Ezzard Charles Book Pretty Good ..

What's the name of it?

 

Ive been wanting to check this one out. Glad to hear its good.

I just picked up one that I hadnt previously heard about and was pleasently surprised. Its a biography of Jimmy Slattery. The author is given over to hyperbole at times and it does have a little bias in regards to Slattery but its a lot better than the average boxing bio.

 

I have been wanting to pick up a new boxing book. Last one I purchased was Klompton's Greb book. Currently reading David McCullough's, 'Mornings on Horseback', a biography of old Teddy Roosevelt. Sounds like the Charles book is worth picking up. Thanks for the recomendation.

 

I haven't bought Klompton's Greb Book. Any good?

 

One point of interest is Charles personal life. He did not have the same restrictions that Joe Louis did. In fact, Charles had a white wife. A smooth operator, Charles was also an accomplished musician.

 

I am almost finished with Charles Book. Its exceptional. I actually think it portrays Charles personality quite well. He was a quite, obedient good christian boy growing up, who had a lot of angry emotions which he held in and let loose in the ring. I thought it covered his childhood quite well. It talked about his parents, grandparents, his move from Georgia to Cinncinati, his amatuer career, his childhood friend christmas, his dumping his first manager Williams, his struggle in the classroom at school, the backyard school fights, the hardwork he put in in the boxing gym while also working a side job washing dishes.

 

I have several of those. Both Burley books are good. The Stribling book was ok but it and King of the Canebreaks tend to overstate his ability and impact. The Jackson book was good as well. The Walker book I couldnt buy. That guy did a ****py job on his Tunney book and I looked at his sources and couldnt believe how anemic it was. There were two very good boxing newspapers in Elizabeth and a lot more nearby within New Jersey who had excellent coverage and documentation on Walker's career and this guy didnt use a single one. It looked like he only used what was readily available on the net. Problem with that is there arent any good sources for that part of New Jersey available on the net. He also re-hashed some stories from Walkers bio Toy Bulldog that have been debunked since. I think youll be pleased with the Slattery book. Its not perfect but its very well done for a boxing book. I would rate it up there with the Siki book which had its flaws but was also very well researched and overall well done. The Siki book made Siki out to be Muhammad Ali early in his career which is ridiculous but most boxing bios have their biases the Slattery book actually has less bias than you would think especially coming from a guy who grew up in Slattery's hometown has a soft spot in his heart for the guy.

 

Watching George Chuvalo in interviews is the same thing. Always had an excuse for the loss or disputed losing altogether. When Foreman nearly decapitated him, he thought it was a bad stoppage, he wasn't hurt and he was just getting warmed up. I gotta say though, I'm a big Chuvalo fan regardless. Few were ever tougher.

 

Thanks for the heads up:good

 

I agree. The thing that puzzles me is that Chuvalo has all of these excuses and qualifications for the losses he had against greats and near greats: "I was robbed against Patterson" "Terrell was fixed" "I was winning until Frazier broke my face" "They said I lost to Ali but he ****ed blood for a week due to me punching him in the nuts 100 times in that fight so I guess I really won" "The Foreman stoppage was premature." etc etc. You never hear him talk about all of those fights he couldnt win against guys like Pat McMurtry, Pete Rademacher, Erskine, Alongi, Corletti, Mathis, etc. Its like he has all these excuses for losing to the best guys but accepts that his losses to the also-rans were legit.