Boxing Books?

[sonnyboyx2]

I've read both the Greb & Langford books, and reccomend them both.

Here's a few other I'd reccomend
-Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward
-Barney Ross (Jewish Encounters) by Douglas Century
-Larry Holmes Against The Odds
-Men Of Steel Middleweights

Larry Holmes - Against the odds.... is a very good book which i read from start to finish in around 12hrs

some other great books i have read which i would recommend.

Dark Trade - Donald McRae
A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
And a Credit to His Race (Joe Louis), Gerald Astor
Black Dynamite, Vol I, Nat Fleischer
Black Dynamite, Vol II, Nat Fleischer
Black Prince Peter, A.G. Hales
Come Out Smokin', Phil Pepe
Fighting Was My Business, Jimmy Wilde
Fights for the Championship, Fred Henning
Gene Tunney: The Enigma of the Ring, Nat Fleischer
The Jew in American Sports, Harold Ribalow
Terrible Terry: The Brooklyn Terror, Nat Fleischer
Legendary Boxers of the Golden Age, Billy Edwards
The Louis Legend, Nat Fleischer
Mickey Walker: The Toy Bulldog and His Times, Walker & Reichler
Physical Culture and Self Defense, Bob Fitzsimmons
The Sweet Science, Trevor Wignall
Shadow Box, George Plimpton
Sonny Liston: The Champ Nobody Wanted, Doc Young
Ring Record Book - any which is written by Nat Fleischer

[Barn]

Have you read Four Kings? I very much enjoyed that one.

Yeah that was one of my first boxing books because I am a massive Hagler fan.

[GJC]

In this Corner is a must
men of Steel is very good
a few that haven't been mentioned I would highly recommend are 2 by Jim McNeill "they couldve been contenders and that night in the garden and McIlvanney on Boxing by Hugh McIlvanney.

[Wild Blue Yonda]

From Russia, With Gloves (Kostya Tszyu) & American Son (Oscar De La Hoya) are good & great reads, respectively.

It's been criticised for some factual short-comings, but The Devil & Sonny Liston, by Nick Tosches, is pretty absorbing. Even by Boxing standards, Liston's early life was bleak.

[JAB5239]

From Russia, With Gloves (Kostya Tszyu) & American Son (Oscar De La Hoya) are good & great reads, respectively.

It's been criticised for some factual short-comings, but The Devil & Sonny Liston, by Nick Tosches, is pretty absorbing. Even by Boxing standards, Liston's early life was bleak.

I just picked up "American son" a couple of weeks ago for 1.00 dollar at a Dollar store next to my work. Was just browsing thru books and came across it. What a steal!

[Wild Blue Yonda]

I just picked up "American son" a couple of weeks ago for 1.00 dollar at a Dollar store next to my work. Was just browsing thru books and came across it. What a steal!

It's quite a good read. If you're not sympathetic toward De La Hoya on the whole (& maybe even if you are), you will be unimpressed with what appears to be unrealistic excuse-making & selfishness in parts of the book, but this is not beyond what most fighters are guilty of, it's just that he gets more criticism for it in general.

There are some very worthwhile reads within that book. The chapters on Chavez (from the perspective of a young De La Hoya) & the battles with Trinidad & Vargas are good reading. It was published between his fights with Mayweather & Forbes, at the back-end of his career, so he has something to say about Mayweather, as his final opponent to date, as well.

[Heavy Bag]

Another amazng read I forget to mention is ''Rock Of His Time'' Rocky Marciano story. Really amazing book and must have if your a Marciano fan.

[Scott9945]

The Mickey Walker autobio that Sonny listed is excellent. I enjoyed Floyd Patterson's "Victory Over Myself a lot, but I was very young when I read it. Some others I'd recommend would be Jack Johnson's autobio, "Boxing Babylon" by Nigel Collins, and Raging Bull (the book, which was better than the movie).

[c45h]

Two Books I've read recently that I enjoyed:

Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson - Wil Haygood

&

My View from the Corner: A Life in Boxing - Angelo Dundee

[Great John L]

What about Boxing: A Cultural History?