PredatorHayds wrote: ↑31 Dec 2018, 11:55
If you had to recommend one book off your list Jim what would it be?
I've been sizing up that Spinks brothers book, good to see you recommend it.
I think if I had to recommend just one it would probably be In This Corner: 42 World Champions Tell Their Story by Peter Heller. Loaded with good stuff!
Shhhh wrote: ↑29 Dec 2018, 19:04
Great list again mate an dhave gone through them and have only read a few I did think that there are some books that should be looked at
Journey man is a U.K. book one of the best I fink
Also I can’t remeber a title but there’s a book maybe 20 years old about the Manchester scene including Michael Gomez a very interesting book any1 read it?!?
Is that Journeyman as in the Michael Murray book?
No maybe I got the wrong title it was a book about U.K. journeyman and what they go through. An eye opener to any new Boxing fan
Ah, that sounds like the sort of thing I would enjoy. Murray released a book by the same title about 15 years ago. I don't recommend it.
- Bob Mee x2, epics both! Bare Fists, the history of bareknucks, and Boxing, a massive book of a century of the best fights/fighters. Educate yer poor selves por favor.
Ice John Scully was working on his bio that was published in small part on websites to great acclaim. Did Graham Houston ever write a boxing book?
All three used to post on these forums til they got fed up with the vitriol I woul surmise, but I don't read the majority of posts to know if they have ever returned. Regardless, Ol' Bob is up there with the best.
Graham Houston is tagged on at the end, on my Wish List. I would love him to either compile all his old BN and BM pieces (dating back to the 60s) or write a book about his life attending the fights, and surviving in the magazine industry.
I wanted a couple of boxing books to read whilst off over Christmas but for some reason most of them weren't available on prime so I went with what I could get delivered the same week.
A Ringside Affair: Boxing’s Last Golden Age - James Lawton. Has anyone read this? I had high hopes but it's written so badly I couldn't finish it. The reviews are glowing but I can't believe an actual newspaper reporter wrote the book, much less chief of sports writers. I had to re-read some paragraphs 3-4 times to actually get the point he was making. It has numerous factual errors too which made me wonder if someone cobbled it together from his reporting.
Dog Rounds: Death and Life in the Boxing Ring - Elliot Worsell. I quite enjoyed his Haye book so went in with no expectations bearing in mind the subject. Holy crap, the first chapter is a mess. Talk about abuse of commas. I almost didn't finish it but glad I did because the subsequent chapters don't have the same problems.
The Mad and the Bad: Boxing Tales of Mayhem, Menace and Murder - Thomas Myler. Much preferred this despite the fact it didn't really break much new ground it's written in such an engaging and entertaining way that it was enjoyable to read.
Going to read the Magee book next and the Kimball anthology. Also got a Marciano bio to read. I am in the middle of another couple of non boxing books though (boy on the shed, grunt, goldie's last autobio).
Has anyone read Duran's autobio? I read the biography (by the same guy who did Arguello's, can't remember his name, Christian Guidace I think). Does it shed any new light on anything or is it just the same stuff re-trod?
orbtastic wrote: ↑14 Jan 2019, 07:43
I wanted a couple of boxing books to read whilst off over Christmas but for some reason most of them weren't available on prime so I went with what I could get delivered the same week.
A Ringside Affair: Boxing’s Last Golden Age - James Lawton. Has anyone read this? I had high hopes but it's written so badly I couldn't finish it. The reviews are glowing but I can't believe an actual newspaper reporter wrote the book, much less chief of sports writers. I had to re-read some paragraphs 3-4 times to actually get the point he was making. It has numerous factual errors too which made me wonder if someone cobbled it together from his reporting.
Dog Rounds: Death and Life in the Boxing Ring - Elliot Worsell. I quite enjoyed his Haye book so went in with no expectations bearing in mind the subject. Holy crap, the first chapter is a mess. Talk about abuse of commas. I almost didn't finish it but glad I did because the subsequent chapters don't have the same problems.
The Mad and the Bad: Boxing Tales of Mayhem, Menace and Murder - Thomas Myler. Much preferred this despite the fact it didn't really break much new ground it's written in such an engaging and entertaining way that it was enjoyable to read.
Going to read the Magee book next and the Kimball anthology. Also got a Marciano bio to read. I am in the middle of another couple of non boxing books though (boy on the shed, grunt, goldie's last autobio).
Has anyone read Duran's autobio? I read the biography (by the same guy who did Arguello's, can't remember his name, Christian Guidace I think). Does it shed any new light on anything or is it just the same stuff re-trod?
I got the Lawton book for Xmas. Unfortunately I’m really struggling with it as well, just can’t get into it at all.
Glad it's not just me. I mean it's hardly "2 seconds from glory" in terms of impenetrable text but there's whole paragraphs where I've thought hang on, he's talking about SRL, Benitez and Duran and I know exactly who won what fight but it's almost indecipherable.
He calls Yaqui Lopez world champion. I mean if you had to sum up Lopez in one sentence, it might involve the words "world champion" but it would mean the exact opposite of his statement. The bloke is known for failing to win it five times in one of the toughest and deepest divisions/eras in boxing.
These books sound horrible. I've been noticing for some time how bad the boxing shelf is getting in bookshops, hence why I thought I'd make this list. Try something from it, the writing is guaranteed to be a treat. Life is too short to be wading through the boggy sentences of Lawton and Worsnell, whoever they are.
Also, the prolific Thomas Myler is considered a bit of a charlatan among many readers.
Elliot is a long-time poster on here, young lad (or was at the time he was pals with Haye). I expected his Haye book to be quite poor but it's actually pretty good, as bios go but he can't separate the self from the subject which I know is something you hate.
I had no idea who Lawton was, I had to check after reading the book because it talked about his decades of ringside reportage etc. Apparently he was a well respected paper journo. Reading that book (which on the face of it you'd think would be dynamite - ringside talk in the post-Ali vacuum) was just a chore. Kimball's four kings is ten times the book. Yet some have said it was "boring" and "too much talk around the fights". Jeez, if you've watched the famous fights so many times why do you want to read a book describing 2 men hitting each other?
Myler, I've read some of his other stuff, it's not particularly great or bad. It's better than average though. It's what I would describe a toilet or train book. Can pick it up and read a chapter and find it entertaining and it doesn't matter where in the book you are or were because it's not relevant to the rest of the book.
The reason for picking them up was I wanted something new/fresh to read.
I reckon I've got about 400 books on boxing in one form or another, so own/read most of your list, including the Tashen Ali book.
I said years ago on here the Benn and Tapia books were awful, two of the worst boxing bios/autobios I've ever read but got shouted down. I remember Bellew saying Tapia's book was the best he'd ever read. haha.
orbtastic wrote: ↑14 Jan 2019, 11:38
Elliot is a long-time poster on here, young lad (or was at the time he was pals with Haye). I expected his Haye book to be quite poor but it's actually pretty good, as bios go but he can't separate the self from the subject which I know is something you hate.
I do indeed hate that! Unless you're a Somebody, who writes at a very high level--Liebling, Mailer et al--you're not interesting and you should not be a character in the book.
orbtastic wrote: ↑14 Jan 2019, 11:38I reckon I've got about 400 books on boxing in one form or another, so own/read most of your list, including the Tashen Ali book.
That puts my collection to shame. Let me know if you have any other recommendations.
Yeah, it's easily the worst boxing book I've ever read, or tried to. There's a thread on here about it, I think I may have started it.
It's gibberish. I would have said without knowing the author's situation that it was written by a complete mentalist with some sort of major psychiatric disorder.
The irony is that somewhere in that book is the genesis of an amazing story. That said I don't think any amount of proof reading or pruning can get to it.
Apropos Meldrick, did you know his twin brother is called Eldrick?
orbtastic wrote: ↑15 Jan 2019, 08:16
Yeah, it's easily the worst boxing book I've ever read, or tried to. There's a thread on here about it, I think I may have started it.
It's gibberish. I would have said without knowing the author's situation that it was written by a complete mentalist with some sort of major psychiatric disorder.
The irony is that somewhere in that book is the genesis of an amazing story. That said I don't think any amount of proof reading or pruning can get to it.
Apropos Meldrick, did you know his twin brother is called Eldrick?
I couldn't find it using the exact title of the thread, so went to Google which threw up some really weird results...
I then started using black jesus which I knew was in the thread and then went for a word which I knew would throw up even less results...hence custard. restrict it to this sub-forum, third hit on the search...
Just finished reading Drama in Bahamas by Dave Hannigan about the Ali v Berbick fight. Very entertaining, sad in places and I only spotted two mistakes.
