BoxRec

i recommend the paddy & the prince and the frank bruno autobiography.

just purchased dark trade and the michael watson autobiography.

look forward to reading those over the coming days.

the roberto duran book is a good read (hands of stone).

alexpaterson wrote:

Autobarn wrote:

alexpaterson wrote:Benn, Eubank and Hatton are ok books Eubank is an idiot hes so weird and Benn thinks hes amazing and Hatton tries to be 1 of the lads all the time. Buchanan, Calzaghe, Duran and 4 Kings are all very good books especially 4 kings the best boxing ive ever read so well writing and very insitval.

yeah the buchanan book is good. the benn book - as much as i admire benn - is tabloid shite. i shagged this german bird, i had my photo taken with mike mccallum, i smashed so and so's head in.

calzaghe book must be worth it for thoughts on the RJJ fight, as he ended up totally contradicting himself by fighting a "shot" Jones and failing to stop him (though it probably should have been stopped on cuts).

The J.C book is written before the RJJ fight but your right that would be intresting. I thought it was funny how on Benns book he was bad and then the last chapter is him now and he is heavily christian and is anti-violence a total change to how he was

yeah then benn went in that atrocious jungle program and threatened to smash a lesbian's head in. they should add that to the book, which is for sun readers and could be sensationalised. i mean, if he's got redemption, if he's got closure, and then making a fool of himself in reality programs? he's gone in seclusion now apparently, though. been is great but his book is puerile.

Autobarn wrote:Hurricane - The Paul Briggs story. Most of you will totally ignore this as Briggs didn't win a world title and wasn't a big name.

I think that is a little unfair AB - this is boxrec after all. I for one was a big Paul Briggs fan - his story is an amazing journey but a little heavy on religious reflection for me. Still, a cracking fighter and well worth the read

TerribleTerry wrote:

Autobarn wrote:Hurricane - The Paul Briggs story. Most of you will totally ignore this as Briggs didn't win a world title and wasn't a big name.

I think that is a little unfair AB - this is boxrec after all. I for one was a big Paul Briggs fan - his story is an amazing journey but a little heavy on religious reflection for me. Still, a cracking fighter and well worth the read

I liked the first 2/3 of it, but when he starts getting preachey and waffles on about religion it dragged.

Still, great book up until then. He has had an eventful life. And his feud with JWP was interesting.

TerribleTerry wrote:

Autobarn wrote:Hurricane - The Paul Briggs story. Most of you will totally ignore this as Briggs didn't win a world title and wasn't a big name.

I think that is a little unfair AB - this is boxrec after all. I for one was a big Paul Briggs fan - his story is an amazing journey but a little heavy on religious reflection for me. Still, a cracking fighter and well worth the read

I have the Paul Briggs book, anyone want to trade it for another boxing book?

My two most recent boxing reads have been excellent and well worth checking out: Angelo Dundee & Tunney.

TerribleTerry wrote:

Autobarn wrote:Hurricane - The Paul Briggs story. Most of you will totally ignore this as Briggs didn't win a world title and wasn't a big name.

I think that is a little unfair AB - this is boxrec after all. I for one was a big Paul Briggs fan - his story is an amazing journey but a little heavy on religious reflection for me. Still, a cracking fighter and well worth the read

well, all the stuff that goes before it is great: as you say an amazing journey, and a compelling figure. if that's what it took for him to get his head on, good for him. i thought the stuff about the sweat lodge or whatever it was, was good reading. this is definitely my fave boxing book. it didn't have a wishy washy ending - him losing a narrow decision to adamek after almost peeling the pole's face off, his wife telling him fighting every now and again isn't good enough. it's not like he "got there" at the end and everything was happy ever after.

Terry D wrote:

Autobarn wrote:yeah then benn went in that atrocious jungle program and threatened to smash a lesbian's head in.

Ah, like a good Christian. Land in a forest, attack a woman, force everyone to read the Bible, assist in the handing out of small pox ridden blankets. Good on him.

I like his description of an orgy. 'There were lots of people having sex in a big mansion, I joined in, and then battered some Mexican road sweeper the next day.'

that is good writing, that bit. i might use it one day. short, sharp and hard as fvck.

Anyone read the book about Emile Griffith, '9,10 and out'? See an article in BN about it. Any good?

I've just finished reading Amir Khan's book its ok doesnt talk about boxing a lot more about his life and being a celebrity wouldnt really recommened it to anyone.

I'm reading Boxing confidential By Jim Brady it's a good read it tells how the Mob & Various others have controled boxing in the USA since 1930/40. It does shatter the illusion about some of the great fighters of the past how their records were padded with fixed fights & how they had to pay the mob just to get a shot at a title It's well worth a read

telboy66 wrote:I'm reading Boxing confidential By Jim Brady it's a good read it tells how the Mob & Various others have controled boxing in the USA since 1930/40. It does shatter the illusion about some of the great fighters of the past how their records were padded with fixed fights & how they had to pay the mob just to get a shot at a title It's well worth a read

Its fantastic. Wait till you get to the chapter on the IBF corruption, its absolute dynamite

BIGMARK wrote:I'M half way through "the last great fight" which is about the Tyson - Douglas fight and so far so good. I just re-read the "Paddy and the Prince" which is also very good.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Great-Figh ... 954&sr=8-1

For some reason I was put off by the title of 'The Last Great Fight' - it just seems lazy. If you're recomending it though I might give it a whirl.

chinny wrote:

telboy66 wrote:I'm reading Boxing confidential By Jim Brady it's a good read it tells how the Mob & Various others have controled boxing in the USA since 1930/40. It does shatter the illusion about some of the great fighters of the past how their records were padded with fixed fights & how they had to pay the mob just to get a shot at a title It's well worth a read

Its fantastic. Wait till you get to the chapter on the IBF corruption, its absolute dynamite

Yeah I've read that now It makes you wonder just how is it that so many low lifes get into boxing, As one of the worst (don king ) would say "only in America"

telboy66 wrote:

chinny wrote:

telboy66 wrote:I'm reading Boxing confidential By Jim Brady it's a good read it tells how the Mob & Various others have controled boxing in the USA since 1930/40. It does shatter the illusion about some of the great fighters of the past how their records were padded with fixed fights & how they had to pay the mob just to get a shot at a title It's well worth a read

Its fantastic. Wait till you get to the chapter on the IBF corruption, its absolute dynamite

Yeah I've read that now It makes you wonder just how is it that so many low lifes get into boxing, As one of the worst (don king ) would say "only in America"

Fantastic book isn't it, relentless. Shame he's no longer with us, I used to enjoy his fight reports in BN, and his commentary with Steve Holdsworth for the 96 Olympics on Eurosport was at times hilarious.

telboy66 wrote:

chinny wrote:
Its fantastic. Wait till you get to the chapter on the IBF corruption, its absolute dynamite

Yeah I've read that now It makes you wonder just how is it that so many low lifes get into boxing, As one of the worst (don king ) would say "only in America"

You can see and hear some of the IBF wiretaps here:

http://www.ringsideboxingshow.com/BOXDO ... rkSide.htm

This is going to be controversial, but I've just Jacobs Beach and seriously didnt rate it.

Abbo wrote:This is going to be controversial, but I've just Jacobs Beach and seriously didnt rate it.

X2

If you are a boxing fan- there is absolutely nothing in this book you wouldn't know already.

The best parts are the interviews with Teddy Atlas and Bud Schulberg- but they are going over the ground they covered in their own books. If you want to get a flavour of that period, buy Ringside by Bud Schulberg. The extended piece on Mike Jacobs is superb.

I got the recent Floyd Patteron biog... seems ok not read much of it yet

and Boxing: a cultural history by Kasia Boddy.... very scholarly, Im thinking of doing an essay on boxing in the interwar years (fellow posters please note I will be bringing this up again later) so I thought id buy it

I like "The Fight" by Norman Mailer

Budd Schulbergs - Ringside is a must-read. The man is a legend, he has covered all the greats from the 1920s right through to his recent passing earlier this year. 70 years of following the science and he has plenty to say. Although I have read so much about Ali already, it tends to get a little repetitive and tiresome going through another re-hash of the Ali anecdotes, Schulberg provides new and very insightful reportage on Ali. Schulberg was with him in the dressing room, in the car on the way to the fights, in his corner, up close at all of those brilliant times in Ali's career. Also, Schulberg, unlike most, can draw on his first hand experiences of watching the likes of Robinson, Ali, Walcott etc in providing an compelling view on were Roy Jones sits with all of these greats.

BIGMARK wrote:

Abbo wrote:This is going to be controversial, but I've just Jacobs Beach and seriously didnt rate it.

WHat was wrong with it?

It was dull. It had no cohesion. It lacked any revelation that was either interesting, had much detail or was otherwise not pretty obvious. It was stuffed with filling towards the back.

I dunno, I just thought it was boring.

Swift as a Snake, Stylish as Esquire, Sweet as Sugar Ray
By Gerald Early; The Washington Post Sunday, October 18, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01239.html
SWEET THUNDER
The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson
By Wil Haygood Knopf. 461 pp. $27.95

just finished reading The Gifted One By Oliver Jarratt it covers the boxing career of Kirkland Laing it's a good read Oliver has really got inside the enigma that was Kirkland the highs & the lows of this talented but very frustrating boxer the boxing lesson he gave to a very far from finished Roberto Duran was the high point of a boxer who could with just a bit more dedication should have won at least one world title. It's also nice to know that the profits from the sale of this book will go to Kirkland it's not often we get to help one of the guys that entertained us & apart from that it's a bloody good read

Any of the "Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing" series
The Paul Briggs book