Is Boxing's history already too extensive for one liftetime to get through?

[Marchegiano]

Hey M!

Hope all is well and stable in your neck of the woods. Great to see a post from you again. I want to just "fly my colors" so to speak in support of what you just said. Been in the academic jungle up to Graduate work and it is indeed an ego game. No one is in it for the cause, they may have started that way, but in grad school once they f u c k you up the a s s so many times, throw you under the train against an enemy they made, destroy your health and self confidence and make sure you would never even think to utter an original thought, well lets just say people come around...when there is something left to come around that is.

I would rather do my research like you do...I even have a similar tale of woa. I won the best student paper award for the entire West coast American Academy of Religion regional competition. And was punished for not joining in where I was told to go. Love the internet and being able to trust people I trust my own self. The academy has been compromised.

Yeah man, ****'s still ****ed actually I just don't give a damn anymore.

So far as academia is concerned. Pretty much every time. Just the other day some little **** corrected me and told me boxing didn't stop in the 300s because Russia picked it up. That's my work! I was like ****, didn't think that one got accepted or shared much. There it is being spread around and even thrown back into my face!

I don't doubt the snakes acted like snakes early in your career.

[billeau2]

Yeah man, ****'s still ****ed actually I just don't give a damn anymore.

So far as academia is concerned. Pretty much every time. Just the other day some little **** corrected me and told me boxing didn't stop in the 300s because Russia picked it up. That's my work! I was like ****, didn't think that one got accepted or shared much. There it is being spread around and even thrown back into my face!

I don't doubt the snakes acted like snakes early in your career.

Its good to have a kindred spirit back here! I do remember what had happened and wish you the best, as I can not even imagine... Sometimes it seems in life we all have to have Marciano's chin lol!

[Larry the boss]

you would really just have to take it decade by decade starting from the beginning.

[chrisJS]

It's certainly difficult and I don't think anyone can be an expert on it all. I go through phases of what I want to research/read. As a kid, I started with heavyweight and 80's plus the current scene (90's) and then got onto latin boxers and digging up everything I could find on them. Footage, reading materials etc; I've gone through phases of learning about older era's, fighters and regions without any clear pattern. I got into the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry because it was discussed before Trinidad-De La Hoya and that spawned a real appreciation of the likes of Sanchez, Gomez, Benitez etc; then that went into seeing Champions Forever: The Latin Legends and that opened up more and more.

I've had a phase where I really got into the stories of Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano thanks to their great autobio's. That took me to Charley Burley, Archie Moore, Henry Armstrong, Ezzard Charles etc; Got curious about Jimmy Wilde and that took me into exploring the fascinating history of Boxing in Wales with Freddie Welsh, Jim Driscoll etc and then even into the bareknuckle boxing and booth boxing. Reading about Harry Greb is fascinating and that opened me up and exposed me into Pittsburgh's incredible boxing history and wants you to learn more and more. I always made an effort to at least know a bit about the top 30-40 guys in all the original weight classes so a bit of research here and there. I really want to get more into Beau Jack, Ike Williams, Joe Brown, Bob Montgomery and luckily there's a Beau Jack book coming out soon.


I'd estimate that from the age of about 13-23 I'd probably read 10-12 books a year and collected all the magazines (Ring, KO, Boxing, World Boxing) and then I sort of stopped buying the magazines but doubled up on the book intake to around 20-25 books a year and instead of reading magazines I just got fascinating with trying to do my own research beyond the books. I do like to find, collect and watch a lot of old footage too.

All in all, it's such a long, fascinating history and it's by far had the best sports writing and stories so there's so much fascinating stuff to read about. I've pretty much never really "tried" to be an expert on the sport but I do feel I've became an expert in certain areas of it but compared to some of the folks I've interacted with on different history forums I still feel like a rookie on the whole despite putting in a lot of time. There's just so much of it and to even scratch the surface is an accomplishment. I think the more I get disillusioned with the current politics and lack of talent compared to era's past I'll probably step up and intensify the research further because boxing is my hobby and I'll always love it even if it's just yesteryear. I know many people like that and they have an undying passion and love for still exploring and learning despite being twice my age.

So, in short, yes it probably is too extensive if your goal is to be an absolute expert on everything but it's damn fun trying to read and learn it all whilst becoming knowledgeable and passionate about at least parts of history. From my experience it's no fun just trying to learn about something that's not grabbing your interest because it won't go in and you'll lose enthusiasm. That's why going division by division or decade by decade may not be the way to go. However you've got to go beyond your familiar fighters.