BoxRec

mickey1975 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 02:20 It's a Jamie Boyle book, he's previously mainly done Paul Sykes and Lee Duffy books. He's doing a Mickey Duff book as well. I think he's done a Nick Manners book, too.

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 03:59 The duff book is ok, I remember that coming out years back.

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 05:33 Yeah. It’s mid tier. Enjoyable read. I enjoyed the George Francis one more.

The Benn one around the same time is crap, given his life. It’s so poorly written. Same with the tapia one.

I think the Charlie magri bio is one of the best I’ve read. Doesn’t sugar cost anything, not boring, tells you the story with background. Didn’t James M write it? Oil’s bio of Laing is good, it has a lot of detail, he did a lot of research and it’s laid out well.

Of the earlier bios, the srr one by Dave Anderson (?), terry downes and Ali’s although there are far too many Ali books.

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:07 I used to see him regularly at shows for a while. He always seemed like a decent bloke. Same with woodhall, he should do a bio. Although may have to edit out all the “believe you me”

Ironically I enjoyed the bio of Duran more than Duran’s actual autobiography. I think often with bios it just becomes an objective recounting of someone’s career which can be a bit pointless if you watched their fights. I remember reading someone’s autobiography and they basically gave a couple of lines about their fight like they didn’t really care. Was quite odd. I like to get into the head of the boxer and understand what they were thinking or felt. It’s often missing in books

mickey1975 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:10

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:07 I used to see him regularly at shows for a while. He always seemed like a decent bloke. Same with woodhall, he should do a bio. Although may have to edit out all the “believe you me”

Ironically I enjoyed the bio of Duran more than Duran’s actual autobiography. I think often with bios it just becomes an objective recounting of someone’s career which can be a bit pointless if you watched their fights. I remember reading someone’s autobiography and they basically gave a couple of lines about their fight like they didn’t really care. Was quite odd. I like to get into the head of the boxer and understand what they were thinking or felt. It’s often missing in books

Duran refused to sign my copy of that. Good book.

jamesmcdonnell wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 05:57

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 05:33 Yeah. It’s mid tier. Enjoyable read. I enjoyed the George Francis one more.

The Benn one around the same time is crap, given his life. It’s so poorly written. Same with the tapia one.

I think the Charlie magri bio is one of the best I’ve read. Doesn’t sugar cost anything, not boring, tells you the story with background. Didn’t James M write it? Oil’s bio of Laing is good, it has a lot of detail, he did a lot of research and it’s laid out well.

Of the earlier bios, the srr one by Dave Anderson (?), terry downes and Ali’s although there are far too many Ali books.

I did indeed mate - thanks so much for the kind words.

One of the most annoying things about that book, is that the forward was written by my namesake Jim McDonnell the former boxer, and I didn't even get a name credit on it - something I greatly regret now, as it was surpisingly well received.

I kept it simple as Charlie was a man who spoke pretty straight forward, no point embellishing the book with words and phrases he simply wouldn't have used.

The Gratest wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:21

jamesmcdonnell wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 05:57

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 05:33 Yeah. It’s mid tier. Enjoyable read. I enjoyed the George Francis one more.

The Benn one around the same time is crap, given his life. It’s so poorly written. Same with the tapia one.

I think the Charlie magri bio is one of the best I’ve read. Doesn’t sugar cost anything, not boring, tells you the story with background. Didn’t James M write it? Oil’s bio of Laing is good, it has a lot of detail, he did a lot of research and it’s laid out well.

Of the earlier bios, the srr one by Dave Anderson (?), terry downes and Ali’s although there are far too many Ali books.

I did indeed mate - thanks so much for the kind words.

One of the most annoying things about that book, is that the forward was written by my namesake Jim McDonnell the former boxer, and I didn't even get a name credit on it - something I greatly regret now, as it was surpisingly well received.

I kept it simple as Charlie was a man who spoke pretty straight forward, no point embellishing the book with words and phrases he simply wouldn't have used.

I have just ordered it from amazon. Will do for my upcoming trip to Angola

The Gratest wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:17

mickey1975 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:10

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:07 I used to see him regularly at shows for a while. He always seemed like a decent bloke. Same with woodhall, he should do a bio. Although may have to edit out all the “believe you me”

Ironically I enjoyed the bio of Duran more than Duran’s actual autobiography. I think often with bios it just becomes an objective recounting of someone’s career which can be a bit pointless if you watched their fights. I remember reading someone’s autobiography and they basically gave a couple of lines about their fight like they didn’t really care. Was quite odd. I like to get into the head of the boxer and understand what they were thinking or felt. It’s often missing in books

Duran refused to sign my copy of that. Good book.

Maybe he'd signed too many already and had writer's cramps. 'No mas'.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:10

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:07 I used to see him regularly at shows for a while. He always seemed like a decent bloke. Same with woodhall, he should do a bio. Although may have to edit out all the “believe you me”

Ironically I enjoyed the bio of Duran more than Duran’s actual autobiography. I think often with bios it just becomes an objective recounting of someone’s career which can be a bit pointless if you watched their fights. I remember reading someone’s autobiography and they basically gave a couple of lines about their fight like they didn’t really care. Was quite odd. I like to get into the head of the boxer and understand what they were thinking or felt. It’s often missing in books

Duran refused to sign my copy of that. Good book.

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:47 He did one on arguello. Enjoyed it but not as good.

Someone needs to do a Carl Thompson book

I’m also morbidly curious about joey palledino. I used to see him regularly. Big tall guy with hands like shovels who used to be a goalie. I never understood his motivation for boxing.

jamesmcdonnell wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:56

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:47 He did one on arguello. Enjoyed it but not as good.

Someone needs to do a Carl Thompson book

I’m also morbidly curious about joey palledino. I used to see him regularly. Big tall guy with hands like shovels who used to be a goalie. I never understood his motivation for boxing.

I can tell you a big problem with Thompson, is that he doesn't really have a great deal to say, I've seen numerous interviews with him, and he's really not very expansive at all - that doesn't make for a very interesting book, well, not in my opinion, I mean a biography of his career is ok, but it's not really very compelling, it doesn't reveal much about the man.

I'd quite like to do one on Danny Williams - I reckon there's some interesting stuff going on in there, especially as by all accounts he was forced into boxing by his dad,. I interviewed Jim McDonnell as part of doing Charlie's book, and Jim said that Danny was the most frustrating fighter he ever worked with, he had all the tools at his disposal, but didn't really want it badly enough. Despite that, Danny had a pretty remarkable career, culiminating in the fights with Vitali and Tyson.

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 07:03

jamesmcdonnell wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:56

orbtastic wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 06:47 He did one on arguello. Enjoyed it but not as good.

Someone needs to do a Carl Thompson book

I’m also morbidly curious about joey palledino. I used to see him regularly. Big tall guy with hands like shovels who used to be a goalie. I never understood his motivation for boxing.

I can tell you a big problem with Thompson, is that he doesn't really have a great deal to say, I've seen numerous interviews with him, and he's really not very expansive at all - that doesn't make for a very interesting book, well, not in my opinion, I mean a biography of his career is ok, but it's not really very compelling, it doesn't reveal much about the man.

I'd quite like to do one on Danny Williams - I reckon there's some interesting stuff going on in there, especially as by all accounts he was forced into boxing by his dad,. I interviewed Jim McDonnell as part of doing Charlie's book, and Jim said that Danny was the most frustrating fighter he ever worked with, he had all the tools at his disposal, but didn't really want it badly enough. Despite that, Danny had a pretty remarkable career, culiminating in the fights with Vitali and Tyson.

Yeah that’s right. A mate of mine met him a few times and he’s very quiet. I think I saw some early internet interview where he just sat in his council house drinking a cup of tea. I think to call him Boring is probably a misnomer but I just think he’s quite self contained and not particularly articulate. I hated the way ingle and Nelson goaded him and made him look stupid on TV yet those two used to mangle their syntax and words constantly.

He was a kick boxer too, I remember him having some tough fights in Europe way before the wbo.

Another mate of mine told me Williams was up here doing some training in an oxygen tent. Then apparently he just never turned up. I always got the impression he hated boxing but had some talent and guts. Who can forget the potter fight.

TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑28 Jun 2023, 11:03 I'll buy it. He had an interesting career. Came in at late notice vs Judah and stunk the place out but it was pretty impressive going the distance he did show some talent there. The rebuilding process and streak of KOs/dominant performances was good to watch and he did create some buzz. Hatton didn't want any part of him. High risk low reward. Good wins over Ndou, Kotelnik and Corley put him on the scene and the flattening of Harris was a great world title win. He was on the way up and building a big profile but losing the Bradley fight live on ITV was a big setback in his first defence. A very tight fight and split decision loss and I think that essentially did his career at that level. He went on to have a string of losses even including a very poor fight against Frankie Gavin. If you didn't see it, you are one lucky individual.

I used to think he would have beaten Hatton when they were both in their prime and Hatton was avoiding him but the pressure from Hatton might have seen him go into spoiler/runner mode. I would probably pick him to beat Hatton but it's a close call. What a shame the fight wasn't made.