Not long ago I read Donald Platt's poem "The Main Event," which is about a boxing match from 1962 between Benny "Kid" Paret and Emile Griffith. The match is a grizzly affair with the referee stopping the match, a bit belatedly, as Paret is hung on the ropes and beaten ferociously. Paret eventually dies. I highly recommend the poem, and it can be found in The Best American Poetry 2015, though it was originally published in Southwest Review.
Shortly after reading this, as I was reading Tales of Beatnik Glory by Ed Sanders, I came across a chapter/short story that mentioned the same fight, "The AEC Sit-In." The fight was used in a different way in the story, but I found it interesting that I read two unrelated works that just happened to mention the same unfortunate boxing match.
I guess the more you read, the more you discover these things, and I guess if i wanted to be properly clever I could compare and contrast the authors' use of the fight, but I don't care to be properly clever right now, as it is Monday morning, and I am winding down from work, and not mentally up for such an exercise after working all night.
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