BoxRec

orbtastic wrote:DeJesus & Benitez may take issue with that?

orbtastic wrote:Aye, I saw there were 2. Seems I picked the wrong one.

I got the Errol Christie one and Ron Lyle's ordered this week so should be reading them soon.

No-one read the recent Gans or Greb books? Surely someone has?

-KOKid- wrote:

orbtastic wrote:Aye, I saw there were 2. Seems I picked the wrong one.

I got the Errol Christie one and Ron Lyle's ordered this week so should be reading them soon.

No-one read the recent Gans or Greb books? Surely someone has?

I read the Gans book some months ago.
Good read, but not great.

The authors did well in documenting that Gans actually never lost his lightweight title in the ring and that Jimmy Britt in fact never was a lightweight champion (he even said so himself).
The history books should be rewritten when it comes to that, but I don't suppose they will.

What did not sit as well with me was how they tried to claim that Gans was also a welterwight champion.
If he was, no one took that claim seriously.

I also did not like how they claimed that Joe Louis never fought any good fighters before he won the title.
In that case no heavyweight champion ever did - Louis went through 9 top 10 rated heavies before getting a titleshot.

But if you're interested in Joe Gans life and career you should enjoy it.
Like I said, it's a good read.

LethalLeprechaun wrote:I've read a number of boxing books over the years and they tend to be a real mixed bag.

The best I've read recently is The Boxing Scene by Thomas Hauser, which comprises a collection of essays about the likes of Pavlik, Cotto, Hopkins...etc, as well as stories about Bob Arum and Don King and a great insight into the inner workings of HBO. Probably the best boxing book I've read since Dark Trade by Donald McCrae.

A Fighter's Heart by Sam Sheridan is an interesting book about what makes fighters tick and why fighting is so addictive, although it's not really exclusively about boxing. The author goes around the world learning different fighting styles including boxing, muay tai, brazilian ju jitsu...etc, and collecting stories along the way. On the boxing front he spends a lot of time with Andre Ward and his trainer Virgil Hunter, which makes for an interesting couple of paragraphs. His paragraph about dog and cock fighting is somewhat less interesting.

The worst book's are usually fighters biographies. They tend to be much like football biographies insofar as they are heavily scripted with nothing controversial, full of facts boxing fans already know, and short of genuine insight into the mind of the fighter. The Hatton and McCullough biographies were particularly dissapointing, given that they're both quite colourful characters outside the ring. I suspect the publishers made sure they were pitched at the lowest common denominator. At least the Chris Eubank biography was entertaining and brilliantly showed what an eccentric character he is. The story about his strawberry bonbons had me in stiches and his relationship with that homeless guy was nothing short of bizarre.

Andypittcov wrote:Save your money when it comes to boxing books and spend it on anything by geoff Thompson

Buncey wrote:I never raved about Hauser's novel. It's a tiny, tidy and neat little read. I said it was a 'nice' read, a nice little book. It's a pitch for an inevitable movie. It was however pushed by the Sun's number one boxing writer and the number one boxing scribe at the Daily Mirror. Blame them and not me!

Adios.

-KOKid- wrote:Currently reading the Charlie Magri autobio, "Champagne Charlie".
Good stuff, and quite funny in parts.

See some Amazon sellers have it used but in good condition from only £0.01.
Now if that's not value for money, then what is?

dazzer wrote:DE LA HOYA book now in poundland just letting you guys know

Chris W 1982 wrote:Whats up guys.

Can anyone plug some good books about boxing. Im jus reading Johnny Tapia's now and that is highly reccomended. Four Kings and Teddy Atlas's are also excellent. Eager to know some of your favourites.

Buncey wrote:The Laing book is epic in scale. Excellent.
I've got Thomas Hauser on next week's BBC London 94.9 Boxing Hour (5th August) talking about his boxing novel. It's called Waiting for Carver Boyd. (Odd, you wait for about 60 years for a boxing writer to write a boxing novel and Hauser's book comes out three months after mine!)
On August 19th I will have Bob Mee on the BBC London 94.9 show to talk about his latest book. It's called Liston and Ali.
Both Hauser and Mee have added to the essential boxing reading list in my opinion.

Adios.