Top Boxing Writer Ever?

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  • The Old LefHook
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    #1

    Top Boxing Writer Ever?

    This is a real question, not a rhetorical one. I admire many boxing writers but I do not have a pick for best. Leibling was awfully great, Mailer was incredible for the little on boxing he wrote. And I have to admit, Joyce Carol Oates always felt like an interloper to me. Jack London touched upon boxing too. There are plenty more. Who you got? For one thing, I would like to do some more reading.

    While you are at it, what are the best boxing works ever written in both fiction and journalistic writing?

    I believe London wrote a story entitled A Piece Of Meat. Not saying that was the pinnacle, but quite entertaining anyway. I even have a few boxing stories. Don't worry.
    Last edited by The Old LefHook; 02-12-2022, 07:32 PM.
  • QueensburyRules
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    #2
    - - AJ Leibling certainly born with the all time great initials fortified by the connoisseur's palate for fine dining and the English Language.

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    • Willie Pep 229
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      #3
      Hank Kaplan

      Di you have any excerpts from A Piece of Meat?

      I agree to some extent about Oates, although I have read only two pieces by her, one an article, the other On Boxing.

      But I know that she spent her adolescent years watching the fights on early 50s TV, with her dad. She grew up a fan.

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      • Willie Pep 229
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        #4
        I also want to shout out . . .

        Jeffrey T. SAMMONS

        Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society.

        Best work I have found regarding the social/economic/political end of the game.

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        • GhostofDempsey
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          #5
          Adam Pollack does his due diligence researching his books.

          Peter Heller

          Thomas Hauser

          Steve Kim

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          • Bundana
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            #6
            When I saw the thread title, my immediate thought was A.J. Liebling... whose "The Sweet Science" is an absolute joy to read!

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            • QueensburyRules
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              #7
              Originally posted by Willie Pep 229
              I also want to shout out . . .

              Jeffrey T. SAMMONS

              Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society.

              Best work I have found regarding the social/economic/political end of the game.
              Ordered!

              19 yr old George waving the teensy American Flag sealed it!

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              • Willie Pep 229
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                #8
                Originally posted by QueensburyRules

                Ordered!

                19 yr old George waving the teensy American Flag sealed it!
                Promise not a bum steer.

                He doesn't talk much about the fights themselves, but the history is ferried along by structuring the story around the big fights.

                So when he offers insights into the social or political aspects of the game he doesn't drift away from the fights, but instead uses the fights themselves to make his points.

                He stays focused on the fights and the fighters and doesn't let it slip into academic sociology.

                You will enjoy.

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                • Tatabanya
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                  #9
                  Jim Brady's Boxing Confidential is a must, even if it's from many years ago now (and unfortunately Brady has left us, in the meantime). Here is the press blurb:

                  "In the hardest-hitting expose of boxing ever written, campaigning journalist Jim Brady lays bare the corrupt history of the 'Noble Art'. From its murky beginnings to the multi-billions business of today. Delving into extensive FBI files and police documents, he reveals how the mafia took over the sport in the US and how for decades world titles were effectively controlled by one man: Frank Carbo, the sinister 'Mister Gray'.Here is the story of the monopolistic International Boxing Club, known as 'the Octopus', and how it was succeeded by the worldwide governing bodies labelled the Alphabet Boys, who many contend have ruined the fight game. Here also are revelations of fixed fights, bent ratings, rip-offs and kick-backs, a full account of the undercover investigation into the corrupt International Boxing Federation, the machinations of Don King, Bob Arum and Jose Sulaiman, and the incredible saga of Harold Smith, the man who tried to buy the sport. 'Boxing Confidential' is the book no true fight fan should be without."

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                  • mrbig1
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                    #10
                    Nat Loubet of Ring Magazine was my favorite. Adam Pollack as well.

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