The Twilight Rounds: Rod Serling Explores the Dark Side of Boxing

By: Benedict, Christopher

Award-winning writer Rod Serling revolutionized television with The Twilight Zone. His celebrated career, including bruising bouts with executives over censorship, is rooted in the boxing ring. Beginning with Serling's first ever published piece of work, a four-page boxing story featured in the March 1948 edition of the literary magazine The Antiochian, called "The Good Right Hand" and extending far beyond the Peabody Award winning Requiem for a Heavyweight.

Rod Serling's boxing stories found humanity, poignancy, and pathos, even deep within violent spectacle of boxing. Serling's influence on the genre reverberates through modern big budget blockbuster boxing films like Rocky, Raging Bull, and Million Dollar Baby. Serling scholar and boxing expert Christopher Benedict ventures between the ring lights and the shadow of the screenplay to offer a deftly guided tour through Serling's personal and literary history with the controversial sport, including his time as a boxer in the Army.

Through ten incredible rounds you'll meet a salty cast of pugnacious pugilists and discover the unforgettable stories they inspired Rod Serling to create. The result is a knockout exploration of Serling's literary art and "the sweet science" which we call The Twilight Rounds.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FNBDJWNT
• ISBN13: 9798988609247
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Jobber House Press, LLC
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"