BoxRec

Mensa07 wrote:

dr_devious wrote:"Hands of Stone" by Christian Giudice is a fine read, especially if you're a Roberto Duran fan

didn't warm to that one.

Hugh Mcilvanney's On Boxing is one of my personal faves, though I gather not everyone likes his 'wordy' style.

I got this on a market stall for 4 quid! It's brilliant and you can dip into it anywhere at all cos it's all previews/ match reports so it doesn't matter.

I was therefore surprised to discover a few years later that the bloke who serves up such pure drivel in the Sunday Times sport supplement week in week out is the self-same Mr Mcilvanney. It's a weird one alright. Not one single page in M.O.B. fails to both inform and entertain and I gave up with the Sunday Times as I was fed up of going back to the start of one of his many sentences, yet again.......as Mike Tyson (no idiot by any stretch) summed up when talking about how he tried reading Tolstoy when he was in prison "people shouldn't really read that sh*t".......if he read Mcilvanney in the Times he'd probably say the same thing.
However - this book is definitely from before he got a job writing rubbish for pompous people with too much spare time, imho.

Apparently hugh once knocked norman mailer out! His articles on Ali are excellent.

Theres a great tom hauser piece on hugh, probably find it on seconds out.

He has similar books on footy & horse racing too.

Wow, I can't believe what is being written about Hugh McIlvanney. Do you really think a brilliant writer should dumb down his prose for the sake of some anti-intellectual, mentally impoverished illiterates?

You should encourage your children to read as many book as possible growing up, including McIlvanney. It will expand their vocabulary and imagination, and will ensure they're far less likely to grow up into one of those inarticulate adults who cannot express their thoughts. This kind of nurturing can even lead them to extremely well paid, top level jobs.

loaded_gloves wrote:Wow, I can't believe what is being written about Hugh McIlvanney. Do you really think a brilliant writer should dumb down his prose for the sake of some anti-intellectual, mentally impoverished illiterates?

You should encourage your children to read as many book as possible growing up, including McIlvanney. It will expand their vocabulary and imagination, and will ensure they're far less likely to grow up into one of those inarticulate adults who cannot express their thoughts. This kind of nurturing can even lead them to extremely well paid, top level jobs.

That's a somewhat patronising attitude. I would actually tend to agree with NEBF to a degree in that I find McIlvanney verbose on occasion these days.

I need to read more, as i had to look up what 'verbose' meant

i need to hear more about HM knocking Norman Mailer out

I 'think' it happened at some conference or other in the states. I might be getting my stories confused but I think Hugh called Mailer a 'Don King shill' or something like that, and the slanging match was ended by hughie lamping him.

Also picked a fight with our 'Enery too when he was pissed up! Theres a quote along the lines of "i'm thankful Henry has a kindly nature, it would have been a short fight and a long recovery", lol.

Hughie sounds like a good laugh.

Mensa07 wrote:I 'think' it happened at some conference or other in the states. I might be getting my stories confused but I think Hugh called Mailer a 'Don King shill' or something like that, and the slanging match was ended by hughie lamping him.

.

fking fantastic, thanks

interesting he actually managed to get near Mailer, I believe Mailer's MO was to start a ruckus only when he had one or more fairly large men to hide behind

I don't even like football and I enjoyed his book on it.

There's also the story of Hugh at a testimonial dinner for Geoff Hurst, after a group of journalists got drunk and one of them fell of the stage whilst singing My Way, a fist fight started, but Hugh went one better by stripping off to the waist to take on all comers!

I think the oddest of those type of stories I've read is either Pepe Correa knocking Angelo Dundee spark out or Jackie Gleason asking a persistent heckler to step outside and then getting KTFO by Tony Galento.

On Boxing by Joyce Carol Oates is an interesting read too, looking at the sport from an outsider/female perspective. I'd recommend it, think its only a few quid on amazon.

I wonder how many boxing pieces Hugh has done since the last book, surely it's time we had a volume II.

I read John Davisons book,good read and very funny

handsofstone wrote:I read John Davisons book,good read and very funny

Seems to have only a passing acquaintance with the truth though in places

Certainly seems fairly deluded.

mailer was way past his peak when he took on hughie in my view. COME OUT WRITING is a collection of very good boxing articles by a variety of authors.

"what a time it was" is a great american sports book - superb boxing stuff - by the almost peerless Bill Heinz

(nothing beats joe liebling though)

A fellow Liebling fan! His boxing writing is insanely good isn't it. Ill check out the Heinz book, thanks.

Not sure if he has any books out but theres a collection of Pat Putnam articles at thesweetscience.com that i'd definitely recommend too.

Looking for a Fight, by David Matthews.

He was a journo and boxing fan that decided to write a book about becoming a pro. It took him years and he lost his debut and sole fight.

Its a good read and insight into pro boxing in the UK.

Someone mentioned Heinz - has anybody read Leonard Gardner's LA classic Fat City? About a down and out clubfighter making a comeback whilst an amateur star turns pro. Brilliantly bleak. Pure art.

that one sounds like my kinda thing

just checked out FAT CITY on amazon - £15.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - may have to search the second hand shops

misterpunch wrote:that one sounds like my kinda thing

just checked out FAT CITY on amazon - £15.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - may have to search the second hand shops

Ah what a shame - it's not in print over here but it is in the US. Keep an eye out for it, a true classic.

ive got some friends in the 2nd hand book trade, i'll put it out there

Ah ha! If you're not bothered about the physical quality of the book, there's some cheap second hand ones listed here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... ition=used

I actually quite enjoyed Making Haye.....

As already mentioned Hands of Stone and Four Kings are both good reads.

Calzaghes, Khans, Hattons all a bit same same for me.

Non boxing related but probably the best sporting book I have read was Open by Andre Agassi. A superb read.

The Book Buncey did with Watson is brilliant.



Lenny Mclean the Gov'nor is great read.

if you like MMA

Chuck lidels book is good