SERENITY A Boxing Memoir<i> by Ralph Wiley (Henry Holt: $22.50; 230 pp.) </i>

Subtitled “A search for the boxer’s peace of mind, from Joe Louis to Mike Tyson,” this seemingly paradoxically titled book presents Sports Illustrated writer Ralph Wiley’s reminiscences of fighters. Like so many writers who have been attracted to boxing, Wiley is interested less in the mechanics of fighting than in the soul of people who can risk death every time they step into the ring. Beginning with musings on his own youthful street-fighting days, he recalls getting to know boxers as a young reporter, the zen of note taking during the fights, and the addiction of watching the athletes. The stories of the fighters themselves are moving, as Wiley describes the enormous discipline the boxers must master to work their art. “The survival instinct always shows up,” he writes. “In the ignorant, it shows up early. In great, champion fighters, it shows up only when they are near death. No matter how courageous a fighter might be, after enough pain, enough blows with no hope of meaningful retaliation, the body takes over the mind and says, ‘Go, old friend.’ ” By describing the state of mind that boxers achieve in their best moments, Wiley gives new poetic depth to the word that is so often applied to the ring warriors: grace.