he also commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by Kim Kardashian West. “The power to pardon is a beautiful thing,” Trump told reporters. “I want to do people who are unfairly treated like Alice [Marie Johnson].” Trump has also floated a possible pardon for TV personality Martha Stewart and potentially commuting the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted on corruption charges in 2011.