BoxRec

No man stands alone by Martin Abramson

A fantastic read on Barney Ross. From his early life and his fights with Jimmy McLarnin .. to his heroics on Guadalcanal in WW2 and later hard times with drug addiction .. and back to happier times.

.. also, I have a 1st UK edition in hardback for sale if anybody wants to swap it for £30 posted??

tonyevs wrote: Just got 1st edition Occupation, Prizefighter: The Freddie Welsh Story for £10.83
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Superb book!

Bladder wrote:

tonyevs wrote: Just got 1st edition Occupation, Prizefighter: The Freddie Welsh Story for £10.83
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Superb book!

Agreed.
One of the better boxing books I've read (of 150-200 in total).
Andrew Gillamore also did a pretty good book on Mike McTigue, and I am currently enjoying his effort on Jimmy McLarnin.
I hope he has a new project in the pipeline, because he is a very good boxing writer/author.

-KOKid- wrote:

Bladder wrote:

tonyevs wrote: Just got 1st edition Occupation, Prizefighter: The Freddie Welsh Story for £10.83
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Superb book!

Agreed.
One of the better boxing books I've read (of 150-200 in total).
Andrew Gillamore also did a pretty good book on Mike McTigue, and I am currently enjoying his effort on Jimmy McLarnin.
I hope he has a new project in the pipeline, because he is a very good boxing writer/author.

I have the Mike McTigue DVD, it is a good doc, the first Irishman to win a world title on Irish soil.

Just browsing through all 6 pages .. I don`t seem to see a few of my favourites included.
Here are my fave picks in no real order of preference...

Sugar Ray by Dave Anderson .. great read about one of the greatest fighters ever.
Mickey Walker. The Toy Bulldog & his times by Mickey Walker and Joe Reichler ... superb and often funny read.
The million dollar gate. Jack (Doc) Kearns ... one of my top faves. The Doc was one of a kind .. to be taken with a large pinch of salt
The Roar Of The Crowd by James J. Corbett ... bit of an eye opener reading this. Fantastic insight of the man.
John the Great by Donald Barr Chidsey .. one of the very best books on John L. Sullivan .. superb.
The Sundowners Volume2 Part 1. by Kevin R Smith .... a must buy if you like the oldtimers.

There are other good reads too like Clay Moyles book on Sam Langford, Harry Otty`s book on Charley Burley and Bill Paxtons on Harry Greb. Though I do find they sometimes go into too much detail on some of the fights .. greatly researched, and unbiased, but maybe a bit too much on the inring details.

As is probably quite clear, I prefer reading about the old timers. They always seemed to have a better story to tell than the modern day guys.

mimmy123 wrote:Its not a bad read, to be honest I think it would make a good movie, like the Tom Hardy- Bronson movie. Im suprised actually no one has made a movie of Paul Sykes life.

Not worth making one, mate. I know a lot of stories about Paul and if the truth be known, he openly admits to being a nonse in his book.

I'm currently reading "Sweet Agony". Its a good read, better than I though it would be. Got it off Amazon at a reasonable price too. Not read all of it yet but Sykes comes across as a predator, in various ways. I dont think a film should be made of his life. I do wonder how his boxing career would have gone if he'd started boxing 10 years earlier instead of being in prison. I think he may have got to British champion level if he'd started earlier

chinny wrote:This thread has made me desperate for the Larry Homles bio but it can't be had for less than £70 and there is no kindle edition

I read only in America the don king story recently and it was as good as I hoped.

Wow, I'm glad I bought the Holmes book back in the year 2000!

Just buy it mate, it is SO good. If you liked Newfield's King book, you will love it.

The co-writer of Holmes book is the late Phil Berger, a simply amazing writer - his boxing book Punch Lines and his Joe Frazier autobiog Smokin' are MUST HAVES.

Can't believe anyone recommends Dark Trade. Why would you want to read some no name writer wittering on about his girlfriend's thoughts about fighters, and what the writer is thinking as he's sat watching the fights on ITV? His 'struggle' following the brutal sport and long passages where he draws parallels between his life and those of the fighters he's covering?

I think the Dark Trade style of book is the most offensive and tedious boxing book there is.

loaded_gloves wrote:

chinny wrote:This thread has made me desperate for the Larry Homles bio but it can't be had for less than £70 and there is no kindle edition

I read only in America the don king story recently and it was as good as I hoped.

Wow, I'm glad I bought the Holmes book back in the year 2000!

Just buy it mate, it is SO good. If you liked Newfield's King book, you will love it.

The co-writer of Holmes book is the late Phil Berger, a simply amazing writer - his boxing book Punch Lines and his Joe Frazier autobiog Smokin' are MUST HAVES.

Mate .. your def looking in the wrong places
http://www.prizefightingbooks.com/
Selling a first edition for $20 .. and a signed 1st edition for $40

or from here for £26 inclusive of P&P

Just finished Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing by Donald McRae. Definitely recommend this to anyone that hasn't read it, fantastic book with excellent insights into the lives of Tyson, Eubank, Watson, Hamed etc.

tonyevs wrote:

loaded_gloves wrote:

chinny wrote:This thread has made me desperate for the Larry Homles bio but it can't be had for less than £70 and there is no kindle edition



Mate .. your def looking in the wrong places
http://www.prizefightingbooks.com/
Selling a first edition for $20 .. and a signed 1st edition for $40

or from here for £26 inclusive of P&P

Brilliant, thanks!!

loaded_gloves wrote:Can't believe anyone recommends Dark Trade. Why would you want to read some no name writer wittering on about his girlfriend's thoughts about fighters, and what the writer is thinking as he's sat watching the fights on ITV? His 'struggle' following the brutal sport and long passages where he draws parallels between his life and those of the fighters he's covering?

I think the Dark Trade style of book is the most offensive and tedious boxing book there is.

I haven't read Dark Trade but the way you describe it sounds remarkably similar to Ian Probert's Rope Burns, which I read recently.

I found Dark Trade an interesting book a change from the usual screed describing fights that we all know punch for punch, he added a more human side to boxing particulary his time spent with James Toney

loaded_gloves wrote:Can't believe anyone recommends Dark Trade. Why would you want to read some no name writer wittering on about his girlfriend's thoughts about fighters, and what the writer is thinking as he's sat watching the fights on ITV? His 'struggle' following the brutal sport and long passages where he draws parallels between his life and those of the fighters he's covering?

I think the Dark Trade style of book is the most offensive and tedious boxing book there is.

Donald Mcrae is a great writer and this book is one of the best (and by this I mean not just boxing) books ever written.

Jon Saxon wrote:

loaded_gloves wrote:Can't believe anyone recommends Dark Trade. Why would you want to read some no name writer wittering on about his girlfriend's thoughts about fighters, and what the writer is thinking as he's sat watching the fights on ITV? His 'struggle' following the brutal sport and long passages where he draws parallels between his life and those of the fighters he's covering?

I think the Dark Trade style of book is the most offensive and tedious boxing book there is.

Donald Mcrae is a great writer and this book is one of the best (and by this I mean not just boxing) books ever written.

I agree, Jon. Loaded Gloves is way off with his assessment of the book, imo. McRae managed to get deep inside the lives of Tyson and Toney, not many have done that. I liked the insights into his own life aswell as it gave us an understanding of the person who was writing the book and how he got into boxing.

I picked up a couple of books yesterday in Oxfam:

Boxing Doctor
Jack Berg (got this four £4, bargain as it is on amazon for £18+)

Would anyone recommend 'I, Conteh'?

"i conteh" is a good book,wrote when he was world champion. so defo thumbs up

Jon Saxon wrote:

loaded_gloves wrote:Can't believe anyone recommends Dark Trade. Why would you want to read some no name writer wittering on about his girlfriend's thoughts about fighters, and what the writer is thinking as he's sat watching the fights on ITV? His 'struggle' following the brutal sport and long passages where he draws parallels between his life and those of the fighters he's covering?

I think the Dark Trade style of book is the most offensive and tedious boxing book there is.

Donald Mcrae is a great writer and this book is one of the best (and by this I mean not just boxing) books ever written.

One of the best BOOKS ever written? Egads! I would not like to see your reading list. I won't be putting Dark Trade up alongside my Joyce, Nabokov and Hemingway books just yet.

If you want to read about James Toney and Naz etc and want to hear a writer use their fame to tell his own rather drab life story and constantly refer back to the opinions of his girlfriend and similar then fair enough, enjoy yourself. For me I prefer writers like Berger, McIlvaney and Remnick who understand that they are NOT the subject, the fighters are, and so they concentrate on them.

That's how it should be.

johnnykayo wrote:"i conteh" is a good book,wrote when he was world champion. so defo thumbs up

Cheers, that is another one to read, although a revised Conteh book that deals with all that he went through after boxing would be even better.

yea youre right gasman it would be better if he done a follow up fter his career as john was a bad alkie after his career,but fair does to the man he kicked the habit over 20 years ago and has never touched a drop since,whatta lovely fella too as met him many times and last being when he came to a charity event for mick leahy,me and john stracey organised. one book i never enjoyed was joe egans "the toughest white man on the planet" !!!

gasman wrote:

johnnykayo wrote:"i conteh" is a good book,wrote when he was world champion. so defo thumbs up

Cheers, that is another one to read, although a revised Conteh book that deals with all that he went through after boxing would be even better.

It's a number of years since I read it but I'm pretty sure Conteh's book came out after his career finished ...... it certainly covered both Saad Muhammad fights so must have been a few years after he was world champion.

Finished reading "Babyface Goes To Hollywood - The Jimmy McLarnin Story", by Andrew Gallimore.

Another very good piece of work by Gallimore to go along with his previous books on Freddie Welsh and Mike McTigue.
The thing I have especially come to appreciate about Gallimore's books, is that he picks the boxers whoose stories are not oversold/told, does the research and presents a story which only the boxer's most loyal fans really know.

I knew a few things about McLarnin before reading this book, but there is much more to his story than just his fights with Barney Ross, Tony Canzoneri and Benny Leonard and that he retired young and kept his money.
For instance, I did not realise what a huge draw he was in his day - probably the biggest in the sport during the depression era.
All this is well detailed throughout the book.

McLarnin's mental approach to the sport was also out of the ordinary stuff and all made for a great story about a true, old fashioned pro.


Now what to read....

alexpaterson wrote:i thought hatton, eubank and calzaghes books were all good so was the 4 kings and so was Ken Buchanans

Agree though not read ken buchanans will give it a read after i finish pacman by gary andrew poole

Not sure if it's been mentioned but "Manly Art: Dispatches from Ringside" by the late George Kimball is a great read.

I just come back from a bit of winter sun in Egypt, and it was the perfect holiday read. Each chapter is just an article he'd wrote over the years on various papers/websites, so you can just pop in and out and not lose the plot as it were!