Bundini: Don’t Believe The Hype

Hamilcar Publications Press Release: Fifty years after he coined the iconic phrase “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” Drew “Bundini” Brown remains one of boxing’s most mysterious and misunderstood figures. His impact on the sport and the culture at large is undeniable.Corner man and confidant to arguably the two greatest fighters ever, “Sugar” Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, Brown lived an extraordinary American life.

After a poverty-stricken childhood in Jim Crow Florida, he came of age traveling the world as a naval steward. After his discharge, he settled in New York City and spent wild nights in the jazz Joints of Harlem, making a name for himself as the charismatic street philosopher and poet some called “Fast Black.”

He later married a white woman from a family of Orthodox Jewish immigrants, in dramatic defiance of 1950s cultural norms, and also appeared in films such as the blaxploitation classic, Shaft.

In Bundini: Don’t Believe The Hype, Todd Snyder digs deep into Brown’s entire story, revealing how he became Muhammad Ali’s so-called “hype man” and boxing’s greatest motivator, as well as how he would come to serve as the prototype for hype men that followed—notably Flavor Flav of Public Enemy, but also for any exceptional motivator in any arena.

Bundini Testimonials: “I think Bundini was the source of Muhammad Ali’s spirit. I wouldn’t even call him a trainer or corner man, he was more important than a trainer. Ali had an unmeasurable determination and he got it from Bundini.”— George Foreman

“When you talk about Bundini, you are talking about the mouthpiece of Muhammad Ali, an extension of Muhammad Ali’s spirit. There would never have been a Muhammad Ali without Drew Bundini Brown.”— Khalilah Camacho-Ali (Muhammad Ali’s second wife)

“Bundini gave Ali his entire heart. Bundini played a very important part in Ali’s career. He was Ali’s right hand man. He knew exactly how to motivate him. He was the one guy who could really get him up to train and get him ready to fight.”— Larry Holmes

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER AT: Amazon| Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble (coming soon)| Indiebound | Trades: Two Rivers

PUBLICATION DATE: August 25th, 2020.

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