“In Washington, D.C., during the 1970s, a black man could get into the newspapers in one of two ways: crime—or boxing.” Such begins the synopsis for boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard’s 2012 ...

There may have been, in the long and sordid history of boxing, a more perfidious lead‑up to a big fight. But never before—or since, for that matter—had the treacheries been so blatant, been made so ...