BoxRec

Of all the sports in the world boxing boasts the greatest body of literature, whether it be books or magazines over the past 100 odd years a staggering amount has been written on boxing, fights and fighters.
As an avid collector myself I d be interested to read about other collectors favourite books/mags, whether they be old or particularly new.
Id especially like to hear from people who have rare biogs on fighters such as Tony Zale, Jim Jefferies, young Griffo, kid Mccoy etc.
Some of my own books include...
Jack Johnson in the ring and out
Somebody up there likes me(Rocky Graziano biog)
No man stands alone (barney Ross biog)
Great Ring battles of the century
The Michigan Assasin (Stanley Ketchel biog)
The toy bulldog (MICKEY WALKERbiog)
The legendary champions
Raging bull (Jake Lamotta)
The greatest my own story (Ali)
In this corner
..........hope some people find this topic interesting!......

I AGREE WITH TERAP. FIRESIDE BOOK IS FABULOUS READING AND WC HEINZ IS NOT ONLY A GOOD BOXING MAN, HE WAS THE AUTHOR OF MASH -FROM WHICH A MOVIE AND SERIES WERE MADE. IT'S MY FAVORITE BOXING BOOK.

HELLER'S BOOK IS ALSO GOLD. GREAT FIRST PERSON NARRATIVES BY GUNBOAT SMITH, WILLIE RITCHIE ETC.

I ALSO RECOMMEND "THE GREAT PRIZEFIGHT," -BY LLOYD-
"JOHN L SULLIVAN AND HIS AMERICA" BY IZENBERG.
"THE LEGENDARY CHAMPIONS" BY LARDNER
"THE SAGA OF SOCK," BY GROMBACH

AND ANYTHING BY LIEBLING.

I saw this thread and I thought this incident might be appropriate.
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THE PROFESSIONAL was and always has been, one of my favorite boxing novels.  And, W.C. Heinz-- so much like Hemingway-- is one of my favorite fight writers; his prose are so lean, and his ability to carry a story, almost entirely with dialogue, is wonderful.   His ear is impeccable, if you read some of his boxing profiles.

Well, I loved the book when it first came out in the late 50's.  And, I don't know what possessed me but I wanted to make to make a film of it... and I hadn't a clue as to how to go about it.

I'd heard some place that you had to buy the rights... but I didn't know where to begin... and I certainly didn't have any money.  Off to a great start, right?

It occurred to me, maybe the publisher of the book could tell me how to get the rights. The publishing company did give me a phone number for Heinz's literary agent.  I made a call, and she agreed to see me.  I had no idea how I was going to get these rights... let alone pay for them. But I wanted to make the movie.

When I got to the agent's office, I realized immediately I was out of my depth.  Her desk seemed an eternity from the door . 

As I got closer, I could hear her on the phone making a deal for another one of her famous clients for over $250,000.  My heart sank. We spoke for a few minutes, but she realized very quickly I was just wasting her time, and I was shown the door.

BUT I WANTED TO MAKE THE DAMN FILM!... So, I decided to reach Heinz and make my case After scrambling every way I could, I got Heinz's home number in Connecticut. 

I got up my nerve and called him. He got on the phone himself... and I told him what I wanted to do and that his agent turned me down flat.

He agreed to meet me at Jack Dempsey's Restaurant in Manhattan to discuss it. 

When I spotted him in Dempsey's, he was 50’sh--almost blue-collar in appearance-- with a pepper-n-salt crew haircut...and  the model of the main character in his book in speech and manner.

After he realized I knew everything about his book and the characters, and how enthusiastic I was, he agreed to this arrangement: He would give me a year's option on the book, and he would do the screenplay, if I could raise the money to do the film.  And, he told me not to worry about his agent, he would straighten it all out with her.

I left the bar on top of the world, believing somehow I would raise the
money...I COULDN'T...

And, after a year, to the day, my option lapsed, and I read in the New York Times that Peter Falk (who must have been waiting in the wings) had bought the rights that day.  But, Falk never made a picture out of it either.

I first read "Fat City" by Leonard Gardner around 1954. Gardner had done some amateur fighting and he seemed to sense what it was like to be in the ring. Later, of course, his novel was made into an excellent film. The role of the Mexican boxer in that picure was played by Sixto Rodriguez, who was a rated light heavyweight in the 60´s.

"Give him to the angels" by James R. Fair (about the life of Harry Greb in and out of the ring), and Rocky Graziano's "Somebody up there likes me" are both great reads.

Alex, if you enjoyed 'Somebody up there likes me' and 'Give him to the angels' then I'd recommend 'Raging bull' the biog of Jake Lamotta and 'The toy bulldog' biog on Mickey Walker if you can get them... they are both fascinating reads.
I haven't been able to get hold of 'The proffessional' yet, so so far would say that the best novel I've read about boxing is 'Fat city'.....a great novel which spawned what I consider to be the best film ever on boxing.
Houston's treatment of 'Fat city' was just sublime, and it's one of those films that I can watch again and again.
I ve just started reading 'Rope Burns' by F.X Toole, which seems really good so far.

Of course I like,
Boston's Boxing Heritage:Prizefighting from 1882-1955
and
Black Genesis:The History of the Black Prizefighter 1760-1870

But some of my other favorites have always been the History and biography books. Some of the best in my opinion:
Captain of the Push-Biography of Larry Foley
Impossible Drean-Autobiography of Larry Gaines
Papa Jack-Randy Roberst bio of Jack Johnson
Demspey-Randy Roberts bio of Demspey
Dan Stuart's Fistic Carnival
Boxiana
The Manly Art-Bareknuckles in the US
Men of Steel
Lords of the Ring
In this Corner
The Toy Bulldog
King of the Canebreaks
Up to Scratch
Fighting for Fun--Eddie Eagan
Carpentier by Himself
Fights for the Championshi[
Lords of the ring--australian boxing history

I had a really rare book once, didn't know at the time, and I lost it,
absolutely gutted, I've never seen or heard of it anywhere else.

It was an original print of Bob Fitzsimmons book on physical education, with original photographs of Bob himself showing how to do the exercises

I'll bet it would have been worth quite a bit, it was the original binding and was printed in about 1880, I lost it when I moved house about 10 years ago.

When I was about 12 and just getting into collecting boxing books I came across a yellow covered book called 'Give him to the angels' in a second-hand book shop... although I knew it was about boxing and a particular boxer I wasn't at that time really clued up on Harry Greb and was put off a little at the time by the rather idiocycratic style of the author... so alas I decided not to purchase this rare original for £6!......... now of course I curse myself daily for my youthful oversight!!!.....

Terap what the hell is your problem, you are literally obsessed with tarnishing Ali's reputation, and similarly obsessed with trumping up how great Dempsey was, if you're such a bloody expert on all matters boxing, why don't you just start your own magazine, you seem to think you are the fount of all knowledge, and ultimate arbiter of who is a great fighter and who isn't. If you don't like the ring, don't read it, nobody is forcing you, everything according to you was better in 'the good old days.' despite the fact that Nat Fleischer, just like yourself was a self-appointed egotist, who had an incredible bias against modern fighters.

Your fail of course to point out that Dempsey hardly even managed to defend his title once a year during his reign, and had to be helped back into the ring against a crude brawler like Luis Firpo, and yes, i have seen Firpo fight, he swung his punches like a man holding a pick axe.

Amazing coincidence that this topic should be posted today. Just this afternoon, I dug out of storage my three favorite boxing books - Liebling's "The Sweet Science", Gardner's "Fat City" and one that hasn't been mentioned yet - "The Black Lights" by Thomas Hauser. Published in '86, the book takes a close-up look at the Billy Costello-Saoul Mamby jr. welter title bout of Oct. '84. Hauser covers all aspects - training, business negotiations, etc. along with a ton of inside tales. The scene I recall most vividly occurs in Don King's office when King is trying to "persuade" Costello's manager, Mike Jones, to accept Mamby as a last-minute sub for injured Leroy Haley. When Jones balks, King screams "Who do you think you are, motherf*cker? ... You're a coward, a chickensh*t coward!" Startling insight into how Mr. King does business.

I ve recently aquired the autobiography of Battling Nelson.... printed in 1908!...... only read a few pages so far but can already tell that it is a real barnstormer of a book in which the battlers character shows through very clearly....... as far as I know he wrote this on his own without a ghost writer, which is rather unusual for sporting biographies.... mind you having said that, Jim Corbett, Gene Tunney and Jack Johnson also wrote their biogs without help too.... and the point is?.... well there is no point really.... and thats the point!...