Great boxing books

orange_peel

Any recommendations?

f1dan

I haven't read it myself but Four Kings by George Kimball is supposed to be an excellent read.

Bodhisopha

Four kings is excellent.

Ma Vida Loca is the Johnny Tapia one, poorly written but quite entertaining.

Dark trade: Lost in boxing - Best i've read.

shaydy

King of the World by David Remnick, great read imo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_4_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=king+of+the+world&x=0&y=0&sprefix=king+of+

I've got this book sitting on a shelf, you're more than welcome to it. Send me a pm if you do and i'll post it off to you;)

digme

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Four kings is excellent.

Ma Vida Loca is the Johnny Tapia one, poorly written but quite entertaining.

Dark trade: Lost in boxing - Best i've read.

Ma vida Loca was quite good,johnny had a crazy life.

Magpie87

Norman Mailer - The Fight

ODD-JOB

shaydy wrote: »

King of the World by David Remnick, great read imo

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_4_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=king+of+the+world&x=0&y=0&sprefix=king+of+

I've got this book sitting on a shelf, you're more than welcome to it. Send me a pm if you do and i'll post it off to you;)

I also have " Night Train " - the Sonny Liston story .
Its good read , and a good insight into the relationship between the "mob" and boxing .

I too shall post it off to you free of charge
Just PM me ur details . ( its not in great nick btw)

ODD-JOB

From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man


Thats the book im after , by Teddy Atlas . Anybody read it yet ?

Boooourns

Another vote for Four kings here, great read.

maxxie

hands of stone - Story bout the life of Roberto Duran.
Pretty good read!

MCMT

I'll throw a few into the hat:

- A. J. Liebling: his boxing essays are the best. He skips between high to low cultural allusions with ease, is never pretentious, always witty, and dissects an era in American boxing that might be long gone but is nevertheless enthralling. His work is largely collected in two books - The Sweet Science and A Neutral Corner.

- Joyce Carol Oates' On Boxing is another more "highbrow" choice. It's sort of an academic essay on the "culture" of boxing. I can't say I was endeared to it as some, but it's worth a look. (And the photographs included in the book are pretty terrific).

- The Gloves by Robert Anasi is a decent account of the amateur circuit in the US. His writing doesn't always manage to maintain an even tone and probably could have done with a more brutal edit, but he Anasi has a sharp set of eyes and intellect. He captures the tedium of training, difficulties in motivating oneself and the kinds of individuals gyms attract (I think contact sports in general attract an odd bunch).

- The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches is the last boxing bio I read and I really enjoyed it. Not sure how it compares to Night Train, which odd-job mentioned, but the writing here is pretty suburb. It reaches the pitch of poetry in places but is never forced. And Tosches went to work re research: his portrait of Liston and his era are intimate without every being burdened by too many details. Very worthwhile.

BayCity

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Four kings is excellent.

Ma Vida Loca is the Johnny Tapia one, poorly written but quite entertaining.

Dark trade: Lost in boxing - Best i've read.

Dark Trade is quality!!

'War, Baby' is all about the McClellan-Benn fight by Kevin Mitchell, a fairly good read.

'The Cinderella Man' as you know is a great read.

'Facing Ali' is good enough a bit too short though.

'BIG GEORGE' George Foremans AutoBiography is enjoyable.

Chris Eubanks Autobiography is a great really enjoyable read.

Next on the list is Hands of Stone and the Angello Dundee one!

Peyton Manning

Rope Burns is a great collection of short stories. Excellently written too.

megadodge

I've read almost all of the above and most are pretty good, but the best boxing book I've read is 'In This Corner'.

It interviews (back in late 60's early 70's) 40 ex-world champs and does a chapter on each. Fantastic read.

Have to mention too that Norman Mailer's 'The Fight' is by far and away the worst "boxing" book I've read. It's not about boxing at all. Actually it's not even about Ali or Foreman - it's about Norman Mailer !! Pretentious rubbish.

kevinhug

I read one on Don King, was very good, a real eye opener. i will ask my friend for the name of it.

joker77

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Four kings is excellent.

Ma Vida Loca is the Johnny Tapia one, poorly written but quite entertaining.

Dark trade: Lost in boxing - Best i've read.

yea + 1 on Dark Trade - a really great read, deserving of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award it got

clubwelly

Have to agree with the guys Dark Trade is a very good read.

joker77

Just read Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, by Thomas Hauser - supposed to be THE book on Ali, it was authorised by him and he asked everyone being interviewed to be full and frank with the author.

A really great read, it takes the form mainly of quotes from the all the various characters in the Ali story. Hard to believe some of the stuff that went on, and very sad how his career ended - the illness and the squandering of money.

megadodge

Just read an old book given to me by an old friend - Mickey Walker The Toy Bulldog & His Times by Mickey Walker with Joe Reichler. Printed by Random House.

Very entertaining book. Printed first in 1961, so I don't know if it would still be available to buy, but if you get a chance to read it, do. What Mickey and Doc Kearns got up to almost 100 years ago would make modern rock stars' eyes pop. How the hell he managed to be such a great boxer with the crazy life he lead is beyond me.

Dodge

I loved reading Hands of Stone on Roberto Duran. I believe it's being made into a movie now

walshb

pac_man wrote: »

Anyone ever read a book called Beautiful Brutality by Adam Smith(head of sky boxing)?

Yes, read it. Good book. Not great. Loads of nice tidbits.

A Shaved Duck?

The Big If - the life and death of johnny owen - The missus bought it for me and i read it over two transatlantic flights...superb book.

ThinkProgress

This isn't a book, so apologies before I start, (just thought ppl might find it interesting)...

Was reading about a controversial fight from 1983 - billy collins jnr VS Luis Resto from the undercard of Moore VS duran.

Very sad story, which I had read a bit about before. However I'd never watched the documentary until I found it there recently on youtube. It was called 'assault in the ring'... but I found it under a different name: 'Cornered: a life caught in the ring'.

So here it is if anyone is interested: (again apologies - someone can move this to a better section if they see fit)

weemcd

Ghosts of Manila - The story of Ali and Frazier, fantastic read, covers their fights together, some of their other fights and gives you a very nice picture of the heavyweight scene at the time. Can't quote here off the top of my head but there's a great paragraph talking about the differences between Foreman, Ali and Frazier when it came to them facing each other.

barney4001

YESTERDAYS GLOVE MEN local boxers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yesterdays-Glovemen-Golden-Ulster-Boxing/dp/1905474024

Deiseboy01

The Jimmy McLarnin book is a decent read.

Emmo-m-

Four Kings is brilliant. A great insight to the era.

walshb

Emmo-m- wrote: »

Four Kings is brilliant. A great insight to the era.

It's always mentioned. Very intersting read.

Emmo-m-

walshb wrote: »

It's always mentioned. Very intersting read.

So many great quotes and trivia.

I really enjoyed the way its written that it follows Hagler and Leonard and their different paths and obviously finally meet in the end. With of course all the great matchups in between.

Think I'm gonna have to go back for a second read soon

Deiseboy01

Jack Doyle - the gorgeous gael while only partially a boxing book is also a decent read.

th hen

Hard Luck: The Triumph And Tragedy Of "Irish" Jerry Quarry

read it a few years ago thought it was very good and will 2nd johnny tapias book.

nigel benn's dark destroyer was decent as was holyfields autobiography think it was the 2008 edition also.

Deiseboy01

th hen wrote: »

Hard Luck: The Triumph And Tragedy Of "Irish" Jerry Quarry

read it a few years ago thought it was very good and will 2nd johnny tapias book.

nigel benn's dark destroyer was decent as was holyfields autobiography think it was the 2008 edition also.

Holyfields constant god fearing **** and repetition of his mothers home spun philosophy ruined that biog for me.

SHOVELLER

Four Kings was an excellent read. I was a big fan of George Kimball's writing and his insights in the Irish Times were always worth a read.