List your best boxing books.

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 20 Feb 2004, 19:01

Can anybody recommend good boxing books?
There are loads out there and not all of them are that good, why not recommend your favourite ones so the rest of us do not have to be disappointed with the not so good ones.
I’ll start by giving you the best of the few I’ve read so far;
Give Him To The Angels by James R. Fair, this is the best of the lot, the author gives his and the close friends stories on Harry Greb (if you’ve never heard of him, shame on you)
Somebody Up There likes me by Rocky Graziano, another great book
Sugar Ray by Dave Anderson and Ray Robinson, the original Sugar Ray, excellent.
Gloves, Glory And God by Henry Armstrong, this one again fantastic.
No Man Stands Alone by Barney Ross, this one like the Harry Greb book is not very big, but is big on story.
These are my favourite few, what ones do you recommend?

THE DANCING MASTER · Post by **THE DANCING MASTER** » 20 Feb 2004, 20:27

Floyd Patterson's Victory Over Myself is a good read as is Jim Corbett's Roar of the Crowd. For fiction look at Fat City which was also an outstanding film with Stacy Keatch. Also check out Jack Johnson Was A Dandy if you can find it. :P

barry · Post by **barry** » 20 Feb 2004, 23:00

Personally, I enjoyed all of these:

Arnold, Peter---History of Boxing 1985
Bodner, Allen---When Boxing Was A Jewish Sport 1997
Carpenter, Harry---Boxing ,A Pictorial History 1975
Carpenter, Harry---Masters of Boxing 1964
Collins, Nigel---Boxing Babylon 1990
Dundee, Angelo---I Only Talk Winning 1985
Dunphy, Don---Don Dunphy at Ringside 1988
Farhood, Steve (ed.)---The Ring: Boxing, The 20th Century 1993
Fleischer, Nat & Andre, Sam---A Pictorial History of Boxing 1959
Fleischer, Nat---The Heavyweight Championship 1954
Fleischer,Nat---Fifty Years at Ringside 1958
Goldstein, Ruby---Third Man in the Ring 1959
Golesworthy, Maurice---The Encyclopedia of Boxing 1960
Graziano, Rocky---Somebody Up There Likes Me 1955
Grombach, John---The Saga of the Fist
Hauser, Thomas---The Black Lights 1986
Heinz, W.C.---The Fireside Book of Boxing 1961
Heller, Peter---In This Corner, 40 World Champions Tell Their Stories 1973
Johnston, Alexander---Ten and Out 1947
Liebling, A.J.---The Sweet Science 1956
McCallum, John---The World Heavyweight Championship 1974
Morgan, Dan---Dumb Dan 1953
Mullan, Harry---The Great Book of Boxing 1987
Odd, Gilbert---The Encyclopedia of Boxing 1983
Odd, Gilbert---The Fighting Blacksmith, The Story of Bob Fitzsimmons 1976
Sugar, Bert---The Great Fights 1981
Weston, Stanley---The Best of the Ring 1981

mozzainoz · Post by **mozzainoz** » 20 Feb 2004, 23:04

A SAVAGE BUSINESS 'the comeback and comedown of Mike Tyson by Richard Hoffer gives good reading for any iron mike fan,and a British book called 'Looking for a fight' written by journalist and wannabe boxer David Mathews who quits his job on Fleet Street to become a pro boxer at the tender age of thirty.

zurdo · Post by **zurdo** » 21 Feb 2004, 04:06

Roger Kahn's "A Flame of Pure Fire" a Biography of Jack Dempsey published a few years ago is an excellent book..

crooked nose · Post by **crooked nose** » 21 Feb 2004, 15:51

Best boxing book I've read is Thomas Hauser's The Black Lights, covering the 1984 Costello-Mamby title bout. Hauser's Ali biography was also an interesting, entertaining read.
There's always Liebling's The Sweet Science. Never gets old.
Also recommended: Chris Mead's bio of Joe Louis, Champion.
In fiction, Leonard Gardner's Fat City explores the less glamourous side of the sport. The film version (screenplay by Gardner, directed by John Huston) makes some story changes but is still a classic.
"Seems like you just get rollin', then your life makes a bee-line for the drain." -Billy Tully

Alister · Post by **Alister** » 23 Feb 2004, 10:19

Below is a list of all the boxing books I have in my bookshelf. All of them are good reads, but if I had to pick one in particular, it would have to be Max Schmeling's bio. What a life he has had - a true hero of the 20th century. Strongly recommended.

Biogarphies
Muhammad Ali: His Life & Times
Larry Holmes: Against The Odds
Joe Louis: The Great Black Hope
Aaron Pryor: Flight Of The Hawk - The Aaron Pryor Story
John L. Sullivan: John L. Sullivan & His America
Jack Dempsey: A Flame Of Pure Fire - Jack Dempsey & The Roaring 20s
Max Schmeling: An Autobiography
Bob Fitzsimmons: Prizefighter - The Life and Times of Bob Fitzsimmons
Jim Corbett: Gentleman Jim Corbett - The Truth Behind A Boxing Legend
Gene Tunney: The Golden Guy Who Licked Jack Dempsey Twice
Primo Carnera: Primo - The Story Of Man Mountain Carnera
Rocky Marciano: Rocky Marciano
Sugar Ray Robinson: Sugar Ray
Tom Molineaux: Black Ajax
Sonny Liston: The Devil & Sonny Liston
Joe Frazier: Smokin' Joe
Don King: Only In America: The Life & Crimes Of Don King
Rubin Carter: Hurricane
Nigel Benn: Dark Destroyer
Jake La Motta: Raging Bull
Benny Lynch: Benny - The Life and Times of A Fighting Legend
Ken Norton: Going The Distance - The Ken Norton Story
Jack Johnson: Papa Jack - Jack Johnson & the Era Of White Hopes
George Foreman: By George
Ken Buchanan: The Tartan Legend
Earnie Shavers: Welcome to the Big Time
James Quick Tillis: Thinkin' Big
Frank Bruno: From Zero to Hero
Michael Murray: The Journeyman

History, Encyclopedia, Profiles, etc.
An Illustrated History of Boxing
Boxing - An Illustrated History of the Fight Game
History of Boxing
Boxing - Unseen Archives
Muhammad Ali - A Thrirty Year Journey
Muhammad Ali - In Fighters Heaven
Facing Ali - The Opposition Weighs in
Tarnished Armour
They Could've Been Contenders
Boxing - Heroes & Champions
The 1998 Boxing Almanac and Book of Facts
The A-Z of World Boxing
The Fight (Ali vs. Foreman)
My Greatest Fight
Dark Trade - Lost In Boxing
The Manly Art - Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting In America
100 Greatest Boxers
The Black Lights - Inside The World of Professional Boxing
Boxing's Strangest Fights
War, Baby - The Glamour of Violence
Dynamite Gloves - The Fighting Lives of Big Punchers
The Boxing Register - IBHOF Official Record Book
Falling Hard - A Rookie's Year in Boxing
Mission Impossible - How Lennox Lewis Unified The World Heavyweight Title
Looking For A Fight
Lennox
Hugh McIlvanney on Boxing

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 24 Feb 2004, 17:22

Alister..Good list of titles.
There are two books I have not heard of. Max Schmeling: An Autobiography and Gene Tunney : The golden boy who licked Jack Dempsey twice.
Can you give me a little info on these, and where and how much they could cost ( first ed.)

The Keed · Post by **The Keed** » 24 Feb 2004, 19:34

"The Illustrated History of Boxing", "Boxing Babylon", and "In This Corner..." are all classics.

Someone (Bob Mead, I think his name was) wrote a great book, called something like "Boxing: Heroes and Champions".

turn2stone · Post by **turn2stone** » 24 Feb 2004, 22:26

Without getting into a here's-every-book-on-boxing-i-own type of thing.....here is one very good book that can be put aside for a while and then picked-up again without any problem.
THE RING-CHRONICLE OF BOXING. 1993 BY STANLEY WESTON AND STEVE FARHOOD. (This is likely the same one mentioned by barry- "Farhood, Steve (ed.)---The Ring: Boxing, The 20th Century 1993").

It's a month by month chronicle of fights from January 1900-December 1992. It's alot of fun to read. You'll find yourself following a fighters' career and flipping back and forth to see when fighters won and lost certain bouts. Excellent resource book.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 28 Feb 2004, 08:04

Keed, I think you mean Bob Mee, he wrote the book 'Boxing; Heroes and Champions' ....an excellent book looking at the top champions and some outstanding contenders of the past 100 years, it has great thumbnial sketches of the fighters and excellent photoes too.... in fact it's worth having just for the pics alone....

Alister · Post by **Alister** » 28 Feb 2004, 13:03

tonyevs wrote:Alister..Good list of titles.
There are two books I have not heard of. Max Schmeling: An Autobiography and Gene Tunney : The golden boy who licked Jack Dempsey twice.
Can you give me a little info on these, and where and how much they could cost ( first ed.)

Schmeling's book is a selfbiography which was published in Germany in 1977 (in German). I don't know when the transladet version was published for the first time, mine is from 1998. Here's a link tom amazon.com with more info: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ct-details

The Gene Tunney book is new, published by Robson Books, London in 2003. It is written by John Jarret. I couldn't find it on Amazon.com, but it's ISBN no. is: 1 86105 618 4. I paid £16.95 for it in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer.

To be honest I have only had a peek at this book because I have been busy reading other books, but what I have read has apealed to me. I look forward to reading it in it's entirety.

Hope this helped you a little.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 29 Feb 2004, 13:42

The Fight - Norman Mailer. Maybe the best boxing book ever written?

Also anything by the always excellent AJ Liebling or Hugh McIlvanney.

Kings Of The World - Dave Remnick

Ghosts Of Manilla - Mark Kram

So I guess my top three are about Ali....but they're also the best written about Frazier and Liston too.

Larry Holmes bio is great too.

J · Post by J » 01 Mar 2004, 11:46

facing ali is a nice and easy read by Stephen brunt, its not the ali story which is pretty well documented but the story of 15 of his opponents and the author meeting each one of them to hear their side of the story and thoughts.
fascinating read. 8)

boxingfan2004 · Post by **boxingfan2004** » 03 Apr 2004, 19:54

Alister wrote:
tonyevs wrote: books I have not heard of. Gene Tunney : The golden boy who licked Jack Dempsey twice.
Can you give me a little info on these, and where and how much they could cost ( first ed.)
The Gene Tunney book is new, published by Robson Books, London in 2003. It is written by John Jarret. I couldn't find it on Amazon.com, but it's ISBN no. is: 1 86105 618 4. I paid £16.95 for it in Edinburgh, Scotland last summer.

To be honest I have only had a peek at this book because I have been busy reading other books, but what I have read has apealed to me. I look forward to reading it in it's entirety.

************

This biography of Gene Tunney is regularly for sale on ebay. The following link was already sold, but if a person contacted the seller, they would probably be able to obtain another copy - perhaps even a signed copy. The signed copy sold for $40.00 US Dollars

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=29293

********

Two other great books are Gene Tunney's own autobiographies:

"A Man Must Fight" and "Arms for Living"

Both of them can be found for sale on ebay occasionally. Gene Tunney was a gifted writer as well as a great heavyweight champion. His books are very insightful about boxing techniques and about his evaluations of other fighters like Dempsey, Harry Greb, Tommy and Mike Gibbons, Georges Carpentier, and many of the other greats of that time.

Two other great biographies of Tunney can be read online - 'The Life of Gene Tunney' written in 1926 by Ed Van Every, a famous sportswriter, and 'Gene Tunney - The Enigma of the Ring' written in 1931 by Nat Fleischer, the original publisher of 'Ring' Magazine.

http://www.genetunney.org/life.html

http://www.genetunney.org/enigma.html

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 04 Apr 2004, 14:19

The million dollar gate by Jack `Doc` Kearns is a very good title I have just read. Quite the Don King of his day....

THE DANCING MASTER · Post by **THE DANCING MASTER** » 12 Apr 2004, 22:36

Black Champion - The Life And Times Of Jack Johnson by Finis Farr is a very good telling of Jack Johnson's life. Sonny Liston - The Champ Nobody Wanted by A.S. Young is a very good read on Liston's early years.
Another good find is Patrick Myler's Jim Corbett - The Truth Behind a Boxing Legend.

For fiction W.C. Heinz's The Professional is a very good read and really captures the daily grind of the training camp. An oldie but a goodie if you can find it is The Bruiser by Jim Tully. :)

{amateur} · Post by **{amateur}** » 15 Apr 2004, 08:47

The Pictorial Histroy Of Boxing, is a absoluley great book with awsome pictures to go with the great text great book prolly my fav book of all time.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 15 Apr 2004, 10:58

The Pictorial history of boxing was one of the first books that I got on boxing over twenty years ago now!

....and it really got me hooked.... great pictures of all the greats and good text highlighting the changes of the wearers of each title, i still enjoy looking at this book today... others that I'd recommend are....
I Conteh ...auto-biog of John Conteh....very honest and insightful...
Flight of the Hawk... autobiog of Aron pryorr....
Gloves glory and God.... autobiog of Henry Armstrong...
Great Ring Battles of the century.... by Gilbert Odd
Two fists and a fortune... autobiog of Bruce Woodcock...
The Toy Bulldog... autobiog of Mickey Walker....
Shake hands and come out fighting.... by L.A.G. Strong......
and there are so many more..... I don't think any other sport has produced such a wealth of great literature.... especially in the 30's to 70's period......

The Scranton Assassin · Post by **The Scranton Assassin** » 25 Jul 2004, 18:01

The Boxing Register is a great book.

Slapsie Maxie · Post by **Slapsie Maxie** » 25 Jul 2004, 18:48

my favourite Boxing books are

Leibling's "Sweet Science" - quite simply the finest sports book ever written IMHO

George Plimpton's "Shadow Box" - Plimpton, a lanky Yale type and editor/founder of The Paris Review specialised in participatory journalism. He wrote a number of books where he trained with top teams ( in the 60's ) and they are funny and full of affection

He wrote "Paper Lion" about his time at a training camp with the Detroit Lions and "Out of Their League" about his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers. But, "Shadowbox" about his time training for a 3 rounder ( I think ) against The Old Mongoose, is a classic

Published by Simon & Schuster I think

Slapsie

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » 25 Jul 2004, 23:51

Slapsie Maxie wrote:my favourite Boxing books are

Leibling's "Sweet Science" - quite simply the finest sports book ever written IMHO

George Plimpton's "Shadow Box" - Plimpton, a lanky Yale type and editor/founder of The Paris Review specialised in participatory journalism. He wrote a number of books where he trained with top teams ( in the 60's ) and they are funny and full of affection

He wrote "Paper Lion" about his time at a training camp with the Detroit Lions and "Out of Their League" about his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers. But, "Shadowbox" about his time training for a 3 rounder ( I think ) against The Old Mongoose, is a classic

Published by Simon & Schuster I think

Slapsie

I just recently bought Shadow Box and enjoyed it a great deal. The first part of the book deals with Plimpton training for an exhibition with Archie Moore; the rest is made up of various stories of his experiences covering fights and his encounters with boxers such as Moore, Ali, Frazier. Funny and insightful.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 26 Jul 2004, 08:25

Owain, could you go into more detail about the Basham book as I'm hoping to buy it!..... 8)

Rafael · Post by **Rafael** » 26 Jul 2004, 11:13

I highly recommend two boxing autobios written by the boxers themselves:

"The Roar of the Crowd," by James J. Corbett.

"A Man Must Fight," by Gene Tunney.

These were two obviously intelligent individuals and the fcat they themselves wrote the books makes a huge difference, IMO.