Boxing Books You'd Recommend?

[Eff Pandas]

I've been reading more as of late & looking to add some more boxing books to my reading list. Anything you found good, interesting &/or informative for a boxing fan?

Extra points for some good bare knuckle days, Jack Dempsey & Stanley Ketchel books worth checking out. But feel free to add newer stuff or recent era books too.

[Bundana]

I've probably already mentioned this a couple of times on this forum... but I can't think of a book, I've enjoyed reading more than A.J. Liebling's "The Sweet Science".

http://www.si.com/vault/2002/12/16/334173/the-top-100-sports-books-of-all-time

[The D3vil]

I just finished Mike Silver's "The Arc of Boxing: The Rise & Fall of the Sweet Science". It was really eye opening.

[Jovanny]

Budd Schulberg -- The Harder They Fall

[ShoulderRoll]

"Bare Fists" by Bob Mee. Covers the history of bare knuckle boxing and all of the important champions.

"Championship Fighting" by Jack Dempsey. Lots of detail on how to fight from the man himself. Its surprising how much the old timers knew that has now been forgotten.

[billeau2]

NOrman Mailer "the fight" on the Ali zaire fight... If you do a search for old books written in days gone by they are always well written and fascinating.

For example I was reading a book from the very early 1900's and learned from a British boxing coach that "guys often do not throw their weight into their punches and use the mufflers (gloves) in such a way that hits are not accurate nor thrown with proper technique." Even in those days people had problems buckling down and accurately hitting a target with power because....

BOXING has changgggged so much!!!

I would also recomment Bert Sugar's 100 best fighters, because it is a well thought out list and forces Bert to give info on many great fighters.

[The Iron Man]

A great book about the history of boxing (which runs through bare-knuckle up to the 2000s) is this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pugilatus-History-Boxing-Ted-Spoon/dp/1908616628

It was actually written by someone who uses another main boxing forum and is a fantastic book. And is "a coherent overview of the last 300 years (of boxing". Its a book that both newcomers to boxing and old historians of the game can enjoy and get something out of. Ted goes through the eras and also picks out important figures of the game and gives brief "profiles".


If you are looking for more biographical books check out Adam J. Pollacks stuff he has books on James J. Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons, John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson, James J. Corbett, Tommy Burns and Marvin Hart.

These books are more expensive than your average (£25-30) as they are mostly independently written and published but they have been brilliantly researched and you will definitely learn a lot.

[BoxVillaKO]

All of those are great suggestions. I would add https://www.amazon.com/Tunney-Boxing.../dp/0812967836

The boxing register may seem generic but it actually has two sections dedicated to 'Pioneers' (mainly bare-knuckle era) and Old-Timers (early 20th century).

There is a book on Stanley Ketchel written by Manuel Mora. I haven't read it yet, but there is a lot of material on Ketchel if you read the Sam Langford book written a few years ago.

[iamboxing]

I've been reading more as of late & looking to add some more boxing books to my reading list. Anything you found good, interesting &/or informative for a boxing fan?

Extra points for some good bare knuckle days, Jack Dempsey & Stanley Ketchel books worth checking out. But feel free to add newer stuff or recent era books too.

I read this book on kindle, Dark Trade: Boxing, it was this white guy, a reporter from South Africa who travelled to USA and followed various fighters around the gym, sparring and training and interviewing them. The thing that really sets this book apart from your usual sports book is that this guy can write, he makes you imagine you're right there, like when he describes Tyson sparring and he describes the grunts and sounds..and also the dark side of boxing, it's pretty depressing but good nonetheless

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Trade-Boxing-Donald-McRae-ebook/dp/B00GVJ76JW/ref=sr_1_94?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1489795059&sr=1-94&keywords=boxing

[TBear]

Don't know if everyone was aware but there is a huge library of boxing books(downloadable) in the thread below.

https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=604937

Not sure if all the links still work but the thread is still active and the OP would probably replace any dead links.