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Im looking to buy a biography on the great (and often overlooked) Bob Fitzsimmons, and am torn between 'Lanky Bob' and ' In the ring with Bob Fitzsimmons' by adam Pollack. If someone has read one or both of these books I would be grateful to have a comparison as to the merits of each one. Im looking for soemthing well written which details his life both in and out of the ring.........

I liked "Lanky Bob" ...... very comprehensive but a bit heavy going at times.

I've never read a Pollack book .... but one thing that's put me off them (apart from the price in the UK) is that I understand they finish when the subject loses the title. So I assume his Fitz book finishes with the first Jeffries fight.

Gilbert Odd's book on Fitz is very good too ..... though nowhere near the depth in detail of "Lanky Bob".

fatcity69 wrote:Im looking to buy a biography on the great (and often overlooked) Bob Fitzsimmons, and am torn between 'Lanky Bob' and ' In the ring with Bob Fitzsimmons' by adam Pollack. If someone has read one or both of these books I would be grateful to have a comparison as to the merits of each one. Im looking for soemthing well written which details his life both in and out of the ring.........

Adam's books always chronicles the careers of his subjects from beginning to end. There is some biography between fights, but by and large they are old newspaper accounts of the times doing round by round details of fights. I know when I read his book on John L. Sullivan, I thought to myself that it was really good, but it's best to be a companion book with Michael T. Isenberg's book John L. Sullivan and His America. I would suggest getting both books 'Lanky Bob' and Adam's book to get a definitive picture on his life and career and all around worth as a fighter.

HomicideHenry wrote:

fatcity69 wrote:Im looking to buy a biography on the great (and often overlooked) Bob Fitzsimmons, and am torn between 'Lanky Bob' and ' In the ring with Bob Fitzsimmons' by adam Pollack. If someone has read one or both of these books I would be grateful to have a comparison as to the merits of each one. Im looking for soemthing well written which details his life both in and out of the ring.........

Adam's books always chronicles the careers of his subjects from beginning to end. There is some biography between fights, but by and large they are old newspaper accounts of the times doing round by round details of fights. I know when I read his book on John L. Sullivan, I thought to myself that it was really good, but it's best to be a companion book with Michael T. Isenberg's book John L. Sullivan and His America. I would suggest getting both books 'Lanky Bob' and Adam's book to get a definitive picture on his life and career and all around worth as a fighter.

Are you saying Pollack's Fitz biography details his career after losing the title to Jeffries ...... including his bouts for the Light Heavy title with Gardner and O'Brien, also the Jack Johnson fight, etc?

I can't recommend it, but Boilermaker has offered several love novels in this very forum.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I can't recommend it, but Boilermaker has offered several love novels in this very forum.

It takes a couple of pages to get going, but the links in this thread has pretty much everything you would want to know about Fitz.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread ... 439&page=4

A great love novel, but it seems to have been written mostly by those who saw him, including opponents, fans and journalists among others.

I knew you would come running. I'm good, I prefer objective writing.

Jeffries wrote about Fitz in his biography too. I lean toward the writers of the time period to get more of a feel of the people. The further time passes the more that facts and figures and imagination are used to tell the story. Ruby Robert is short but also good

Bladder wrote:I liked "Lanky Bob" ...... very comprehensive but a bit heavy going at times.

I've never read a Pollack book .... but one thing that's put me off them (apart from the price in the UK) is that I understand they finish when the subject loses the title. So I assume his Fitz book finishes with the first Jeffries fight.

Gilbert Odd's book on Fitz is very good too ..... though nowhere near the depth in detail of "Lanky Bob".

Yes Pollacks books ending when his subject loses the title is a bit of a problem for me also as it leaves a large gap in their life story as a whole. It would not be such a problem with James Jeffries, who only fought the once against Johnson after he gave up his crown, but Fitz in particular had a very interesting career after losing the heavyweight title and I would like to read about his winning the light heavy title at 42 and his fight with johnson as well.
I can see I might well have to buy of both eventually, though there is quite a queue of boxing books I have my eye on at the moment. There really does seem to be quite a lot of interesting books out there at the moment.

Boilermaker wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I can't recommend it, but Boilermaker has offered several love novels in this very forum.

It takes a couple of pages to get going, but the links in this thread has pretty much everything you would want to know about Fitz.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread ... 439&page=4

A great love novel, but it seems to have been written mostly by those who saw him, including opponents, fans and journalists among others.

Thanks for the link, some interesting stuff there.

ben geoghegan wrote:Jeffries wrote about Fitz in his biography too. I lean toward the writers of the time period to get more of a feel of the people. The further time passes the more that facts and figures and imagination are used to tell the story. Ruby Robert is short but also good

I would love to get Jeffries biography but have never come across it, do you know what the title of it is? and if its avaliable anywhere?.

Bladder wrote:

HomicideHenry wrote:

fatcity69 wrote:Im looking to buy a biography on the great (and often overlooked) Bob Fitzsimmons, and am torn between 'Lanky Bob' and ' In the ring with Bob Fitzsimmons' by adam Pollack. If someone has read one or both of these books I would be grateful to have a comparison as to the merits of each one. Im looking for soemthing well written which details his life both in and out of the ring.........

Adam's books always chronicles the careers of his subjects from beginning to end. There is some biography between fights, but by and large they are old newspaper accounts of the times doing round by round details of fights. I know when I read his book on John L. Sullivan, I thought to myself that it was really good, but it's best to be a companion book with Michael T. Isenberg's book John L. Sullivan and His America. I would suggest getting both books 'Lanky Bob' and Adam's book to get a definitive picture on his life and career and all around worth as a fighter.

Are you saying Pollack's Fitz biography details his career after losing the title to Jeffries ...... including his bouts for the Light Heavy title with Gardner and O'Brien, also the Jack Johnson fight, etc?

I would imagine it does, after all Pollack did it for Sullivan. I give Adam credit he does chronicle as much as possible on each subject he writes about. I know his book on Marvin Hart follows him into retirement. So, yes, I believe his book on Fitzsimmons would continue after his loss to Jeffries because Fitzsimmons career wasn't over, he would win the 175 pound title afterwards.

HomicideHenry wrote:

Bladder wrote:

HomicideHenry wrote: Adam's books always chronicles the careers of his subjects from beginning to end. There is some biography between fights, but by and large they are old newspaper accounts of the times doing round by round details of fights. I know when I read his book on John L. Sullivan, I thought to myself that it was really good, but it's best to be a companion book with Michael T. Isenberg's book John L. Sullivan and His America. I would suggest getting both books 'Lanky Bob' and Adam's book to get a definitive picture on his life and career and all around worth as a fighter.

Are you saying Pollack's Fitz biography details his career after losing the title to Jeffries ...... including his bouts for the Light Heavy title with Gardner and O'Brien, also the Jack Johnson fight, etc?

I would imagine it does, after all Pollack did it for Sullivan. I give Adam credit he does chronicle as much as possible on each subject he writes about. I know his book on Marvin Hart follows him into retirement. So, yes, I believe his book on Fitzsimmons would continue after his loss to Jeffries because Fitzsimmons career wasn't over, he would win the 175 pound title afterwards.

Pollack's Sullivan book includes his whole career because when he lost the title to Corbett, he didn't fight again ..... so that one would be complete.

The original poster has confirmed what I thought anyway ..... that Pollack's biographies conclude when the subject loses the title.

Fitz fought on for more than a decade after losing the title ..... that's a huge chunk of his career that won't be covered in the book.

I would not disregard Adam Pollacks book just because its a little light on Fitzsimmons personal life. Its well worth the price of admission.

Pollack's Sullivan book includes his whole career because when he lost the title to Corbett, he didn't fight again ..... so that one would be complete.

The original poster has confirmed what I thought anyway ..... that Pollack's biographies conclude when the subject loses the title.

Fitz fought on for more than a decade after losing the title ..... that's a huge chunk of his career that won't be covered in the book.

According to numerous site links on the book, it covers his WHOLE career.

klompton wrote:I would not disregard Adam Pollacks book just because its a little light on Fitzsimmons personal life. Its well worth the price of admission.

It's not his personal life we're talking about ..... it's all his fights after losing the title to Jeffries!

Anyway, are you close to getting your book published?

Yup. Its finished. Should be out by the summer. Im very excited about how it turned out.

I only mentioned his personal life because the original pister specified that he wanted a book that was in depth about both his career and personal life. Adams books are light on the fighters private lives but they are excellent books non the less.

klompton wrote:Yup. Its finished. Should be out by the summer. Im very excited about how it turned out.

Good, look forward to seeing it

I read Prize Fighter bay Dale Webb a good few years ago, would steer clear of that one.