From the New York Times obit of Cambridge native Thomas William McNeely Jr., a heavyweight boxer whose most notable fight was a 1961 heavyweight championship bout against the great-but-troubled Floyd Patterson (see What a Time It Was, by the great W.C. Heinz):

“I knew going into the fight that he had very fast hands,” McNeeley said in a 2003 interview with the magazine The Ring. “I was sparring with middleweights to prepare myself for his speed. When the fight finally happened, I never imagined someone could throw punches with such speed. Especially a heavyweight. The punches were coming so fast I thought the referee was sneaking some in, too.”

They don’t call it the Sweet Science for nothing.