[nahkis]

What books have you read about boxing and the men of it? Did you enjoy them?

My own collection is pretty humble as it stands:

Facing Tyson - a good read on Tyson and 14 of his HW-opponents. A must if you're in to the 80's HW scene, not too many books about these guys.

King of the World - About Cassius Clay/Ali and the early parts of his career, Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston and their stories make up a good portion of the book. Mixes with the US politics of the 60's, great read.

Tunney - Very interested in the boxing era it's about, but found the book boring and never finished it.

Kings of the Ring - The History of Heavyweight Boxing - Biased towards and against a few fighters, still a good read. Accounts on HW-champs from Sullivan to Vitali

Any recommendations to add?

 

[084]

Johhny Tapia and Jesus Chavez books are both brilliant.

I've just started reading Johnny Owens book. Pretty good so far, i have a spare copy if any1 wants to borrow it as long as they promise to send it back:yep

Also got a book on Harry Greb, Oscar De La Hoya, Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton. I'm sure i have a couple more as well but think think at mo

 

[doug.ie]

i posted about this a couple of weeks back at the old hang out...

..................

joe Louis's one is an amazing read....it's like sitting next to him in a bar for a few hours why he tells you everything, warts and all....he leaves nothing out, including a lot of detail about a girlfriend who was a porn actress who got him hooked on drugs for example....he boxed for a lot of the last years, even while still champ where he hated boxing and wanted so much to get out of it....
A lot of great reading in this book.

An example...

 

[Vano-irons]

I really can't talk highly enough of the Nipper Pat Daly book. It's about a fighter who had his first pro fight at 9 or 10, beat world champions (not for the title tho) aged 15, and was completely shot by 17. Very sad story.

Unforgivable blackness is awesome, as is four kings, hands of stone, and Ray Leonard's autobiography.

I need to get my hands of Tapia's book soon

 

[Decy]

Four Kings by George Kimball is an obvious shout I am just reading another book by him Manly Art: They Can Run--But They Can't Hide.

 

[doug.ie]

got barry mcguigan's new one by the bed for the last 3 months and only read 20 pages.....they tell me it's good

 

[doug.ie]

i've got this book here that someone gave me as a birthday present and its one of the best books i ever had....it's large, newspaper size..with a hardback cover....and it is comprised of uk newspaper reports of boxing from 1910 to 2010...nothing else, just copies of the newspaper spreads.

actually...i'm going to make a thread on one of the articles in it about don cockell...i'll drop the link here...great book...if it can be classed as a book.

i found out it was got here...

http://www.newsrecreated.co.uk/acatalog/Boxing_Edition.html

.

 

[Hammer Muldoon]

I have Duran, Eubank, Tapia, Four Kings, Dark Trade, Ringside, The Last Great Fight, Ghosts of Manilla, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, In This Corner and Unforgivable Blackness.

 

[084]

that a hint Dan

 

[Vano-irons]

that a hint Dan

:lol: it genuinely wasn't mate. I've asked the missus to pick me up a copy. Which means I'll get it off amazon and get her to pay for it :yep

 

[084]

Haha sound mate, if ya get stuck give us a shout

 

[GazOC]

i've got this book here that someone gave me as a birthday present and its one of the best books i ever had....it's large, newspaper size..with a hardback cover....and it is comprised of uk newspaper reports of boxing from 1910 to 2010...nothing else, just copies of the newspaper spreads.

actually...i'm going to make a thread on one of the articles in it about don cockell...i'll drop the link here...great book...if it can be classed as a book.

I've got to get a copy of that book!

 

[doug.ie]

@GazOC

http://www.newsrecreated.co.uk/acatalog/Boxing_Edition.html

 

[Jasper Simone]

This version of this book was bought for me when I was just a little lad by Grandad. Goes right from the start of boxing to about 1980-81...gave me a terrific base to really begin to appreciate the sport.

Was a good few years later before I actually began to see a lot of the fighters actually box, rather than just in pictures.

 

[Vano-irons]

Cheers LP mate :good

 

[doug.ie]

think i have that one too...but its got a different cover...i'll check in a min
if i remember right its the one with the famous marciano elbow in joe louis nose picture in it....that right ?

edit:
this is my copy of that one....

and this is the one with that marciano - louis photo...

 

[GazOC]

Cheers Doug, how many pages is it?

Got that one Jasper.

 

[doug.ie]

Cheers Doug, how many pages is it?
.

hard to tell gaz, cause each page has the original newspaper page number on it....i'd guess maybe 120-150 or thereabouts

 

[GazOC]

Cheers. Sorry to pester but how big is the print? It would make a cracking present for my Dad (that I could scrounge!) but he's knocking on 70 and has trouble with books with really small print.

 

[doug.ie]

it can be small on some pages alright.....i just found an old photobucket album with photos i took of some of the articles.....bad camera i had at the time so dont expect high quality..

http://s880.photobucket.com/albums/ac1/westsidecoolaney/boxing book/?start=60#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

i notice it is 77 photos...so without the cover, and 2 pages per photo...i'd say that makes 150 pages gaz