Miami New Times Story Featured in Best American Sports Writing 2017

The dramatic tale of a boxing obsession turned to murder, as told by Miami New Times managing editor Tim Elfrink in the feature story "Sucker Punch," has been selected for Best American Sports Writing 2017.

By Miami New Times staff

September 26, 2017

Canita Stanisclasse (center) raised Stan and his siblings Ben, Ashley, and Justina (not pictured) in rural West Palm Beach. Photo by Ian Witlen

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Stan Stanisclasse was among the best boxers in South Florida, a powerhouse amateur with a 40-6-3 record and a fighter's chance of making the Olympics. But his career was cut short in 2015 by Darrell Telisme, another young fighter forged in West Palm Beach's Haitian-American enclave.

Stanisclasse had spent years pummeling Telisme in the ring until, after his latest beat-down, Telisme snapped and shot him in the head.

The dramatic tale of a boxing obsession turned to murder, as told by Miami New Times managing editor Tim Elfrink in the feature story "Sucker Punch," has been selected for Best American Sports Writing 2017.

The latest edition of the long-running series, edited by Glenn Stout and Howard Bryant, includes an A-list lineup, such as New Yorker editor David Remnick's piece about Muhammad Ali, formerly Miami-based ESPN star Bomani Jones' meditation on Colin Kaepernick's NFL exile, and New Times alum and current Washington Post reporter Terrence McCoy's story about a former figure-skating champion down on her luck.

In all, 27 long-form stories and essays made the cut for Best American Sports Writing 2017. Other standouts are ESPN scribe Wright Thompson's piece about Tiger Woods' descent into darkness and Sports Illustrated's Rick Telander on William "the Fridge" Perry's sad coda.

The book lands in your local shop October 3.

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