West Texas Middleweight: The Story of Lavern Roach by Frank Sikes (review)

This reviewer received The Story of Lavern Roach in the same month that director Jonathan Jakubowicz released his movie entitled Hands of Stone. The film endeavors to account for the extraordinary career of the legendary boxer Roberto Duran whose whole persona was built upon his ability to hit mercilessly and demonstrate a competitive intensity second to none. Nevertheless, his career was dwarfed by what happened on November 25, 1980, in his rematch with Sugar Ray Leonard. In round eight, he mysteriously let his shoulders slump, he turned his back, and walked away. He figuratively threw in the towel. This "No Mas" incident stands as one of the most dramatic moments in the history of boxing. Frank Sikes, a third-generation West Texan, tells the story of the unknown Lavern Roach who also stamped his place in sports history. In 1950, boxing and baseball stood out as America's major professional sports. Three years earlier, Ring magazine named Roach as the Rookie of the Year and heralded him as a top-ten contender for the middleweight championship of the world. Then, on February 23, 1950, Roach died. This marked the first occasion in which a boxer, appearing in a nationally televised contest, died as a result of injuries received in the ring.

West Texas Middleweight feels, reads, and looks like a well-manicured narrative. There is an introductory letter from Angelo Dundee, the doyen of boxing trainers, and each chapter has a literary lead-in from significant contributors to the sport: Joyce Carol Oates, Jack Dempsey, Gus D'Amato, Joe Louis, Thomas Hauser, and Damon Runyan.

The heart and soul of the Sikes biography is his accounting of the February 1950 bout between Roach and Georgie Small in St. Nick's Arena, New York. Roach knew that a convincing win over Small would make him a favorite to take on one of the lions of the middleweight landscape, a near certain battle royal with Rocky Graziano, Sugar Ray Robinson, or Jake La Motta. Sikes notes that, at the start of round nine, Roach had the fight won. All that was needed was to stay out of trouble. In round ten, everything changed. Roach was knocked down twice and did not get up after the final one. Because the fight finished early, the televised broadcast had ten minutes to "fill in." The cameras zeroed in on Roach, who was fully conscious and talking to his handlers. Things changed quickly. He lapsed into unconsciousness and, despite all manner of procedures, died "due to the after effects of cerebral hemorrhage and brain damage" (203). While there was a television audience of several million, arguably a more telling statistic on the real state of boxing is that the Small–Roach fight had a live crowd of 1,832 spectators who paid $5,343 for their admission.

As a result of Roach's untimely death boxing was placed under a safety spotlight. The Sikes chapter (eighteen) on the changes made to boxing—there have been fifty-nine related deaths since 1945—is a well-constructed and generously detailed survey of an activity that "has been and always will be a dangerous sport" (219).

With West Texas Middleweight, Sikes has written an affectionate biography of an unsung hero. His extensive use of family correspondence affords him the opportunity to tell the story of a good man who was well loved. The absence of sentimentality and polemic is refreshing.